APA commissioners send howitzer test range project to adjudication

RAY BROOK | Ongoing Adirondack Park Agency (APA) review of proposed commercial use for M109 155 mm Howitzer ballistics testing range in the Town of Lewis will go to adjudicatory hearing. APA commissioners agreed unanimously in committee and in full board discussion on Friday that further public review is required. Adjudication will incorporate testimony and documentation related to potential impulse and sound disturbances from cannon fire and impacts that commercial ballistics testing in Lewis may present to nearby Adirondack Park state land resources, including public recreation areas, wildlife, and some 44 neighboring private properties. A wide range of questions remain about the compatibility of commercial ballistics testing within Adirondack Rural Use land use classification areas. UNCONVENTIONAL CONCEPTS INC. The project was first proposed in November of 2021 by Unconventional Concepts Inc. Owner Michael Hopmeier, of Herndon, VA, collaborating with his neighbor, James Pulsifer, owner of Pulsifer Logging, plan to establish a commercial testing site to evaluate the internal ballistics of an M109 155 mm Howitzer cannon. Located off Hale Hill Lane in Lewis, the test range would be built on property near the decommissioned Atlas-F ICBM missile silo site that Hopmeier's company Upstate Diversified LLC purchased 10 years ago. Upstate Diversified is based in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. Through project evolution over four years, APA staff sought clarification with six Notices of Incomplete Application (NIPA). The project presented to APA commissioners purports placement of a 100-foot by 100-foot gravel firing pad in a wooded clearing for a howitzer that would fire an inert steel projectile 625 feet to a target area and into a catch system. The cannon would be fired from a fixed height of two meters, a height Unconventional Concepts said would not change. Projectiles, the project says, would land a kinetic energy-absorbing system, also known as a soft catch system, east of the firing pad. The applicant said "no lead or potential contaminants will be used" in howitzer testing. No permanent structures are proposed in the project. In 2023, the applicant added a 13-foot Sound Mitigation Berm to the range design, which is a barrier built up of dirt from the property and planted with vegetation. The berm would run along the northern boundary of the firing pad. Unconventional Concepts would place five sound monitoring stations around the range complex. Testing would continue year-round, the application says, though the project directive indicates tests would not be conducted in conditions below 41 degrees F, 0 percent humidity. The permit seeks a five-year window for operations. Maximum shots fired would not exceed two per day, at most on three days per week, and not more than 30 shots per year. In response to sound impact evaluation, Unconventional Concepts said, "There will be 30 shots per year for five years (150 total). This means that over the life of the project (five years), there will be 7,500 milliseconds [7.5 seconds] of impulse sound exposure." The sound impulse data presented by Unconventional Concepts suggests a shot from a howitzer emerges from the barrel at 180.8 decibels (dB) and would dissipate as the sound wave expands over distance. Sound studies in the proposal show decibel ranges as both dB and dB(A). dB(A) adapts the measure to the human ear. A 40-ton haul truck would be used to move the barrel assembly and related material to and from the firing pad. RANGE SAFETY CONCERNS Range safety and security guidelines proposed in the project application include two circumferential layers of signage around the area, a range safety officer, surveillance and security cameras, communication with local law enforcement personnel and advance notification. Test firing dates would be provided seven days in advance to the Town of Lewis and also to local landowners within a two-mile radius. The test range is not a training range, the applicant said in documents provided to APA for review. "It is a specialized range to support research, development, and experimentation." The project proposal suggests that "given the novel nature of the testing and instrumentation used, a boilerplate standard safety plan cannot be developed." APA review said questions remain regarding health and safety impacts related to range operations, storage and transport of military equipment outside of a designated military-controlled area. SIGNIFICANT ISSUES In its recommendation to Adjudicatory Hearing, APA staff provided Regulatory Programs Committee members with an outline of significant issues pending for approval. These include compatibility with Adirondack Park Land use guidance and the character of Rural Use lands related to impact on natural, scenic, ecological, wildlife, recreational and open space resources in the park. Key areas of uncertainty include sound and percussion impact to adjoining and nearby land owners. The site is 2.1 miles from Adirondack Public lands in the Jay Wilderness Area, and it adjoins a landlocked section of Taylor Pond Wild Forest in Lewis. The Town of Lewis has no land use plan for local guidance. COMMITTEE QUESTIONS APA commissioners posed numerous questions before they voted on next steps forward. Asked what recreational trails are near the proposed test site, APA Planner John Burth said any trails would be on Wilderness Area several miles away -- just over two miles in the Jay Wilderness and four miles to Hurricane Mountain Wilderness, in addition to acreage that comprises Taylor Pond Wild Forest. Newly named APA board Chairman Mark Hall revisited the experimental aspect of howitzer testing. "What if an experiment goes awry? Do we know the distance a projectile could possibly travel?" he asked. If fired into the air, the projectile could travel 10 miles, Burth said. "He'd have to miss pretty severely to go off the project site." The howitzer would remain set to fire at two meters height. APA staff said they do not have information on operating this gun or specifics on its design, citing military confidentiality. Commissioner Zoe Smith asked where the materials being tested would come from. "They would come from the U.S. Military," Burth said. "We don't have details or anything on the contract." Part of the recommendation for adjudication, he said, relates specifically to the opportunity for public involvement. Commissioner Arthur Lussi referenced comments made public in support of the project when Town of Lewis Supervisor Jim Monty and Chairman of the Essex County Board of Supervisors Shaun Gilliand praised economic gain from the commercial ballistics range. Part of APA's job is to balance the economic impact discussion, Lussi said. Burth said the application provided no specific information on additional jobs, or whether employees would be local or brought in to conduct testing. Lussi pressed a question of economic impact on adjoining property, particularly related to potential loss of property values. "We don't think we have all of the information," Burth said. But many of the 1,400 public comments raised concern about lost property value, he said. Lussi recommended staff add economic impact review to the adjudication process. Smith asked what would happen to the project plan after five years? "That's not in the application," Burth said. As to potential noise impact, Lussi asked if howitzer fire is similar to a microblast. Burth said there are measured decibel levels for gun blasts, most are 30 dB below howitzer fire. "Basically, we're asking for a battle of the experts," Lussi said of noise assessment. "Is the Army coming here, asking them to do this?" Hall asked. "There are other places in the world they could do this." Burth said the applicant advised APA that he could not speak for the Armed Forces. "For him, it's businesses, it's something he wants to do." Lussi said the outpouring of public comment was welcome. "As a board, I sincerely appreciate the public input. I really appreciate when people take tremendous amounts of time to write letters, in support or against." In reading the comments, he said, it is evident that some people went to a considerable amount of time to present their thoughts. APA ordered the matter to public hearing pursuant to Section 580.3 and directed the hearing officer to cover the slate of issues identified, which are listed in the Project Order. APA now begin the process of scheduling an adjudicatory hearing. It is the type of hearing that provides the permit applicant, APA staff, local governments, landowners within five hundred feet of the land involved, any New York State agency, and other parties to the hearing to present evidence and argue contested issues before an impartial hearing officer in a forum open to the public. Any exhibits, testimony and written submissions from parties to the hearing will be made publicly available to members of the public who are not parties to the adjudicatory hearing. An independent hearing officer is assigned to oversee adjudicatory proceedings. Duration of adjudication depends on the number and complexity of the environmental and legal issues, the number of witnesses, the result of the pre-hearing direction of the APA, and the deliberation before the hearing officer at the issues conference, APA said in announcing the project order.

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APA commissioners send howitzer test range project to adjudication

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