The final environmental impact statement (EIS) for the U.S. Air Force's Common Battlefield Airman Training (CBAT) project is still under review and could be released within the next few weeks, an Air Force spokesperson said today.

The EIS was scheduled to be released on Saturday but, according to Air Force spokesperson Shirley Curry, the review process is taking "longer than anticipated" and could be released in a manner of weeks or even days.

Curry said the Christmas holidays are also a factor in the report being delayed. A draft EIS for the project was released in June.

Curry also could not comment on a report last week from the Valdosta (Ga.) Daily Times which stated that Moody AFB near Valdosta was no longer in the running for the project, leaving Arnold AFB outside of Tullahoma and Barksdale AFB in Bossier City, La., as the finalists.

"They know more than me," Curry said of the report in the Georgia paper. As far she knew, the final EIS still contained Moody as a possible site.

CBAT would be a combat training program designed to address the changing nature of warfare, which sometimes places airmen in harm's way in ways they would never have been in the past. When fully implemented, it could train more than 14,000 airmen a year in a series of 25-day courses. As many as 1,872 airmen might participate at any given time. The program would require 800 permanent personnel, including 600 instructors and 200 support staff.

Arnold AFB is the home of Arnold Engineering Development Center, the nation's largest collection of ground-based aerospace test facilities. Bedford County ranks third, behind Coffee and Franklin counties, as a home for AEDC's current employees. The 39,000-acre Arnold reservation has sufficient space to also house CBAT. It also has a history of military training from its previous incarnation as Camp Forrest.

Barksdale AFB also has sufficient land to house the facility, while Moody AFB would have had to purchase an 11,000-acre parcel 25 miles away from the base.