Monday’s meeting of Allies for Cherry Point’s Tomorrow was intended to discuss the possibility of new BRAC rounds and substantial cuts in DOD spending, but local and state officials from eastern North Carolina first heard about personnel cuts already affecting Fleet Readiness Center East. “Our numbers are going to be going down,” said Mary Beth Fennell, the facility’s business operations director …
Secretary Panetta participated last week in a roundtable discussion hosted by the Defense Communities Caucus, addressing the possibility of new BRAC rounds and their potential impacts on defense communities. Nineteen members of the House attended the discussion, which also provided attendees with a forum to discuss the challenges and shortcomings of past base closure rounds with Panetta …
The BRAC process would look very similar to the 2005 round under the legislative proposal the Defense Department submitted to Congress for the base closure rounds in 2013 and 2015 it is requesting. The process for appointing commissioners, the milestones and reports DOD must meet before a new round can take place, selection criteria and the rules under which the BRAC Commission would operate are essentially unchanged from the last round, based on a preliminary analysis of DOD’s 36-page legislative proposal …
The Montana Chamber of Commerce will form a military support group to promote Malmstrom AFB, the presence of the Guard and Reserve, and the defense industry, the organization said last week. “The military is big business in Montana,” said President/CEO Webb Brown. “The state’s leading business advocate will play a greater role in supporting all the services across all of Big Sky Country …
Secretary Panetta last week said major installations should be closed only through the BRAC process, a statement that should ease communities’ concerns about the department’s intentions to shutter bases if Congress does not authorize new base closure rounds. “There is some de minimis closures that we have the right to do under the law, but my view is that for the kind of major installation, that ought to be done through the BRAC process …
The local redevelopment authorities for the former Norton and George Air Force bases in San Bernardino County, Calif., plan to ask a state court for injunctions exempting them from last year’s law eliminating the state’s 400 redevelopment agencies. The Inland Valley Development Agency, the LRA for Norton AFB, will argue that it was not established under the same legislation that allows local governments to create municipal redevelopment agencies …
In an effort to preserve Eielson AFB, the Alaska legislature is considering a measure intended to reduce the Fairbanks installation’s operating costs. After passing the House earlier this month, the Senate now is taking up House Bill 316, which would create military facility zones that offer state and federal incentives for businesses that support Alaska’s military …
Navy officials say a planned wind farm near Naval Air Station Kingsville is not a threat to the base’s flying mission, but leaders in Texas’ Coastal Bend aren’t so certain. The Kingsville City Council passed a resolution opposing the project and is setting aside money for potential litigation to stop wind farms …
As Tobyhanna Army Depot in northeastern Pennsylvania approaches a June celebration of its 100th anniversary, workers and area residents look back to the close call they experienced during the 1995 BRAC round. While facing the prospect of being closed made for an anxious time, it brought the community closer together. “That was the first time the community realized what was here …
Development on the Buckley Annex at the former Lowry AFB in Denver is slated to begin this fall with demolition work. The reuse plan for the 70-acre site, closed following BRAC 2005, calls for 800 residences, up to 200,000 square feet of commercial office and retail space, and a 4.5-acre community park …