Base closure list becomes battleground

WASHINGTON - Lawmakers and officials representing communities with some of the 180 military bases targeted for closure on Friday vowed to fight to get off the list, saying their areas would be crippled and national security would be damaged.

“The battle starts today,” said Gerry Tarantolo, mayor of Eatontown, N.J., which is home to Fort Monmouth, a base that would lose all its 5,272 military and civilian jobs, according to the Pentagon proposal released Friday.

An angry Rep. Rush Holt, D-N.J., vowed to “fight like hell to change it. I’m not about to let the Pentagon’s error put the fort and the soldiers it serves in harm’s way.”

And Rep. Rob Simmons, R-Conn., voiced his opposition to a proposal to close the Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn., which would mean losing some 8,000 jobs. "I'm surprised and I'm shocked," Simmons, who serves on the House Armed Services Committee, told MSNBC. "We are going to fight this decision," he added, noting that the committee's chairman also opposes the closure.

Under the proposal, 33 large military bases and some 150 smaller facilities from Maine to Hawaii would be closed to save money and to better suit defense needs.

The list, which earlier reports pegged at 150 total sites, triggers the first round of proposed base closures in a decade and an intense struggle by communities to save their facilities.

Scores of other domestic installations — including 29 major bases — would remain open but with thousands fewer troops.

Republican senator vows to fight
Among the major proposed closures is Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, home to 29 B-1B bombers, half the nation’s fleet of the aircraft, and the state’s second largest employer.

That would deal a potential political setback to Republican freshman Sen. John Thune, who had claimed he could protect the base if elected during his campaign to defeat former Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

PROPOSED BASE CLOSURES State-by-state breakdown Vote: Should bases be closed during wartime? Citizen journalists weigh in Shipyard town vows fight Portsmouth provides blueprint Closures mean environmental cleanups History of past closures Towns wary of economic 'tsunami' Full list with personnel numbers (Adobe Acrobat required)

Thune called the Pentagon “flat wrong” about Ellsworth, and he vowed to help lead the fight in the Senate to delay the entire round of closures. “We will continue to keep Ellsworth open,” Thune said.

An Air Force study last year estimated Ellsworth’s annual economic impact in the state at $278 million, including its $161 million annual payroll.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld also recommended closing the Naval Station in Pascagoula, Miss., which barely survived previous base closure rounds. The decision was a blow to Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., who had fought the 1995 round of closures. At stake are 844 military jobs and 112 civilian jobs.

Other major proposed closures are:

• Naval Submarine Base in Groton, Conn., which would mean losing 8,000 jobs;
• Fort McPherson in Georgia, costing nearly 4,200 jobs;
• Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine, which now has 4,200 jobs;
• Cannon Air Force Base in New Mexico, which would lose more than 2,700 jobs;
• The Naval Station in Ingleside, Texas, costing more than 2,100 jobs.

Other major bases — including the Army’s Fort Bliss in Texas, the Naval Shipyard in Norfolk, Va., and Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland — would see gains, as they absorb troops whose current home bases are slated for closure.

Rumsfeld's plan calls for a massive shift of U.S. forces that would result in a net loss of 29,005 military and civilian jobs at domestic installations. Overall, he proposes pulling 218,570 military and civilian positions out of some U.S. bases while adding 189,565 positions to others.

President Bush’s home state of Texas could gain more than 9,000 military jobs even while losing four major installations and several smaller ones.

Of the 33 major bases to be closed, which represent 10 percent of all major U.S. bases, the Army would have the largest number at 14, followed by 10 for the Air Force and nine for the Navy. But facilities for the Army’s foot soldiers would grow at 18 of its bases compared to growth at 14 each for the Air Force and Navy.

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