Pentagon drops Maine from list of potential missile defense sites

[January 16, 2016]  By Andrea Shalal
 
 WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) said on Friday it had dropped a site in Redington Township, Maine, from a list of potential U.S. sites to deploy more ground-based missile defense interceptors in addition to those in Alaska and California.

The agency said other potential sites in New York, Michigan and Ohio remained under consideration, but stressed that no decision had been made to deploy or construct an additional site.

MDA said the decision was made after extensive surveys of the potential Maine site, the Center for Security Forces Detachment Kittery Survival, Evasion, Resistance and Escape Facility (SERE East).

"The (Maine) site presented irreversible environmental impacts, significant constructability concerns, and extensive costs associated with developing infrastructure in a remote area," MDA said in a statement.

The Pentagon said in January 2014 that it would conduct environmental impact studies for the four possible missile defense sites in line with a directive from Congress in 2013.

The Missile Defense Agency reiterated on Friday that current interceptors on the West Coast would be able to defend the country against missile attacks from countries such as North Korea and Iran. U.S. lawmakers have expressed concern about Iran's efforts to develop intercontinental ballistic missiles.

MDA said that completing the required site studies and environmental impact statements would shorten the timeline to build such a site, if a decision were made in the future to proceed.

Kingston Reif, director of disarmament and threat reduction policy at the nonprofit Arms Control Association, said the remaining three environmental impact studies were due to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2016, which ends Sept. 30.

Riki Ellison, founder of the nonprofit Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance, said the Maine site was likely deemed too far north to provide protection for sites in the central United States.

(Reporting by Andrea Shalal)

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