[CPEO-IRF] BRAC Commission vote results - first day

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Today, August 24, 2005, the Base Realignment and Closure Commission
rolled through dozens of Pentagon closure and realignment
recommendations, approving most of them, but reversing several
high-profile recommendations. The Commission has not yet considered Air
Force and Air National Guard recommendations, and it appears that a
number of other proposals remain unresolved. For an official accounting
of today's actions, go to http://www.brac.gov/Deliberations.aspx. Note
that no votes are final until the Commission concludes its voting on Saturday.

Here is a quick summary of the major actions in which the Commission
reversed Defense Department recommendations to close:

Corona Naval Weapons Center, California
Hawthorne Army Depot, Nevada
New London Naval Submarine Base, Connecticut
Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Maine
Red River Army Depot, Texas

The Commission approved significant downsizing at Red River, however,
while rejecting downsizing at Lackland Air Force Base (Texas) and the
Lima Tank Plant (Ohio). It also struck the recommend to relocate fleet
air readiness centers on the East Coast.

The Commission decided to close, rather than mothball, the Brunswick
Naval Air Station (Maine), and to close the Broadway Navy Complex in San
Diego (California), unless the Navy leases the property for redevelopment.

In actions directly impacting armed services organizations involved in
the base closure process, the Commission approved recommendations to
move the Air Force Real Property Agency, the Army Installation
Management Agency headquarters, and the Army Environmental Center from
Virginia and Maryland to Texas.

Finally, it left the future of Oceana Naval Air Station (Virginia) and
the New Orleans Naval Support Activity in limbo, dependent upon  actions
by state and local governments. I will post those two motions as
separate messages.

If this trend continues, BRAC 2005 will have evolved from the "Mother of
all BRACs" to a collection of relatively small personnel transfers. New
England is no longer Ground Zero for the 2005 closures. And perhaps by
design, most of the bases on the Pentagon's list with large
environmental restoration programs will remain open.

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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