Posts Tagged ‘BRAC’

A bid to extend liability protections afforded BRAC sites to installations closed outside of the base closure process when unknown contamination is discovered fell short, as negotiators this week omitted language that had been in the House version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill from the conference report. The provision would have extended the indemnity now provided by Section 330 of the 1993 defense authorization bill to all bases closed after Oct. 24, 1988 …

House and Senate negotiators on Tuesday approved a final version of the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill, striking compromises on several controversial provisions that should allow President Obama to sign the bill, H.R. 4310, into law. The House is expected to take up the conference report Thursday, followed by the Senate as early as Friday, allowing the final legislation to be sent to the president’s desk before the end of the week. While the final measure retains a variety of provisions the White House had resisted, Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin told reporters he didn’t believe there were any items in the legislation that would prompt a veto by Obama …

A group of seven House members representing districts with closed Army ammunition plants is pressing the chamber’s conferees to the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill to preserve language extending liability protections afforded BRAC sites to installations closed outside of the BRAC process when unknown contamination is discovered. The language, which would extend the indemnity now provided by Section 330 of the 1993 defense authorization bill to all bases closed after Oct. 24, 1988, is included in the House version of the annual defense policy bill but was left out of the Senate version …

The Fort Monmouth Economic Revitalization Authority is selling two residential parcels that could be used for permanent housing by residents who lost their homes in Hurricane Sandy and no longer want to live in a floodplain. Local officials believe the former Army post in coastal New Jersey, which did not experience flooding in the October storm, may be attractive to homeowners who don’t want to pay higher insurance rates or live in an area that is vulnerable to flooding …

A new initiative launched by Georgia Gov. Nathan Deal is aimed at protecting the state’s installations, partially by recruiting contractors to defense communities to help increase the military value of local bases. The Governor’s Defense Initiative, launched in November, isn’t specifically focused on the next base closure round, but it will attempt to ensure DOD policymakers are aware of Georgia’s military assets. “You can’t wait until BRAC lists bases that are going to close to start worrying about these things …

Rep. Rob Wittman (R) will replace fellow Virginian Rep. Randy Forbes (R) as chairman of the House Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee in the 113th Congress after losing out to Forbes in the competition to head up the Seapower and Projection Forces panel. The shift will allow Forbes to continue his strong advocacy of the Navy, while continuing to fight alongside full Committee Chairman Buck McKeon (R-Calif.) to fend off further cuts to the defense budget …

Lennar Corp. has gained approval from the state-supported China Development Bank for a $1.7 billion loan to jump start construction of neighborhoods at two of the developer’s high-profile base redevelopment projects in San Francisco, Treasure Island and Hunters Point Naval Shipyard. The deal is not complete, but both sides are trying to finish it by the end of the year to avoid the Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act, which will require foreign investors to enter into disclosure compliance agreements with the Treasury Department …

The Oakland Film Center and seven other major tenants, along with dozens of smaller firms and contractors, will be forced to vacate the former Oakland Army Base next spring to make way for the site’s redevelopment into a shipping and distribution facility. The city will lose $242 million in state funds if redevelopment does not begin by December 2013, reported the Oakland Local blog. Turning the site into a distribution facility will increase the capacity of the Port of Oakland and improve its ability to move cargo. The first phase of redevelopment, approved in June, is projected to cost $484 million.

An amendment added to the fiscal 2013 defense authorization bill on the Senate floor would require DOD to provide Congress 90 days’ notice, along with a detailed justification, before reducing by more than 1,000 the number of military personnel assigned to an installation. The provision was introduced by Alaska Sen. Mark Begich in response to the Air Force’s far-reaching force structure proposal included in its FY 2013 budget request …

The past five base closure rounds offer a wide array of lessons to community and installation officials grappling with the challenges of ever-tightening budgets and the likelihood that the Pentagon will be forced to pare down its infrastructure in the coming years, according to a new report issued by ADC. Using BRAC Lessons Learned to Address the Resource Challenges of Today is the product of a workshop held at the ADC 2012 Annual Conference which offered members of the association and the military a unique opportunity to consider how experiences from previous BRAC rounds can be adapted for future rounds and to deal with issues now confronting DOD …