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Show Basing 'up in the air' By BRUCE LEE Record Editor Even if the Air Force does decide to place a secondary MX operating base in Utah, the decision as to what county it will be in is still very much up in the air. That was the opinion of Christina Roekrise of EDAW, a firm working with the Air Force on comprehensive base planning. Roekrise presented the opinion at the meeting last week of the Utah MX Intergovernmental Working Group in Cedar City. Roekrise presented to the officials from various governmental agencies a prospectus of six possible Beaver and Iron county sites for the secondary operating base, if the MX system is deployed in Utah and Nevada and if a base is to be located in Utah. Three sites were identified around the proposed "Milford" site and three, around the proposed "Beryl" site. Speculation has been running high among officials during the past few months that the secondary base would be built near the Milford site, because the Air Force has shown a preference for it. Also, many have felt that it would be located at what is known as the southern Milford site, located in Iron County. However, Roekrise told the group that that very possibly wouldn t be so. According to Roekrise, the Air Force had recently ordered the consulting company to look very carefully at the central Milford site, just north of the county line, in Beaver County. The site had originally been looked at a bit skeptically because of possible mineral deposits there. However, studies now show that the mineral potential is very speculative. Roekrise added that a northern Milford site had been pretty much eliminated from further study because of its known mineral potential. She also emphasized that no decisions see BASE on page A4 Base continued from page Al ; on base sitings have been made at this time, but all areas were being studied carefully. "No decision has been made by the Air Force," she said, "so we are still in the stage of looking at all alternatives." Those alternatives also include three sites near Beryl : again . known as southern, central and northern. Rockrise said her company is looking at each of the proposed sites and whittling down areas which meet necessary criteria. "This is kind of a focusing process." The criteria are basically threefold. First, the location of the air field must be looked at carefully. It must be relatively flat and free of dangerous winds and wildlife. Second, the transportation network from the base to the missile shelters and deployment area must not cross the railroad tracks. This limits siting entirely en-tirely to the western side of the valleys in the area. Third, the base must be compact. |