Oregon Natural Desert Association Drops Suit Over Air Force Chaff and Flares in Eastern Oregon Waterways
The Oregon Natural Desert Association voluntarily dismissed its Clean Water Act lawsuit against Air Force fighter jet training operations in the Paradise North area of eastern Oregon. The dismissal eliminates litigation that threatened to interrupt the training program after President Trump issued a one-year exemption from water pollution control requirements.
manilatimes.netThe Oregon Natural Desert Association voluntarily dismissed its federal lawsuit this month that had alleged the Air Force illegally discharged chaff and flares into waterways during fighter jet training operations over the Paradise North area of eastern Oregon.
The suit claimed the releases from aircraft violated the Clean Water Act because the Air Force lacked a permit for such discharges. The Air Force maintained that its operations in the region did not require a permit following President Donald J. Trump’s April 20 presidential determination that exempted fighter jet training operations in Idaho, Oregon and Nevada from federal, state and local requirements respecting the control and abatement of water pollution for one year.
The dismissal will minimize any disruption of the Air Force’s training program and save significant time and resources that the litigation would have required, per the Justice Department announcement on May 15.
The training operations cover fighter jet exercises in a multi-state region that includes the Paradise North area. The presidential exemption applies across Idaho, Oregon and Nevada training ranges and runs for one year from its April 20 issuance, shifting the prior state in which the Air Force faced a permit requirement under the Clean Water Act to a new state of exemption from those rules.
The change means the Air Force can continue training flights without securing a Clean Water Act permit or facing the suit’s requested injunction. The dismissal ends the court case, removing the need for the Justice Department or Air Force to defend the exemption in litigation.
It also prevents any near-term interruption to scheduled training rotations that support fighter squadrons across multiple bases.
This marks the first application of the April 20 presidential determination to halt related litigation. The original lawsuit was filed before the determination and centered on discharges into specific eastern Oregon waterways during routine training that releases chaff and flares as countermeasures.
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