Update.
'Superb' airspace works against Eielson
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2875441,00.html
By SAM BISHOP News-Miner Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON--Top Air Force officers said Tuesday that military airspace in Alaska would be available for more training if Eielson Air Force Base's current fighter wing were split among bases in the Lower 48.
That justification for the proposed near-elimination of a resident Air Force presence on the base emerged in response to a question from Anthony Principi, chairman of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.
Principi observed that Eielson was one of two bases and numerous smaller installations the Air Force has proposed to keep in "warm" status, meaning they would stay open but host few resident personnel.
"Why?" he asked. "It costs a lot of money to maintain Eielson, just to keep it warm."
Maj. Gen. Gary Heckman, assistant deputy chief of staff for plans and programs, said the Air Force took note of Alaska's "superb" airspace as it conducted the latest review of the nation's base structure.
Instead of adding more fighter squadrons, the Air Force reviewers decided that pulling out the existing fighter wing would free up more opportunities to take advantage of the airspace, Heckman said.
The Air Force in 1997 secured training rights in the sky over about 60,000 square miles of Alaska. The plan, which ended three years of sometimes contentious public debate, cut back the areas traditionally used by the military by about 10,000 square miles but permanently reserved the 60,000. Until then, the Air Force had to apply regularly to the Federal Aviation Administration for the withdrawals.
At the time of the permanent designations, Air Force officials said it would make Alaska an attractive place for Outside military crews to practice.
Now it appears the Air Force wants to significantly increase the use of that space, but at the expense of the resident base structure.
Gen. John Jumper, Air Force chief of staff, said he expects the annual Cope Thunder training exercise, for example, would be able to accommodate more people and even operate all year if Eielson were realigned.
The proposed changes at Eielson "will allow us to take advantage of the magnificent ranges that exist up there," he told the base closure commission.
That argument for Eielson's transformation is found only by reading between the lines of the Defense Department report released Friday with its recommendations for closures and realignments nationwide.
"Eielson's military value is high because of its close proximity to valuable airspace and ranges," the summary states. "Eielson is, however, an expensive base to operate and improve (build). The Air Force recommends realigning Eielson, but keeping the base open in a 'warm' status using the resident Air National Guard units and a portion of the infrastructure to continue operating the base for USAF/joint/combined exercises."
Twelve of Eielson's 18 A-10 jets would go to Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. There, they would support an innovative Army fighting unit based at nearby Fort Benning, Acting Secretary of the Air Force Michael Dominguez told the commission Tuesday.
Eielson's 18 F-16 jets would go to Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada. That base also has excellent airspace, Jumper said.
The Air Force is trying to enlarge the size of its fighter squadrons in this round of base adjustments, Jumper said. Putting more planes in one spot will reduce maintenance costs.
"You'll see the analysis, you'll see the deliberations," Jumper said.
Dominguez said the analysis is based on a "reasoned, thoughtful, quantifiable approach to military value."
"Military value is a function of an installation's inherent and organic characteristics," Dominguez said.
Those include weather, usable space and permanent infrastructure, he said. It is "not a function of the characteristics of the unit currently stationed at an installation."
The department established four criteria for determining the military value of bases:
* The mission capabilities and the impact on operational readiness of the total force.
* The land and facilities available.
* The ability to accommodate contingency, mobilization, surge and future total force requirements.
* The cost of operations and the manpower implications.
More detailed data justifying the military's recommendations are due to the commission by Friday, said Robert McCreary, commission spokesman.
The nine-member base closure commission began taking testimony Monday from Defense Department officials in a basement hearing room of the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The commission has not established a schedule for visiting affected communities, McCreary said.
The law guiding this round of base reviews requires that at least two commissioners visit any base that is added to the Department of Defense's recommended list, McCreary said. Since Eielson is already on the department's list, that provision provides no guarantee that any members will visit.
Nevertheless, he said, "their plan is to get out there and see as many bases as possible."
He said he was "pretty confident" that any base proposed for major reductions would get a visit.
The commission must create its own list of recommendations and give them to President Bush by Sept. 8. Bush then has two weeks to either accept the list, ask the commission for revisions or reject it in its entirety. If he accepts it immediately or after revisions, Congress will have another 45 legislative days to accept or reject it, again without amendment.
Washington, D.C., reporter Sam Bishop can be reached at (202) 662-8721 or sbishop@newsminer.com .
