[CPEO-IRF] Closure wannabees

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

I saw an article today where a spokesman for the city of Concord,
California, said that he thought they were the only community in the
U.S. actually requesting the closure of a local military base. In this
case it's the Concord Naval Weapons Station, which has enormous
development potential.

While most of the recent avalanche of base closure news is about
communities fighting to retain military bases, there are communities
where either local officials or a substantial portion of the public
favors either closure or significant cutbacks.

In Virginia Beach, Virginia, many residents want either the scaling down
or closure of the Oceana Naval Air Station, because of jet noise. I've
heard that Port Hueneme wants another chunk of California's Ventura
County Naval Base for port expansion. Personally, I'm on the record here
in Mountain View suggesting that local officials drop their opposition
to efforts by the 129th Air National Guard Rescue Wing to leave the
NASA-owned Moffett Federal Airfield.

However, it's generally a touchy business advocating base closure,
because inevitably people will lose their jobs and usually local
business will lose income. Anyone seeking new uses for military base
property will have to work with their impacted neighbors after closure,
so in my view it's better to let the federal government decide what will
close, and instead focus one's efforts on planning for that eventuality,
as well as cleanup programs that make transfer and reuse easier to accomplish.

Does anyone on this list know of any other local invitations to close?

Lenny

-- 


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org
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