Developers hoping to build some 5,000 homes northeast of Beale AFB, Calif., have run into a wall supported by the Air Force, regional planners, and environmentalists, reports the Sacramento Bee (requires free registration). The plan for the Yuba Highlands has passed county environmental scrutiny, but environmental groups have appealed the decision, with a hearing set for mid-May. The Bee reports the Air Force “submitted written comments to the county saying the project represents an ‘unprecedented encroachment’ on Beale.”
Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall doesn’t see great value in trying to break the Sentinel ICBM program off as a separate budget item the way the Navy has with its ballistic-missile submarine program, saying such a move wouldn’t create any new money for the Air Force to spend on other…