OLYMPIA — Gov. Gary Locke, hoping to strengthen Washington’s position in the upcoming round of military base closures, has signed legislation guarding against developments that encroach on the state’s bases.
The governor also will approve a $500,000 budget item to help state government and local communities put their best foot forward as the Department of Defense considers which installations to target for elimination or consolidation.
"I think we all have an overall feeling of confidence that they’re not going to touch our bases," Sen. Marilyn Rasmussen, D-Eatonville, said Tuesday.
"I’m sure we’re going to skate by, but you always want to make that little extra effort."
Rasmussen, sponsor of the anti-encroachment bill signed by Locke on Monday, co-chairs the Joint Committee on Veterans and Military Affairs. The panel, working with Locke’s office, the congressional delegation and military community activists, has been studying ways to shield the state’s bases.
Underscoring the legislation’s timeliness, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld certified to Congress on Tuesday that a new round of military base closures is needed in 2005 and could yield billions of dollars in savings by 2011.
Rumsfeld also for the first time provided Congress with statistical evidence to support his estimate that the military has about 24 percent more base capacity than it needs to support the armed forces.
His certification is contained in a report submitted to Congress on Tuesday and required by a 2003 law that authorized a new round of base closings and realignments in 2005 — the first since 1995.
The report says the Army has the greatest amount of excess base capacity — 29 percent. The Air Force has 24 percent more than it needs ,and the Navy and Marine Corps combined have 21 percent excess. These figures are based on a Pentagon forecast of the military’s number of Army divisions, Navy ships, Air Force strike aircraft wings, and so on — in 2009.
Washington has much at stake in the realignment. The Army, Air Force and Navy installations pump an estimated $8 billion a year into the state economy, including paychecks for more than 94,000 uniformed personnel and civilian employees.
The Legislature produced a report that makes the case for keeping the Army’s Fort Lewis and Madigan Army Medical Center, McChord Air Force Base, Puget Sound Naval Shipyard, Naval Submarine Base Bangor, Naval Station Bremerton, Naval Station Everett, Fairchild Air Force Base, Whidbey Island Naval Air Station, and the Naval Undersea Warfare Center at Keyport.
The state and local communities are studying the economic impact each installation has on the economy, and are stressing the contributions each makes to national defense.
The $500,000 state appropriation will help finance those lobbying efforts. Base commanders are forbidden to get involved.
The new legislation, Senate Bill 6401, will require cities and counties with military installations to ban development adjacent to the bases if it hinders the installation’s ability to carry out its mission.
The area around Fort Lewis is under heavy development pressure and needs to be protected, Rasmussen said. McChord already has a school in its flight path, she noted.
"It seems like development is coming right up to the front gate," she said.
One development that should help rather than hinder is a cross-base highway proposed to link Fort Lewis and McChord to I-5, she said.
Chris Rose, Locke’s adviser on base closures, said some locales already are protecting their bases from encroachment. He mentioned Oak Harbor and Island County actions to keep the area around Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in rural use, and Spokane County’s protection of the area around Fairchild Air Force Base.
Washington needs to play up the progress it is making in transportation, housing, employment, medical care for veterans and education for military families, said Rep. Roger Bush, R-Spanaway.
In previous base-closing rounds, 97 major facilities and numerous lesser ones were closed and others were merged. Washington lost only one major facility, Naval Station Puget Sound at Sand Point, in 1991; and one smaller one, Camp Bonneville in Clark County, in 1995.
The president will appoint a nine-member Base Realignment and Closure Commission by March 2005. Two months later, the secretary of defense will come up with a proposed list of bases to be closed or mothballed.
The commission then will prepare a final list by September 2005. The White House and Congress must approve or veto it without changes.
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