[CPEO-IRF] BRAC and encroachment

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

There is no evidence that the Pentagon deliberately exaggerated the
magnitude of the 2005 round of base closures in the run-up to the formal
submission of its proposed list, but the "mother of all BRAC rounds"
rhetoric sure got the attention of host communities. All over the
country, state and local governments took action to limit encroachment
and offer subsidies to the military, to reduce the likelihood that the
local garrison or facility would pull up stakes and move to friendlier climes.

For example, just before the BRAC announcement last week, the city of
Goodyear, Arizona took steps to move planned housing away from the
flight path of development-encumbered Luke Air Force Base.

Today one of the news articles about Connecticut's Groton Sub Base
quotes a local leader offering incentives for the Navy to stay. I doubt
that it will be successful, but it's a sign that the U.S. Constitution
has been turned on its head. Not only does the Defense Department absorb
a huge share of the federal government's discretionary budget, but it's
squeezing what it can out of state budgets.

The land purchases that have reinforced buffer zones in some locations -
such as northwest Florida - are permanent, but zoning and other planning
decisions, as well as tax and budgetary incentives, are not. As the fear
of closure dissipates, anti-encroachment measures may be reversed.

In many such "reversible" situations, I believe the Defense Department
has squandered the BRAC opportunity. It has failed, in most cases, to
develop lasting partnerships with its host communities.

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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