The Pentagon finally proposed long-feared base closures on Friday that would cost Utah 2,319 jobs - 2,289 for civilians and 30 for soldiers - or about 800 more than Utah politicians expected earlier this week.
According to the office of Rep. Jim Hansen, job losses include 2,189 from the near-closure of Tooele Army Depot's North Area; 115 from closure of a computer center at Defense Depot Ogden; 13 from closure of a Naval Reserve center in Ogden; and two from closure of a computer center at Hill Air Force Base.Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, said Army liaison officers gave him slightly higher numbers for layoffs at Tooele: 2,279 civilian jobs and 24 military.
Either way, Tooele is losing the lion's share of its present 2,700 jobs, mostly from the transfer of its heavy job-producing vehicle repair work transferred to Red River Army Depot in Texas. But Tooele will continue storing and destroying aging chemical arms.
"We keep the crap and lose the cream," said Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah - the ranking Republican on a House Armed Services subcommittee on facilities.
All that came as Defense Secretary Les Aspin proposed to shut down 31 major bases nationwide and realign or scale back 134 other major facilities.
"These base closures are necessary, but they will hurt local economies," a statement from Aspin said. "The administration recognizes its responsibilities for parallel efforts to stimulate economic growth in the affected communities."
Aspin said the closings and realignments should save about $3.1 billion per year beginning in 2000. The 1993 list, coupled with previous base closures in 1988 and 1991, will mean annual savings of $5.6 billion.
But that may be little consolation to Tooele - where its North Area near Tooele City would apparently have as its only remaining missions the storage and destruction of conventional ammunition, plus some base administration.
When Hansen was asked what he thought would be left at the North Area if the proposal proceeds, he said, "Sagebrush."
Officials from Tooele and other affected installations declined to comment until they receive official word later Friday.
Ironically - and bitterly for Utahns - the base has just completed a $110 million, state-of-the-art, assembly-line plant to refurbish Army trucks, which Hansen said is the best in the world. Work will be transferred from it to much older facilities.
Hansen said earlier he had expected about 1,500 jobs would be lost from maintenance work at Tooele. It lost more, and also lost 231 Defense Logistics Agency jobs at the base that handle supply distribution functions there.
The other cuts at Defense Depot Ogden, the Naval Reserve center and Hill also were surprises. Steve Petersen, an aide to Hansen, said he was especially surprised that a computer center at Ogden was closed because it and some sister facilities had recently been upgraded.
Petersen said McClellan Air Force Base in California has been taken off the closure list, apparently because of political pressure. "Some of the work from it would have likely gone to Hill Air Force Base," he said.
Hill and Dugway Proving Ground are expected to still suffer up to thousands of previously announced layoffs coming from other defense cuts at the end of the Cold War.
Hansen stressed that the fight for Tooele is just beginning, and that the base has a stronger chance than most for survival because he feels criteria used to target it were seriously flawed.
The Pentagon's recommendations now will go to the independent Base Closure and Realign-ment Commission, which has until June 30 to make recommendations to President Clinton. The president will then have 15 days to amend the list and send it to Congress.
Congress then has 45 days to reject the final list. If it fails to do so, the closures become law.
Hansen said, "I must emphasize very strongly that its recommendation is not final . . . any decision later this year would take at least two years to fully implement."
He said the next round before the commission on base closures is most important, because its recommendations were followed to the letter in base closures two years ago.
Hansen said the Army told him Tooele was targeted for partial closure because its overhead costs are considered to be too high. "That's because we have the new $110 million consolidated maintenance facility that has been running at only maybe 40 percent of capacity," he said.
"You might have old clapboard sheds at other bases built in 1942 or 1952 that operate at 100 percent capacity and appear to have lower overhead. That's how these older facilities manage to survive."
He complained that the other facilities work on only a vehicle or two at a time, while Tooele's assembly line procedure can work on dozens - and has the capacity to absorb work from older facilities that he thinks should close instead.
"If you were running a business, you wouldn't make that kind of decision," Hansen said.
"It defies logic as to why a brand new facility would close and yet the Marine Corps would be allowed to keep its two World War II vintage, antiquated truck depots in Barstow, Calif., and Albany, Ga. The taxpayers ought to be outraged, and I will do all that I can to get the maximum public exposure on Tooele's merits."
Hansen said top Pentagon officials told him Acting Army Secretary John Shannon had argued with others that all branches of the military should combine depot services, and the best depot should get the combined work. "He said Tooele Army Depot was the best in the world at tactical wheeled vehicle maintenance, but others said let the commission figure that out."
Tooele's separate South Area - which is Rush Valley, 20 miles from Tooele and the base's North Area - stores 42 percent of the nation's chemical arms, and a plant to destroy them is nearing completion there.
It will not be affected by the realignment, although Hansen's office questions whether proposed actions would leave enough guards, administration and other support needed for that area to operate efficiently.