Are they dropping live 2000 pound bombs in Avon Park, Florida yet? [View All]

Starting next year, the Navy wants to drop live ordnance – 500- to 2,000-pound high-explosive bombs – at Avon Park. In recent years, only inert, dummy bombs have been used here. Under the plan, the military could fly up to 10,000 sorties annually over the range, about 40 percent more training missions than in 2000.

The Navy plans to drop up to 1,545 live bombs and nearly 14,000 dummy bombs. In 2000, no live bombs were dropped and 8,400 inert ones were released. Helicopter overflights could increase 40 percent to about 320 per year.

Navy officials hope to get approval by October. The 106,073-acre training facility is a popular training ground for military jets, helicopters, ground troops and special operations forces, said Lt. Col. Franklin Walden. He oversees 85 civilian workers who maintain the facility and monitor the environment.

“It’s a world-class training range that’s realistic for now and the future,” said Walden. “We want it to be a viable range for now and two, five, 20 years from now.”

Some residents worry that increased bombing, especially with real bombs, will harm the region’s sensitive environment and safety.

Dear Mr. Putnam: Come Live for Awhile In Our Environment
Jul 12, 2006
This has been a time when our congressman, Adam Putnam , has had some of his weaknesses on display for the public to observe. Rep. Putnam has been working hand-in-glove with the worst anti-conservationist in Congress, Rep. Pombo of California, to devise a plan regarding oil drilling in coastal waters. People who know say that it could result in seriously polluted beaches. Rep. Richard Pombo has been called the "errand boy" of the oil industry. Both he and Rep. Putnam have among the lowest congressional ratings by the League of Conservation Voters.

It has been announced that the U.S. Navy is moving its bombing range from Puerto Rico, which didn't want it, to the Avon Park Air Force Range. Rep. Putnam was "instrumental" in urging the Navy to come here and calls it "good news for Central Florida."

At the public hearing in Frostproof on this matter, we urged the Navy representatives present not to use live bombs but to depend on dummy bombs, as the Air Force has used for so many years at the Avon Park location. The Navy declined to do that. This is a quality-of-life issue for those who live close enough to the bombing range to be disturbed by its operations.

We think it would be nice of Rep. Putnam would establish a temporary residence in Avon Park or nearby so he would know what callers mean when they complain about the distressing noise and general disruption caused by a live-bomb range.