Update,
State, borough allocate funds to fight closures
http://www.news-miner.com/Stories/0,1413,113~7244~2875439,00.html
By DIANA CAMPBELL
and R.A. DILLON
, Staff Writers
Local and state government efforts have raised $1.5 million in an effort to save Eielson Air Force Base and other Alaska military installations from downsizing or closure by the Department of Defense.
The Fairbanks North Star Borough Assembly approved spending $500,000 to save Eielson while the state Senate approved giving $1 million to a statewide task force formed by Gov. Frank Murkowski to stem the loss of more than 4,800 military and civilian jobs statewide, with Eielson representing 2,800 lost personnel alone.
The money will be used to hire consultants, but the time to make a case for the 62-year-old base is short, said Borough Mayor Jim Whitaker.
"It is imperative to hire the best minds available," Whitaker said. "We're going to fight like hell."
Friday, the Department of Defense recommended closing 33 major bases and reconfiguring hundreds of others to save $48.8 billion. Eielson would lose the 354th Fighter Wing, along with 36 fighter aircraft to bases in the Lower 48 by 2011. All that will be left is the 168th Air Refueling Wing of the Alaska Air National Guard and smaller units.
Whitaker called a special meeting of the assembly Tuesday night for a $500,000 emergency appropriation to help save the base. All nine members of the assembly signed on as co-sponsors and approved the measure unanimously.
"We can't afford to sit around and wait," said Assemblywoman Bonnie Williams. She and other assembly members praised Whitaker's swift action in bringing the motion forward. "We're armed with a fair amount of information."
History has shown that only 15 percent of those bases that make the defense reduction list survive the cuts, Whitaker said. That's why hiring a consultant is important. The fight will be based on Eielson's--and Alaska's--strategic military location and its importance to the nation.
"We better not hang our whole hat on (economic impact) or we'll die on it," Williams said.
The second task of the borough's consultant is to look for ways to prepare the area if efforts to keep Eielson fail, Whitaker said. The borough could survive the hit if growth continues at 1.5 to 2.0 percent annually. But Fairbanks will still see paychecks disappear.
In addition to the borough's contribution, Senate Finance Co-Chairman Gary Wilken, R-Fairbanks, on Tuesday shoehorned $1 million into the Senate's capital budget for the governor's 15-member statewide task force. The Senate approved the appropriation as part of a supplemental spending bill and sent it to the House on Tuesday.
"It's a very serious request for a very serious problem," Wilken said. "We need funding to present our case on an expedited basis."
The Defense Department's recommendation was sent to a national base closing and realignment commission, which has until Sept. 8 to make its recommendations to President Bush. If Bush approves the recommendations, Congress has 45 legislative days to rule.
In a letter requesting support for the funding to the governor, Wilken estimated the realignment would cost the Fairbanks economy 4,700 jobs.
Whitaker said that the borough will work with the task force, and based on what Wilken has said, expects part of the state's $1 million will be spent on Fairbanks efforts.
Officials believe it will cost between $500,000 to $1.5 million to hire consultants and mount an adequate argument to the base closure and realignment commission. The money would be used to pay for consultants, financial analyses, public campaigning and travel expenses.
"The governor is extremely concerned about the effects of the Eielson realignment on the community of Fairbanks," said Becky Hultberg, the governor's spokeswoman. "The governor acted very quickly to address this, but we still need further analysis to know how much it's going to cost."
On behalf of the borough, Jim Dodson, owner of Dodson Development in Fairbanks, contacted a Washington, D.C. consulting firm specializing in military issues to see how much the lobbying effort would cost. He said $1.5 million was enough to pay consulting fees and other expenses associated with the effort to keep Alaska's bases at their current level.
"We're going to need help and we're going to need it quick," Dodson said. "The price tag for that type of work is a minimum of $500,000."
"The commission isn't interested in the economic affects of the realignment to Fairbanks," Dodson said. "They want to know how Eielson fits strategically into America's defense. We don't have those facts, but these people do."
The argument to keep the state's bases open and fully staffed would focus on homeland security and protection of the trans-Alaska oil pipeline, Sen. Gene Therriault, R-North Pole, said. Alaska also had the only bases equipped for operations in the Arctic, he said.
Rep. Jay Ramras, R-Fairbanks, said he'd work to protect the funding from cuts in the House, but worried it may be too late to save the base.
"I'm just worried it's in the 11th hour," he said. "We should have been working on a preventative effort much earlier."
Diana Campbell can be reached at 459-7523 or dcampbell@newsminer.com . R.A. Dillon can be reached at 459-7503 or rdillon@newsminer.com .