Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 16, 1993                   TAG: 9305160147
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: B-4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Associated Press
DATELINE: NORFOLK                                LENGTH: Medium

PENTAGON MAY ADD FORT MONROE TO SHUTDOWN LIST

The Base Closure and Realignment Commission may add the base to the so-called "hit list" when the panel reconvenes in Washington on Friday, the Virginian-Pilot and the Ledger-Star of Norfolk reported.

The newspaper said the commission has hinted at Fort Monroe's fate in conversations with congressional aides. The aides were not identified.

Fort Monroe, in Hampton, is home to the Army's Training and Doctrine Command.

Members of the commission have trained their sights on the base since their first week of hearings and repeatedly have asked the Army why it is keeping the seemingly obsolete facility open, according to the congressional aides.

The Army's decision to keep Fort Monroe open also was questioned in a report released April 15 by the watchdog arm of Congress.

The report said the Army calculated the costs of moving Fort Monroe's command to Fort Eustis, about 20 miles away, and found that the service would begin saving $28 million a year after 1998.

The Army rejected the move because of the estimated $600 million in environmental cleanup costs at Fort Monroe and the "turbulence" it would cause in the training command, according to the GAO report.

The GAO was unimpressed.

"First, the downsizing and restructuring of U.S. military forces have caused turbulence throughout" the defense community, the report said.

And the GAO said the defense secretary has told the services not to make environmental costs a prime reason for retaining a facility because the Pentagon is responsible for cleanup whether a base is closed or not.