The effort to station a squadron of F-35 fighter jets at Barnes Air National Guard Base reached an administrative milestone Thursday.
The Air Force posted its final environmental impact statement detailing how the cutting-edge F-35A Lightning II fighter jets would affect the area around Westfield. The report’s official release date was scheduled for Friday.
Detailing noise, traffic, pollution and other environmental impacts, the document sets the stage for Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall III to sign the project’s record of decision following a 30-day waiting period required by federal law. Signing the document in mid-December would clear a bureaucratic hurdle for a project cheered by local officials while the Biden administration is still in power.
U.S. Rep. Richard E. Neal, D-Springfield, Gov. Maura T. Healey and U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, all Democrats, advocated hard for the military to station F-35s in Westfield. But so, too, did former Gov. Charlie Baker, a Republican who voiced his differences with President-elect Donald Trump in Trump’s first term.
Noise impacts in the vicinity of the airfield would be significant, according to the final statement. It says 885 households totaling 2,406 people would experience a reportable increase in noise according to Federal Aviation Administration criteria.
The area impacted by noise, with 65 decibels as the threshold, would expand. The expansion would be mostly to the north of the airfield, reflecting flight patterns and a takeoff direction away from most of Westfield.
At a public meeting hosted as part of the environmental review, officials from the base explained that the F-35’s greater power compared to the F-15 might ease noise impacts.
With all that power, pilots will be less likely to use the jet’s afterburners.
“I think the Air Guard has done a really good job with respect to noise,” said Mayor Michael McCabe.
He cited the public meetings where neighbors could walk from table to table.
The impact statement includes official correspondence, including a 2022 letter from the Massachusetts Division of Fish and Wildlife concerned about the impact of military construction plants and animals on the state’s endangered list.
However, the impact statement says the effect on wildlife of the aircraft coming to Barnes would be minimal.
“Noise associated with construction activities and/or aircraft operations would be unlikely to affect wildlife or special status species because they are already likely habituated to disturbances from existing training and flight operations,” the report says.
Furthermore, the report says impacts to air quality and the groundwater “would not be significant.”
The Air Force announced in April 2023 its plans to base 18 of its F-35 fighters at the Air National Guard’s 104th Fighter Wing, replacing a fleet of aging F-15s. The move would guarantee the Westfield base’s role in the nation’s air defense for decades and safeguard it as an economic engine.
Two pilots from the 104th are in Florida now training on the F-35, and dozens of other Guard members are learning to work on the aircraft.
The first F-35 is slated to arrive in June 2026.
The jets’ arrival is also expected to add about $55 million in military-funded construction at the base.
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