Base closure criteria rankle Farr

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California
MONTEREY HERALD
Base closure criteria rankle Farr
Local, state officials complain their input ignored
By Kevin Howe, khowe@montereyherald.com
Posted on Fri, Feb. 13, 2004

Rep. Sam Farr and other California legislators expressed disappointment
Thursday with the Pentagon's final list of criteria for determining
which military bases will be closed starting next year.

Despite heavy input from California officials, the Department of Defense
criteria were unchanged from the draft criteria unveiled last month,
said Farr, D-Carmel.

California interests had urged the Pentagon to consider the roles
skilled civilian workers play on California bases, to give increased
consideration to functions important to homeland security and to
consider how hard California was hit by the last round of closures a
decade ago.

Monterey County suffered economically from the closure of Fort Ord and
local officials are hoping to save the area's remaining military
installations, particularly the Defense Language Institute and Naval
Postgraduate School, both in Monterey.

The Defense Department received about 200 letters, including
communications from Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and 50 of the state's 53
members of Congress, asking for other factors to be considered beyond
the military mission and costs, Farr said.

Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., echoed Farr's concerns.

''I am deeply disappointed that the final criteria do not reflect the
legitimate issues that I and other members of the California
congressional delegation raised during the public comment period,''
Feinstein told the Associated Press. ''I think this is unfair and
unwise.''

Farr said he was surprised the Pentagon didn't take any of the
California concerns into account.

"Unfortunately, even though a lot of the letters spoke to specifics,
they (the Pentagon) didn't change one word, one comma," Farr said after
Thursday's meeting. "They published what they released a month ago as
final.

Farr said the criteria are general enough "to allow the Department of
Defense to justify anything they want to do."

This article can be viewed at:
http://www.montereyherald.com/mld/montereyherald/news/local/7945991.htm

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