Bill boosts bug-spray equipment

Spraying missions are usually over military areas for the protection of troops.
& lt;a href=mailto:siff@vindy.com & gt;By STEPHEN SIFF & lt;/a & gt;
VINDICATOR TRUMBULL STAFF
VIENNA -- A defense appropriation bill approved by the U.S. House of Representatives last week includes $1 million to upgrade aerial mosquito-spraying equipment at the 910th Airlift Wing based at the Youngstown Air Reserve Station.
The Senate will consider the bill July 8.
"This will ensure that everything in this facility remains state of the art," said U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan of Niles, D-17th, at a press conference Monday in front of the $12 million aerial spray building at the station. "This is a big step toward making sure we keep the air base in our community."
The air reserve station is on a list of bases facing possible closure in 2004. The additional investment in the base, championed by Ryan, makes that less likely, he added.
The station also hosts the only fixed-wing mosquito-spraying unit in the Department of Defense. Four of the wing's 16 Lockheed C-130 H2 transport planes are equipped to handle removable spraying equipment which dispenses chemicals in a fine mist.
The station has six sets of spray equipment, each worth about $1 million. The funds would allow four of them to be upgraded to disperse an even finer spray.
'Win-win' situation
"We are going to get more bugs with less chemicals," said Capt. Mark Breidenbaugh, an entomologist with the wing. "That's why it is an environmental win-win for us."
The airlift wing conducts about 12 or 15 aerial spraying missions a year, almost exclusively over military bases. Spraying over nonmilitary areas requires a request from the Federal Emergency Management Agency and approval at several levels of bureaucracy, said Brig. Gen. Michael Gjede, the base commander.
In the past, the wing has helped to quash mosquito problems in the area surrounding a base at Langley, Va., and in the aftermath of Hurricane Floyd in 1999.
The aircraft are also used to spray herbicide over target ranges.
The wing has not conducted spraying missions this year because the planes equipped for spraying have been deployed in Germany for cargo missions.
& lt;a href=mailto:siff@vindy.com & gt;siff@vindy.com & lt;/a & gt;