BRAC REPORT Air base closure data still unknown

Local base supporters want more details about the DOD's recommendations.
By DAVID SKOLNICK
VINDICATOR POLITICS WRITER
VIENNA -- Youngstown Air Reserve Station supporters are still waiting for data on the local facility and others.
They are particularly interested after learning the difference between this base, recommended May 13 by the U.S. Department of Defense to stay open and expand, and those recommended for closure is ever so slight.
Of the 10 air reserve stations in the country with C-130 airplanes, the Youngstown station placed second with 40.09 points in an evaluation system used by the DOD.
The Minneapolis-St. Paul International Reserve Station had the highest score with 41.52 points.
The DOD used the evaluation system as part of its recommendations to the Base Realignment and Closure commission on what bases would open and close.
Close calls
While the second-place finish is great news, there are some major concerns, said Reid Dulberger, co-chairman of Operation: Save Our Airbase Reservists, a local organization focused on keeping open the Vienna station, home of the 910th Airlift Wing.
The biggest concern is two reserve stations recommended by the DOD for closure are less than 0.5 of 1 point behind the Vienna station, said Dulberger, executive vice president of the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber.
The Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station received a score of 40.03, and the Pittsburgh International Airport Air Reserve Station got a score of 39.64.
The scores were based on the bases' missions, infrastructure condition, ability to mobilize and the cost of operations and manpower.
Dulberger said he and other Vienna base supporters are still waiting for the DOD to release information showing specifically the hows, whys and accuracy of the scores. The reports were supposed to be released last week.
The lengthy DOD report on the Vienna base and others will be reviewed to determine if there were any errors, omissions or misinterpretations, he said.
Dulberger said the reports were supposed to be available by now but haven't been released.
"The information we've got is very fundamental and preliminary," he said. "If you're one of the bases recommended for closure, you desperately need to look at the underlying data. This isn't nearly enough. We're reading tea leaves right now."
Early assessment
The preliminary data show the Vienna base scored a 38.26 on the condition of its infrastructure. That is surprising, Dulberger said, because local supporters felt the millions of dollars in improvements to the base and the surrounding area was the facility's key attribute.
Still unknown, Dulberger said, is the DOD's information on the economic and environmental impacts of military bases.
"We assume the recommendations for closures were based on the rankings, but that's just an assumption," he said. "If it is the main factor, there's no room for error. We need to look at the information and see if we can increase our percentage points."
While cautious, Dulberger said he believes the local base should be safe when the commission issues its recommendations Sept. 8.
Concentrated strategy
In previous BRAC rounds, Dulberger said there wasn't much strategic planning when it came to base closings. This time, it is much more coordinated.
"In the past it was 'if we don't shut down Base A, we'll just shut down Base B,'" he said. "This is so clearly an integrated plan."
If Pittsburgh is closed, Dulberger said it will help the Vienna base with recruiting.
"We'll have a larger pool of experienced C-130 airmen who'd prefer to stay home," he said. "Their best option wouldn't exist anymore, but they'd still be closer to home here than anywhere else."
The next closest air reserve station with C-130s to Pittsburgh is in Minnesota.
If the Pittsburgh station closes, then the DOD recommends, effective 2007, that the Youngstown Air Reserve Station be the home of an aeromedical evacuation squadron located at the western Pennsylvania facility. The squadron has eight full-time civilian employees and 134 part-time reservists.
Making responses
The DOD's recommendations are being considered by the nine-member BRAC. It takes seven BRAC members to vote to close a base that the DOD recommended remain open.
Each base on the recommended closure list can testify at one of 16 hearings that begin in early June. Niagara Falls and Pittsburgh station supporters would probably testify at the June 27 hearing in Buffalo.
Dulberger and other Vienna base supporters will also go to the hearing. However, he said it isn't clear if supporters of the Vienna base would have a chance to speak at the BRAC hearing.
The BRAC commission must give its list to President Bush no later than Sept. 8. The president has until Nov. 7 to give the revised list to Congress or the process dies. Congress must approve the list by Dec. 22.