Hill Air Force Base - Utah's single largest employer - survived a near-death experience Thursday, thanks to the demise instead of two sister bases in Texas and California.
The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) voted 6-2 to close instead McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento, Calif., and to nearly close Kelly Air Force Base in San Antonio.Their work will be transferred to other surviving air logistics centers at Hill, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and Tinker Air Force Base, Ga.
The vote reversed the original Pentagon proposal to keep all five air logistics centers open but at reduced levels.
However, supporters of Hill and others successfully argued that closing one or two bases would save more money by totally eliminating maintenance costs at excess facilities and that additional work from those that do close would make surviving bases stronger.
The decision had members of Congress from Texas and California howling - and pledging to persuade President Clinton to reject the closure list. Those two big states are key to Clinton's re-election hopes.
But Clinton can only reject the list - not add other bases to it. If he accepts the list, Congress then has 45 days to reject it - but also cannot add or subtract bases - before it otherwise automatically becomes law.
Because this round of base closures was the last scheduled by law, Hill is now safe for the foreseeable future.
Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said, "I'm elated that Hill is saved. But I'm not really surprised. It was ranked the best of all the bases."
Sen. Bob Bennett, R-Utah, added, "It was clear that Hill should be left alone. It not only survives but will likely pick up additional work now" from the bases that close.
In Utah, Hill boosters had similar reactions.
"This has been a great week. With the Olympics and now this, it's hard to complain," said Gov. Mike Leavitt. "We are all very pleased."
Mike Pavich, Hill/DDO '95 president, said, "This is what we expected, and it probably means more work for Hill Air Force Base."
Before the vote, the base closure commission's staff pointed out that Hill had higher rankings in all categories than the other four air logistics centers, would cost more to close and would save less.
Because McClellan and Kelly were the lowest-ranked bases and would save the most through closure, the commission never took votes on closing any others - but debated long about whether to close one or two of those bases.
While the Air Force had argued that closing any of the "megabases" would be too expensive, the commission worked around that by voting earlier Thursday to keep open Air Force labs in New Mexico, New York and Texas that had been proposed for closure.
With that, it saved $566 million it would have cost to close them. With money previously set aside to downsize the air logistics centers, the commission figured it had come up with the $800 million or so it would cost to close the two bases.
Their closure is expected to save $3.4 billion over 20 years and is expected to cover the cost of closure within one year after the bases finally shut down.
Commissioners Rebecca Cox and Benjamin Montoya opposed closing McClellan - even though it was the lowest-ranked base - saying it had many unique high-tech facilities that would be too expensive to move and that Sacramento had already been hit too hard with previous Army and Navy closings there in other rounds.
Rep. Vic Fazio, D-Calif., told the press afterward that he agreed. "I'm upset and amazed that Sacramento and California took another hit," he said. "I'm asking everyone to call the White House and urge the president to veto it."
Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., added, "This fight isn't over yet. This is the straw that broke the camel's back in California, and I invite the people of Texas to join us in asking the president to reject this list."
Tech. Sgt. Barbara Fisher, Hill spokeswoman, said, "We think it's great. I think everybody's really happy - relieved, I guess you could say. . . . We have to wait and see what happens with the decision because it still goes to the president and to Congress."
Commissioners Josue Robles and Al Davis preferred closing only one base - McClellan - and opposed closing Kelly, saying that makes the cuts too big and may threaten the ability of the Air Force to do extra work in time of war.
As a consolation for San Antonio, the commission earlier in the day spared Brooks Air Force Base. In addition, it ordered many operations at Kelly to be moved to Lackland Air Force Base, also in San Antonio.
The commission was expected to cast more votes affecting Hill later Thursday - including whether to move some Army missile work to it from Pennsylvania and whether to transfer testing (but not training) on the Utah Test and Training Range to California.
It was also expected to vote later Thursday to officially remove Dugway Proving Ground from closure lists. The Army asked for that last week, saying it found it could not obtain permits for chemical and biological field testing it had hoped to move to Arizona and Maryland.
The commission is expected to close all or most of Defense Depot Ogden, likely on Saturday. Bases that could have competed against it for survival have already escaped base closure consideration lists.