[CPEO-IRF] BRAC-imposed conditions on local government

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Today, as I reported earlier, the BRAC Commission imposed conditions on
state and local governments for keeping Naval facilities open in New
Orleans and Virginia Beach. While these conditions seem to make sense in
the short run, they raise serious long-term questions.

To what degree will localities be forced to pay for the cost of national
security facilities? Will the Defense Department routinely play off
communities against each other, as semiconductor manufacturers and major
retailers do? And can future local officials be bound by political
decision made at the point of the loaded BRAC barrel?

I have supported the actions of base commanders who have started to
testify before local planning boards that proposed developments would
interfere with their operations. But the actions of the BRAC Commission,
in essentially imposing decisions upon local government, go too far.

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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