Mayoral Candidate Joan Shannon played key role in F-35 basing at BTV

City Councilor Joan Shannon told the Seven Days mayoral forum audience on February 7, 2024 that she is “no fan of the F-35.” (59:50). But Shannon omitted mention of the central role she played, along with Mayor Miro Weinberger, in foisting the F-35 basing at Burlington International Airport (BTV).

Burlington voters called for cancellation of the F-35

Burlington voters had approved ballot question 6 on Town Meeting Day in 2018 calling for “cancellation of the planned basing of the F-35 jets at BTV and requesting instead low-noise-level equipment with a proven high safety record appropriate for a densely populated area.” Ballot question 6 won by a vote of 6,482 to 5237 (55.3%). The result was especially sweet because (a) opponents had spent $100,000 to defeat it, and (b) pro-F-35 Mayor Miro Weinberger received fewer votes, only 5,749 (48.4%), on that same day.

The Shannon-Weinberger scheme to nullify the 2018 Burlington town meeting vote

At the Seven Days Candidate Forum, Joan Shannon touted a city council resolution she wrote in response to the passage of Ballot Question 6 in 2018. Her resolution did indeed ask the Secretary of the Air Force to provide a mission different from the F-35. But Shannon did not tell the candidate forum audience that her resolution went on to question the decision of the voters. In ten different ways Shannon’s series of questions practically begged the Air Force Secretary to ignore the town meeting vote.

On April 9, 2018 Mayor Miro Weinberger sent Shannon’s poison-pill resolution to Secretary of the Air Force Heather Wilson along with a pro-F-35 letter of his own that disparaged the ballot question wording and highlighted Shannon’s set of undermining questions.

Secretary of the Air Force: The F-35 basing decision can be “reversed”

To her credit, Air Force Secretary Wilson saw through the Shannon-Weinberger sabotage scheme. Secretary Wilson’s May 22, 2018 letter to the mayor says that the decision to base the F-35 in South Burlington can, in fact, be reversed: “If that decision were to be reversed, the Vermont Air National Guard would likely lose its flying mission upon the retirement of the F-16s.” She further said that “the Air Force is much smaller than it was at the end of the cold war. We have fewer bases and fewer aircraft. As a result, some states no longer have flying missions for their National Guard.”

Dr. Heather Wilson, former Secretary of the Air Force

For public health and safety in a densely populated city, a non-flying mission is appropriate

The Secretary thus confirmed that the Vermont Air National Guard would continue to exist if the F-35 basing decision were to be reversed. And the non-flying mission she offered would be infinitely safer than 115-decibel F-35 training flights from a runway in a densely populated city.

Shannon and the Mayor refused to say “yes” to the Air Force Secretary

Joan Shannon and the mayor had the chance to accept the Secretary’s suggestion for reversing the decision to base F-35 jets at BTV.

Their refusal to accept that offer is the reason that the F-35 is inflicting suffering on 6,663 Vermonters whose 2,963 affordable homes are in the F-35's 115-decibel child-damaging noise zone. Volume II of the 2013 Air Force Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) had stated that this oval-shaped area of 2,252 acres centered on the runway is “not considered suitable for residential use.” (p. C-12).

Untruthful

In response to a question about “constituent concerns about the F-35 jets, and did you support basing of the jets here in the first place?” Joan Shannon told the Seven Days Burlington Mayoral Forum audience (59:50) that the Secretary of the Air Force had said, “there was not another mission that we could have.” But the facts do not confirm this: Shannon omitted mention of continuing with F-16s followed by the non-flying mission, as described in the Secretary of the Air Force’s May 22, 2018 letter. Shannon then repeated her untruth: “though my preference would be that we would have something quieter than the F-35, that is not an option.”

No safety for children in the flight path

Shannon’s election campaign is organized around her supposedly being a strong advocate of “safety.” This assertion is flatly contradicted by her action with the mayor to foist the 115-decibel F-35 on a densely populated area.

Shannon’s campaign touting herself as the “safety” candidate is also flatly contradicted by the evidence provided by the US Air Force itself in Volume II of its EIS that showed severe damage to children from thousands of 115-decibel F-35 takeoffs and landings each year in a populated area. 1,300 Vermont children live in the extreme 115-decibel noise zone of the F-35. The Air Force wrote (pps. C-28 to C-30):

• “Chronic exposure to high aircraft noise levels can impair learning.”

• “Tasks involving central processing and language comprehension (such as reading, attention, problem solving, and memory) appear to be the most affected by noise.”

• “Chronic exposure of first- and second-grade children to aircraft noise can result in reading deficits and impaired speech perception.”

• “More difficulty solving cognitive problems . . . puzzle-solving and attentiveness.”

In the article, “Chief of Pediatric Neurology at UVM Medical Talks F-35 and Children,” Peter Bingham, MD wrote:

The brains of children are particularly vulnerable because they are developing. Medical studies leave no doubt that children living in high-noise areas are paying for that through a decrease in their cognitive skills. Children will live with the consequences of noise-induced setbacks for the rest of their lives.

No Decency

Furthermore, the Air Force stated in Volume I of its EIS that the F-35 basing in South Burlington would have “disproportionate impact” on low income and minority populations. (pages BR4-80 to BR4-83).

No safety for the planet

Each F-35 burns 22 gallons a minute in straight and level flight. Under Shannon, the city will continue to bear responsibility for thousands of hours of climate-killing F-35 training flights from the city’s airport.

But have no worries: The F-35s can still be removed

Fortunately, as described in the article, “The City of Burlington has the FAA-delegated power to cancel the F-35,” a new mayor can lead the way to reversing the F-35 basing at the city-owned airport.

Conclusion

Joan Shannon’s “safety” platform is belied by her responsibility for foisting indiscriminate F-35 violence against thousands of Vermonters. She sacrifices the cognitive development of 1,300 children in parts of Burlington, Winooski, South Burlington, and Williston. She exhibits depraved indifference to the suffering of 6,663 Vermonters living in the F-35 flight path. Shannon and the mayor established themselves as the human embodiments of suffering for working class and ethnic minority neighborhoods in the flight path. Furthermore, in her Seven Days mayoral forum earlier this month, Shannon fudged the facts.