From: | CPEO Moderator <cpeo@cpeo.org> |
Date: | 5 Jan 2004 20:02:16 -0000 |
Reply: | cpeo-military |
Subject: | Advocates begin fight for naval facilities |
Maine MAINE TODAY Advocates begin fight for naval facilities By Bart Jansen Sunday, January 4, 2004 WASHINGTON -- Maine's congressional delegation is scrutinizing the new rules for closing military bases to ensure that the standards will protect Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery and Brunswick Naval Air Station. With a quarter of all bases nationwide facing closure in two years, local advocates are mobilizing to promote the importance of Maine's two bases. The Portsmouth shipyard maintains nuclear submarines. The Brunswick air station conducts anti-submarine patrols over the Atlantic Ocean. Bases are vital to their communities because they employ thousands of people earning hundreds of millions of dollars. In the latest defense spending bill, for example, Portsmouth is slated to refuel the U.S.S. Jacksonville submarine for $248 million. "A lot of places have been gearing up to fight," said Capt. William McDonough, a former commander at Portsmouth and member of the Seacoast Shipyard Association. "We're very concerned because the magnitude of this closure action is huge." The next round of base closures is scheduled for 2005. But the rules to determine which will survive and which will close are being drafted now. While the standards appear similar to three previous rounds of closures during the 1990s, Maine lawmakers are urging that the most important factors to be considered are the base's value to national defense, the impact on its community, its strategic location and its ability to meet the military's changing needs. "Establishing an acceptable national criteria by which base closures and realignment decisions will be made is vital to ensuring that the bases on which our national defense rely most, which I believe includes Brunswick Naval Air Station and Kittery Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, will remain open and operational," said Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, a member of the Armed Services Committee. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has said he wants to close 20 percent to 25 percent of the country's 425 military bases. Maine lawmakers have criticized previous rounds of base closures in 1991, 1993 and 1995. They say the 1991 closing of bases such as Loring Air Force Base in Limestone were for political reasons rather than military requirements, and didn't save as much money as anticipated. This article can be viewed at: http://www.pressherald.com/news/state/040104baseclosure.shtml ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ CPEO: A DECADE OF SUCCESS. Your generous support will ensure that our important work on military and environmental issues will continue. Please consider one of our donation options. Thank you. http://www.groundspring.org/donate/index.cfm?ID=2086-0|721-0 | |
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