The policy, written by XL Group plc’s environmental insurance underwriting unit, provides comprehensive coverage to the site’s LRA, including remediation costs for unknown and new pollution conditions, bodily injury, property damage and legal defense costs. The policy is the 37th the XL Group has provided to a former military installation, according to the firm.

The policy is designed to prevent unanticipated issues stemming from contamination from slowing redevelopment. “It address environmental concerns that can keep a project from even beginning, while helping redevelopment activities move along without unforeseen delay so that redevelopment agencies can return the land to productive use again and bring jobs and new resources to the community,” said Bob Hallenbeck, senior vice president for the firm’s environmental unit.

The reuse plan for the former base, located on the eastern tip of Puerto Rico, calls for the creation of 4.4 million square feet of high-class mixed use development at the resort, including retail, waterfront facilities and an international cruise port.

Not so clear are what steps the area can take to leverage Fort Drum’s economic assets, assuming the post — along with its current population of 24,000 soldiers and civilian workers — survives, writes Greg Gardner, associate professor of business at the State University of New York at Potsdam. One study that looked at that question identified more than a dozen industries leaders should target for growth, but to date, only the construction sector has shown any promise.

The supply of human capital from military families and retirees should be a valuable source of economic growth, but the region has not yet taken advantage of it. “Nor have we developed any methods of using the post to leverage the development of a regional defense sector, although not for want of trying,” Gardner writes.

Since 2005, Ellington Field has become the headquarters for National Guard and Reserve units from all branches of the military. It is home to more than 6,000 personnel, up from 1,500 in 2008, reported the Houston Chronicle.

“We’re guardedly optimistic,” John Martinec, director of Ellington Field Task Force, told the paper.

Avoiding closure isn’t the group’s only goal. “We don’t just need to be concerned about keeping Ellington here, but we have to grow it, we have to expand there so we can be sure that it’s less vulnerable to closure in the future,” said Houston City Councilman Mike Sullivan.

The proposal comes as DOD is attempting to cut $487 billion in projected spending through 2021. Local officials were disappointed to learn about losing the unit, which focuses on stopping the flow of illegal drugs, but said that the move would not jeopardize the future of the facility located in Belle Chasse just outside of New Orleans, reported the Times-Picayune.

“I was very disappointed to learn that NAS-JRB will be losing a flying organization, and that is never a good thing for the community,” said David Mize, chairman of the Mayor’s Military Advisory Committee of Greater New Orleans. “But with that said, I do not think losing this one squadron hurts the long-term viability of NAS-JRB as an active air station.”

The air station is home to about 7,000 active-duty and reserve Navy, Marine Corps, Air National Guard, Army Reserve and Coast Guard personnel. The squadron moved from NAS Atlanta to Louisiana after the Georgia installation closed as a result of BRAC 2005.

The 170th infantry brigade will be inactivated this year, with the 172nd infantry brigade scheduled to be inactivated in fiscal 2014, reported American Forces Press Service.

The two units that will remain in Europe are the 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment at Vilseck, Germany, and the 173rd Airborne Brigade Combat Team at Vicenza, Italy. Elements of the 173rd that are based in various locations in Germany will be moved to Vicenza. A senior defense official said those modernized units are two of the Army’s “cutting-edge” troop formations, according to the story.

Adjustments of other forces in Europe include:

• inactivation of V Corps Headquarters in Wiesbaden, Germany;
• move of U.S. Army Europe Headquarters from Heidelberg, Germany, to Wiesbaden;
• inactivation of the Air Force’s 81st Fighter Squadron at Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany; and
• inactivation of the 603rd Air Control Squadron at Aviano Air Base, Italy.

Visit the DOD website to read a background briefing on the changing U.S. force posture in Europe.

“This is a proactive step by the city and Port San Antonio to prepare for any upcoming base realignments and closures and strengthen San Antonio’s position to retain existing missions and attract new missions and personnel to the region,” Mayor Julián Castro said in a written statement. The city would give the parcel to Port San Antonio — the reuse project at the former Kelly AFB — which would administer the lease with the Air Force.

