While Arizona’s military bases largely escaped drastic cuts in Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld’s base closure recommendations, the state needs to remain vigilant as the list is finalized, officials said May 17.

Other states will likely point to Arizona as they argue to keep their own bases open, said Thomas Browning, a member of the Governor’s Military Affairs Commission, which was meeting for the first time since Mr. Rumsfeld’s recommendations were released May 13.

“Hopefully it’s not a battle we’re going to have to fight but we need to be prepared,” Mr. Browning said.

The committee has formed a work group to study the impact proposed closures could have on the state. Having that background information will be important as Arizona argues to keep additional bases off the list and hopefully finds a way to retain the Air Force Research Lab in Mesa, one of the facilities recommended for closure, Mr. Browning said.

The Mesa facility and the Allen Hall Armed Forces Reserve Center in Tucson were the only two Arizona bases Mr. Rumsfeld recommended for closure. If those two facilities are shut down, the state would be left with about a dozen military installations.

Original estimates projected the state would lose roughly 500 jobs due to recommended closures and realignments of other facilities, including 193 of the state’s estimated 41,000 military positions. Most of the losses would come at Luke Air Force Base and Fort Huachuca.

However, new estimates anticipate that shutting the Mesa lab could alone cost 425 jobs, more than four times the 42 military and 46 civilian jobs originally expected to disappear with the closure of that facility.

The economic impact of losing the lab would equal about $74 million a year, Mr. Browning said.

The federal base closing commission had not released a timeline for the next steps in the facility shutting process, Mr. Browning said. However, the governor’s commission expects at least one representative from the national group to visit every facility recommended for closure in the next few months.

Regional Hearings To Be Set

Regional hearings will also be scheduled for the base closing commission to gather public comment on the proposals.

Arizona needs to form a strategy to protect the Mesa facility and other bases, either by testifying in front of the commission or coming up with another viable alternative, Mr. Browning said.

Lisa Atkins, co-chair of the Governor’s Military Affairs Commission, said, “We have to jump into the conversations at the regional hearing.”

However, if the past is any indication, the base closure recommendations probably won’t change. Seven of nine commissioners must agree to modify the list, Mr. Browning said, and 90 per cent of past base closure recommendations went to the president unchanged.

A final list of proposed closures must be submitted to President Bush by Sept. 8. If Mr. Bush accepts the recommendations, Congress will have 45 legislative days to reject them before they become final. —

FYI

Governor’s Military Affairs Commission: http://www.governor.state.az.us/mft /index.htm

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