[CPEO-MEF] Hawai'i doesn't expect closures

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Hawai'i bases unlikely to close

By William Cole
Honolulu Advertiser Military Writer
Sunday, October 19, 2003 

Worried about the possibly bad economic effects of a round of military
base closings in 2005, states with bases are hiring lobbyists, creating
task forces and spending large sums of money to ward off Pentagon
cost-cutters.

But not in Hawai'i.

With a renewed military emphasis on Asia and the Pacific, plans for an
Army Stryker Brigade, new Air Force C-17 jets expected, and the
possibility of an aircraft carrier battle group, the attitude here is
one of confidence.

Military expansion, not contraction, is being contemplated here.

"We don't feel like we're as vulnerable as some of the other states,"
said Charlie Ota, vice president for military affairs with the Chamber
of Commerce of Hawai'i.

Ota said the chamber keeps in close contact with Hawai'i's Washington
delegation on the issue - a delegation that wields a degree of military
clout.

Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, is ranking member of the Appropriations
defense subcommittee. Democratic Rep. Neil Abercrombie serves on the
House Armed Services Committee.

Abercrombie said that with the Washington delegation, chamber's military
affairs council, and state adjutant general Maj. Gen. Robert G.F. Lee
looking out for Hawai'i's military interests, "I think we pretty much
have the situation covered. Maybe some of the other (states) don't have
that kind of ongoing oversight and interest."

...

See http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2003/Oct/19/ln/ln13a.html

-- 


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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