In the seventh press event related to the F-35 this month, proponents of the jet simultaneously dismissed a and acknowledged the threat of the opposition鈥檚 move.
Frank Cioffi, president of the Greater Burlington Industrial Corporation, spoke at the event about the 鈥渞eckless鈥� proposal by Burlington City Councilor Vince Brennan. The resolution sets out to block the F-35 by banning all aircraft that are significantly louder than the F-16s currently operating there or have a safety record that doesn鈥檛 measure up to the F-16鈥檚.
鈥淭his resolution, formally, doesn鈥檛 mean anything in the Environmental Impact Statement process,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t would be a political statement, but it certainly isn鈥檛 part of the environmental permitting record, and Burlington is already in on that environmental permitting record.鈥�
Lisa Ventriss, president of the Vermont Business Roundtable, said there鈥檚 nothing Burlington can do at this point to influence the basing decision by the Secretary of the Air Force.
鈥淎ll of the information that is going to be considered during that decision-making process is in. The barn door is closed,鈥� she said. 鈥淲e want people to appreciate that the resolution that鈥檚 under discussion now really doesn鈥檛 have a role to play in the decision-making process by the Air Force.鈥�
But every speaker at the event spoke about the potential loss to the Chittenden County economy if the F-35 doesn鈥檛 come to Vermont.
鈥淵ou can鈥檛 say 鈥業鈥檓 for the guard but I鈥檓 not for the plane,鈥欌�� Cioffi said. 鈥淎n air guard without a fighter aircraft is not a fighter division, so without this aircraft, without the F-35, then the mission drastically changes for the Vermont Air Guard.鈥�
The speakers also said Brennan鈥檚 resolution, which blocks aircraft with safety records worse than that of the F-16 currently used by the Vermont Air National Guard 颅鈥� might have the unintended consequences for commercial flights at the airport. Lt. Col. Chris Caputo said many commercial aircraft wouldn鈥檛 meet that threshold.
The press conference was Caputo鈥檚 third of the month, each coming less than 24 hours after opponents of the jet held press conferences to announce new tactics to block the basing or to emphasize statistics that support their cause. Ventriss said her effort was to bring attention the substance of the debate, not political theater.
Referring to , Ventriss said: 鈥淭his is an effort to stop people from paying attention to the guinea pig outfits,鈥� and start paying attention to the issues.
