Posts Tagged ‘BRAC’

Dorothy Robyn, who oversaw the effort to carry out the recommendations from BRAC 2005 as DOD’s installations chief, will leave the department shortly to become commissioner of the General Services Administration’s Public Buildings Service, the unit that manages the federal government’s real estate portfolio. Robyn, who has been deputy undersecretary for installations and environment since July 2009, will join GSA “in the coming weeks,” according to a memo Dan Tangherlini, GSA’s acting administrator, sent employees on Tuesday …

Steel from buildings and rail lines left behind at the former Concord Naval Weapons Station, along with concrete from hundreds of abandoned ammunition bunkers, are expected to save the city of Concord and others millions of dollars when the northern California site is converted to civilian use. The recycled steel and concrete could save the redevelopment effort about $9 million, with some of the savings resulting from reduced transportation costs. Recycled concrete, for example, will be used as a base for the reuse project’s new roads …

More than 40,000 people attended last month’s Great State of Maine Air Show at Brunswick Landing, helping the LRA for the former Brunswick Naval Air Station break even on the event’s $800,000 cost. The air show — which featured the Thunderbirds, the Air Force’s precision flying team — was the second held at the air station since it officially closed. Last year’s event attracted 25,000 after the event was interrupted by Hurricane Irene …

The Fort Ord Reuse Authority would gain an additional six years to guide the redevelopment of the former Army post in Monterey, Calif., under a measure passed last month by the state legislature. The original bill introduced in the Assembly would have extended the reuse authority’s life for 10 years, but a change in the Senate cut the extension to six years, reported the Monterey County Herald. The reuse authority is due to expire in June 2014 under its charter legislation …

The Hawthorn Foundation in cooperation with the state of Missouri seeks proposals from qualified consultants to conduct an independent assessment of the economic impact of DOD activities in Missouri. The consultant also will identify objective criteria historically employed by DOD and previous BRAC Commissions in ascertaining DOD’s domestic installation alignment, evaluate Missouri’s installation alignment against those criteria, and make recommendations identifying the state’s strengths and weaknesses in anticipation of one or more future BRAC rounds …

Tens of millions of dollars in road projects are under way at three Maryland installations that have gained significant new missions and personnel as a result of the 2005 round of base closures, reports the Baltimore Sun. An $18 million project to upgrade a key intersection leading to Aberdeen Proving Ground recently has begun, with work slated to continue for another year. Average daily traffic on one of the highways passing through the intersection has grown has grown almost 60 percent since the BRAC recommendations were announced. The other highway has experienced an increase in traffic of 3,000 daily vehicles …

Before acknowledging the full extent of radioactive contamination at the former Navy base at Treasure Island, the Navy attempted to prevent California officials from expressing their concerns about the cleanup in writing, reports the Bay Citizen. After discovering radioactive waste in unexpected locations on the site, the California Department of Public Health pressed the Navy to conduct additional testing. Navy officials, however, tried to discourage the regulators from documenting their concerns in writing, according to internal emails …

A Virginia lawmaker is urging Gov. Bob McDonnell to include $6 million in his 2013-2014 budget to purchase properties in the clear zone next to Langley Air Force Base to improve the installation’s position in a future base closure round. Langley, which is responsible for adding $1.2 billion annually to the Hampton Roads economy, “is too valuable to our Peninsula economy to stand by and wait for an untoward federal action,” Del. Gordon Helsel Jr. wrote in a letter to the governor …

Dothan officials on Tuesday voted to join a handful of cities in southeastern Alabama to pay for a consultant to protect Fort Rucker’s interest in a future base closure round. The city commission approved spending $130,992 a year for three years for a consultant to lobby Army and Pentagon officials. “We want to be on offense rather than defense for this round of BRAC,” said Whit Armstrong, spokesman for Friends of Fort Rucker, reported the Dothan Eagle. The goal isn’t just to preserve the post’s programs but also to capture missions from other installations. Rucker is responsible for about 25,000 jobs in the local economy and about a $2 billion annual economic impact, according to the story.

Radioactive contamination at the former Navy base at Treasure Island is more widespread than previously reported, according to a new Navy report and other documents obtained by the Bay Citizen. A draft report completed by the Navy earlier this month acknowledges that the island, located in San Francisco Bay, was used in the 1940s to repair and scrap ships exposed to nuclear testing in the Pacific. One source was a nuclear training ship used at Treasure Island that had been intentionally immersed in radiation. The California Department of Public Health had asked for the report after discovering radioactive waste in unexpected locations …