THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Friday, June 23, 1995 TAG: 9506230500
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A4 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WASHINGTON LENGTH: Medium: 56 lines
Reversing Pentagon recommendations, the base-closure commission recommended closing air-maintenance bases in Texas and California on Thursday. It spared three research laboratories the Clinton administration slated for closure.
The votes started the final phase of what could be the last base-closure round for years. The commission, facing a July 1 deadline, will choose from among 146 bases on President Clinton's original closure list and 31 added later by the panel.
Rejecting an Air Force recommendation, the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission voted to close maintenance depots at Kelly Air Force Base, Texas, and McClellan Air Force Base, Calif.
With anxious senators and Congress members looking on, the commission said closing the two ``air logistics centers'' would save more money faster than the course recommended by the Air Force, which would have kept all five repair depots open.
The two 6-2 votes mean that Kelly in San Antonio would lose more than 13,000 jobs and McClellan in Sacramento would lose about 12,000. About 5,000 jobs at Kelly connected with air wings would be transferred to other bases in Texas.
Most of the jobs lost at the Texas and California bases would be transferred to the three surviving Air Force maintenance depots: Hill Air Force Base, Utah, Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.
Commission Chairman Alan Dixon, a former Illinois senator, said the commission must cut deeper than the Clinton administration recommended. The military force and overall defense spending have shrunk far faster in the past decade than the roster of bases, forcing the Pentagon to carry too much overhead.
California lawmakers said they will urge President Clinton to reject the commission-closure list, something that has not happened in the three previous base closure rounds.
The commission estimated the move would save the government $3.5 billion over the next 20 years. An analysis by the commission staff found that Kelly had a poor rate of turnover on its repair work on huge C-5 transport aircraft. McClellan scored low in overall military value, according to commission staff documents. ILLUSTRATION: Photo
ASSOCIATED PRESS
Some 12,000 civilian workers at the Sacramento Air Logistics Center
at McClellan Air Force Base in Sacramento will be laid off.
KEYWORDS: MILITARY BASES BASE CLOSINGS by CNB