Leasing the parcel to Lackland, which has outgrown its existing space, would benefit the Air Force as well as the city, explained Robert Murdock, director of San Antonio’s Office of Military Affairs. Besides providing expansion room for Lackland to house realigning missions in a future BRAC round, the tract would provide room for some Air Force activities now located at Port San Antonio — located across Kelly Field from Lackland — to move onto Lackland proper. Those moves in turn would free up space at Port San Antonio for new development.

About 7,000 workers at Port San Antonio are Air Force employees. Port San Antonio is nearing completion of more than $60 million in upgrades to a 452,000-square-foot facility slated to house 11 Air Force agency headquarters and 3,000 personnel. The building and four adjacent facilities are contained within a 70-acre cantonment area at the Port known as Lackland Annex.

Read the story in the San Antonio Business Journal.

More than 18 percent of the 1,548 complaints that employers violated the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights Act in fiscal 2011 involved federal agencies, in most instances for firing service members for their absence or retracting job offers due to a member’s active-duty commitment.

Federal employers often suffer no consequences, as the Labor Department investigations carry no enforcement power and the Justice Department pursues only a small number of cases each year. Advocates for reservists are concerned that the number of violations will rise as more troops return from overseas, according to the story.

Recently, however, DOD, the Veteran Affairs Department and six other agencies formed a task force to boost federal compliance with the statute.

As a result, installations should attempt to cut costs, he said, according to Southern Maryland News. Indian Head, located 30 miles outside of Washington, is an R&D center for energetics.

A record of past investment in an installation will not inoculate it in a future base closure round, Principi added.

Principi also reiterated the most common advice offered to communities preparing for BRAC: “Bases should be prepared to demonstrate first and foremost the value of their installations.”

Army Secretary John McHugh said officials would begin to plan for the budget cuts this summer if no legislative fix for the looming budget cuts is in sight, reported CQ Today.

McHugh told lawmakers the cuts, prompted by the super committee’s earlier failure to reach agreement on a deficit reduction plan, would affect every Army activity. The threat of sequestration is hurting the industrial base as well, upsetting employees and shareholders, he added.

“To use an axe to cut a half-trillion dollars from defense spending would be perilous enough, but to do so without providing the department with any means of managing those reductions would be beyond risky,” he said at a Friday budget hearing, reported the Hill newspaper. “To say this would be unacceptable is, at least in my opinion, an understatement.”

On Thursday, Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James Amos said that sequestration, particularly if personnel were excluded from the cuts, would be “a near impossible situation for us.”

“I will tell you that the impact of sequestration, we’ll have a reduced forward presence, it will be a refined strategy as we know it today,” Amos said.

A comment from Rep. Mac Thornberry (R-Texas) was typical: “The 2005 round of BRAC will not even break even until 2018, according to GAO. That means for 13 years it’s going to cost more money to have more BRAC than it would if you didn’t have BRAC. And so having the Pentagon suggest two more rounds when it will aggravate the budget situation for 13 years, or at least a decade, leaves me scratching my head a little bit.”

One surprise was that Committee Chair Rep. Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) failed to mention the department’s looming request for BRAC rounds in 2013 and 2015.

In the minority regarding the possibility of another base closure round was the committee’s senior Democrat, Rep. Adam Smith (Wash.), who declared himself “the only one I think who has a single positive thing to say about it.” Smith used most his time to give Panetta an opportunity to explain the need for more base closures.

Perhaps more difficult than questions about the justification for BRAC was one about the Air Force’s proposed force structure changes that focused on the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve. Rep. Mark Critz (R-Pa.), concerned about the recommendation that would eliminate the Air Force Reserve’s 911th Airlift Wing and close the Pittsburgh Air Reserve Station, asked the defense secretary, “How many other bases are being identified for unilateral Department of Defense closure outside of the BRAC process?”

Panetta successfully eluded the question, however, suggesting the congressman direct his question to the Air Force chief of staff, who made the decision.

A webcast of the hearing is available on the committee’s website.