Federal Court Denies Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin Lawsuit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: September 30, 2026 Contacts:
Kathleen Henry, Esq., khenry@
Steven Klafka, P.E., treasurer@safeskieswi.org, Safe Skies Clean Water Inc., 608-213-4473
Against US Air Force for Faulty Environmental Impact Statement for Basing F-35 Fighter Jets in Madison, Wisconsin
Madison – Earlier this month, Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly of the Federal District Court in Washington, D.C., denied a lawsuit filed by Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin against the U.S. Air Force and National Guard Bureau. The lawsuit, filed in 2021, claimed the Air Force acted illegally by failing to adequately study and disclose the significant environmental impacts of the F-35 fighter jets it planned to deploy to the 115th Fighter Wing at Truax Field in Madison, Wisconsin. The lawsuit argued that the Air Force acted arbitrarily and capriciously by failing to follow procedures required by the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) when it prepared its Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). A Draft EIS released in 2019 evaluated five potential locations for the new fighter jets. Over 6,400 comments were submitted for all five sites, but nearly 90% of these addressed the selection of Truax Field. Additionally, the City of Madison adopted a resolution opposing the selection of Truax Field for the new fighter jets. But after finalizing the EIS on February 28, 2020, the Air Force confirmed its existing plan to place a squadron of F-35 fighter jets in Madison and Montgomery, Alabama.
The Safe Skies lawsuit identified numerous problems with the Air Force EIS. These included use of outdated noise standards; adverse impacts on the schools and on the 60,000 people living within three miles of Truax Field; PFAS contamination of already-polluted drinking water, groundwater, surface water and fish in Starkweather Creek, Lake Monona and the Yahara chain of lakes; environmental justice issues including significant impacts on low income and families of color living adjacent to Truax Field; inadequate consideration of viable alternatives such as locations with lesser environmental impacts and a different mission for the 115th Fighter Wing; and failure to adequately consider climate change and historic flooding around the chain of lakes.
Vicki Berenson has lived near Truax Field for over 46 years, and opposed the deployment of F35 fighter jets to Madison. After reading the court decision, she said, “I am very disappointed with the Court’s decision. The court says the Air Force and National Guard only need to describe the terrible impacts on our community, but have no obligation to actually select sites with fewer detrimental impacts, or to solve the problems these fighter jets cause.”
Safe Skies attorney Kathleen Henry said: “By selecting Madison, the Air Force selected the location with the largest low-income and minority population of all five potential sites. Two locations, Idaho and Florida, have no low-income and minority populations living near the bases. This is an arbitrary and capricious decision.”
Safe Skies environmental engineer Steven Klafka said: “The federal court allowed the Air Force to use of an outdated 65 decibel daily average noise standard to determine the extent of noise impacts. This standard fails to account for the short-term burst of loud noise generated by fighter jets. It is based only on annoyance and fails to account for more recent studies showing noise impacts on physical and mental health, and childhood development. Noise impacts on residents in the surrounding urban neighborhoods of Madison have proven to be life changing. A citizen-based monitoring system shows F-35 fighter jet noise levels can exceed 120 decibels, similar to standing next to speakers at a rock concert. This actual noise level measurement exceeded the noise level assumed by the Air Force for its EIS.”
In response to the new fighter jets, the Dane County Airport updated its noise abatement program. It predicted that 2,200 residents would experience noise exposure exceeding the outdated daily standard and thus qualify for noise mitigation funds. However, there are over 60,000 people who live within 3 miles of Truax Field and experience the excessive noise from fighter jet training flights, but don’t qualify for any noise mitigation measures. The Dane County program is far smaller than planned for the airport in Burlington, Vermont, which also received a squadron of new F-35 fighter jets. While the county airport expects to spend $64 million, Burlington plans to spend $200 million. On a per passenger basis, Burlington will spend more than five times as much as the Dane County Airport to insulate or relocate homes. Not only has the Air Force and National Guard Bureau not provided noise mitigation, but Madison and Dane County leaders have also failed to protect area residents.
The federal court accepted Air Force promises for both cleanup of PFAS contamination and noise mitigation. Both these promises have already been broken. There has been little progress to clean up PFAS contamination in the Yahara chain of lakes, and the Air Force has failed to provide any noise mitigation funds. Madison residents and children are expected to bear the environmental costs of hosting F-35 fighter jets in their city.
Safe Skies Clean Water Wisconsin is a nonprofit coalition of residents and organizations in Madison and Dane County, Wisconsin opposed to the proposed beddown of F-35A fighter jets at Truax Field. This group is also a member group of WNPJ. Visit safeskiescleanwaterwi.org for more information. For the federal court decision, visit this web site: https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgibin/show_public_doc?2021cv0634-43
