WASHINGTON -- As part of a plan for base closings nationwide, the
Pentagon proposed this morning to shut down the historic Naval Submarine
Base, New London, in Connecticut for a loss of about 8,100 military and
civilian jobs, while major Rhode Island military facilities have been
spared.
Connecticut took the biggest hit on the Pentagon's base-closing list,
with a net loss of almost 8,600 direct job losses on the line. Maine was
second in the nation, with more than 6,900 projected job losses from the
Naval shipyard and the Naval air station.
In Connecticut, the governor and other lawmakers vowed to fight the base
closing. Even the Defense Department acknowledges that the closing would
have a severe impact on the local economy, at least in the short term.
Meanwhile, Rhode Island industry watchers characterized the proposals as
a mixed blessing. They were pleased that Rhode Island will add jobs, but
said the losses in Connecticut could have a ripple effect in the Ocean
State.
Also facing a shutdown in New England are the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard
in Maine and Otis Air National Guard Base on Cape Cod. For Portsmouth
that would mean a loss of about 4,500 military and civilian jobs, while
Otis would lose about 550 jobs.
Naval Air Station in Brunwsick, Maine, would be re-aligned, meaning it
would shrink in size, for a loss of about 2,400 jobs.
On the flip side, the Newport Naval Station and the Quonset Point Air
National Guard facility in Rhode Island are slated for slight gains in
the national consolidation known as Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC),
which begins this morning with the release of Defense Secretary Donald
H. Rumsfeld's initial list of targeted facilities.
Connecticut impact
Members of the Connecticut and Rhode Island congressional delegations
have already pledged to fight the proposed closure of the
attack-submarine base, located in Groton, upriver from the Electric Boat
Division of General Dynamics, which builds submarines.
The Groton base is also home to the nuclear-attack sub Providence and
the Naval submarine school.
Under the Pentagon plan, Groton would lose the Naval submarine school,
and much of the local fleet would be sent to the sub base at Kings Bay,
Ga.
Counting about 400 private contracting jobs, the Pentagon projects the
net loss of jobs from the closure of the Groton base at 8,460.
U.S. Rep. Rob Simmons, the Republican who represents the Groton-New
London area, called the Pentagon's decision to seek to close the sub
base "an outrage.''
Speaking at a press conference in New London with Gov. Jodi Rell and
U.S. Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman, D-Conn., Simmons called the base "a
critical part of our nation's industrial base and our national security."
Simmons, who sits on the House Armed Services Committee, and Lieberman,
who sits on the Senate Armed Services Committee, pledged to fight the
Pentagon recommendation.
The Defense Department estimates that the sub base closure would save
about $1.57 billion over the course of 20 years -- part of a total
20-year savings of $49 billion from this fifth round of BRAC since the
1980s.
The Defense Department estimates, however, that the local impact will be
severe, at least in the short term. Besides the "direct'' loss of
military and civilian jobs at the base, more than 7,300 additional jobs
will be lost to the local economy as the Navy's demand for locally
produced goods and services shrinks, the Pentagon estimated.
The move could add to an already-dreary economic scene in that part of
southern New England, which has suffered from cutbacks at Electric Boat
over the years.
During a Pentagon briefing on the base closings, Adm. Bob Willard, the
vice chief of naval operations, said the planned shutdowns in
Connecticut and Maine are part of the Navy's effort to "shape our
installations around the 21st-century Navy.''
But Willard did not comment on whether the base closings foreshadow the
Navy's decisions about the eventual size of its undersea fleet.
U.S. Sen. Jack Reed, D-R.I., who sits on the Senated Armed Services
Committee, said there may be a silver lining in the announcement for the
Groton area. He said there will still be a need for the nuclear-attack
sub refuelings that take place at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard. "I would
hope that Electric Boat would be very competitive in pursuing that
work," he said.
Rhode Island impact
Naval Station Newport, which is home to a number of Navy training
facilities associated with the Naval War College, is slated to gain 533
jobs from reductions elsewhere in the Navy.
While Newport is gaining some jobs and functions from the Officer
Training Command in Pensacola, Fla., among others, but losing some small
units, including the Navy chaplain school, which will be consolidated
into a joint military chaplain school at Fort Jackson, S.C.
There are no longer any warships stationed at Newport, which had been a
major destroyer base from World War II until mid-1970s. Navy reserve
ships there were gradually removed.
Quonset will pick up 46 new civilian and military jobs.
There have been extensive renovations at the Naval Air Station at
Quonset Point, including a new maintenance hanger, where the four new
C-130J transport aircraft are now based. The Rhode Island Air National
Guard was the first Guard unit to receive the new stretch C-130J planes.
In addition to the four C-130J planes now at Quonset, Rumseld's plans
calls for the base to pick up five more from bases being closed or
trimmed in Maryland, and Arkansas.
Reed said, "Quonset has become an important way station" for Air
National Guard missions to Southwest Asia.
Quonset Point was the home of a major aircraft barrier just before WWII
and shut down along with Newport during mid-1970s.
The Naval Undersea Warfare Center in Middletown will be untouched by
this round of re-alignments, as Reed and colleagues had predicted.
But there are a couple of Rhode Island reserve facilities on the
Pentagon's closure list. Harwood U.S. Army Reserve Center in Providence
is slated to close, at a loss of 24 mostly-military jobs and at U.S.
Army Reserve Center in Bristol is slated to close for a loss of 24
civilian jobs.
John Riendau, defense industry manager at the Rhode Island Economic
Development Corporation, called today's announcement "a mixed blessing."
"Rhode Island does have some pluses in here," Riendau said.
But, he added, "from a New England wide perspective, this is not good
news" with Maine and Connecticut losing some 15,000 jobs between them.
"We do have Rhode Islanders who work in Connecticut, Massachusetts and
even some who travel up north as consultants," he said.
Robert Mushen, president of the Southeastern New England
Defense-Industry Alliance in Middletown, said, "It's sort of a mixed day
for me."
Many members of his organization are companies with headquarters or
offices in Rhode Island that also do contract work for the submarine
base in Connecticut, according to Mushen. And from a personal
standpoint, the prospect of the submarine base's closing saddens Mushen,
a former submariner.
But, Mushen added, the news also raises the prospect that his
contractors will have more opportunities for research and development
work at the Naval Undersea Warfare Center.
Next steps
All told, this round would to eliminate about 26,000 civilian and
military jobs around the country. A total of 150 are on today's list,
including 33 that the Pentagon deems major bases.
The BRAC commission will begin public deliberations on the list next
week and is scheduled by mid-October to present final list to President
Bush. Once the president completes his review of the BRAC list, Congress
will have 45 days during which it can veto the entire list. During
previous rounds of base closings dating to late 1980s, Congress has
never exercised its power to do so.
The submarine base in Groton was placed on the target list during the
last round of base closings during the Clinton administration, but the
commission spared it. But over the course of the recent rounds, the
large majority of bases placed on Pentagon hit list wound up being
closed.
The word of the proposed closings came by e-mail to members of Congress.
The official announcement was made later this morning.
-- With reports from projo.com staff writer Jack Perry and The
Associated Press
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