Collins ‘confident’ after BRAC tour in Brunswick

BRUNSWICK – Supporters of the Brunswick Naval Air Station told members of the base closing commission Thursday that the Navy’s plan to remove squadrons and personnel would compromise national security while offering no savings to taxpayers.

The state’s congressional delegation and local task force members told Base Realignment and Closure Commission Chairman Anthony Principi and three other panel members that the Navy’s data suggesting savings of more than $200 million was flawed.

Furthermore, they said that stripping aircraft and half of the military personnel amounts to deactivation of a critical asset in the nation’s defense.

“I’m confident that we’ve made such a compelling case that we will prevail,” Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, told reporters afterward Thursday.

About 300 supporters holding signs gathered outside the base entrance to greet the four members of the base closing commission as they arrived to tour what has become New England’s only active duty military airfield after past base closings.

The Pentagon has proposed a dramatic reduction of the Brunswick Naval Air Station by moving all of its P-3 Orion and C-130 Hercules squadrons and about 2,300 military personnel to the Jacksonville Naval Air Station in Florida.

In effect, the Pentagon has proposed keeping alive an operational airfield that has no aircraft, something that has caused consternation in Maine.

Al Austin of the local task force believes the Pentagon decided against closing the base altogether because of its strategic location near population centers of the Northeast as well as its proximity to North Atlantic shipping lanes.

Those same factors should warrant keeping the aircraft squadrons and full complement of personnel at the base, Austin said.

Other factors in Brunswick’s favor include more than $100 million spent over the past four years for housing, a new control tower and a six-bay hangar, as well as resurfacing the runways. Unlike Jacksonville, Brunswick is already equipped with a hangar big enough to accommodate the P-3 Orion’s replacement later this decade.

As for the Navy’s proposed cost savings, Brunswick supporters said the Navy takes into account a reduction in 400 personnel. But most of those personnel were already being eliminated as the P-3 Orion is phased out, they said.

Also, an independent analysis suggests the Navy would have to spend more than $100 million in Jacksonville to support the additional aircraft, they said.

Finally, airspace surrounding Jacksonville is more congested than along the Maine coast and there’s less flying time there due to thunderstorms and hurricanes, Austin said.

After touring the base and listening to the local task force, Principi told reporters that no decisions have been made about bases to be closed, and he promised that the commission will act independently and not act as a “rubber stamp” for the Pentagon.

“We come away from our visit better informed,” Principi said. “We want to go back to Washington and analyze the data so we can make informed decisions.”

Collins, along with Sen. Olympia Snowe, Reps. Tom Allen and Michael Michaud, and Gov. John Baldacci, said the commissioners listened intently and asked the right questions. “I feel better today about the future of the facility than I did yesterday,” Collins said.

The visit came a day after the four commissioners toured the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, which is targeted for closure. About 5,000 people – shipyard workers, their families and shipyard supporters – gathered to chant “We’re number one!”

In Maine, nearly 8,000 jobs would be eliminated by closing the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on the New Hampshire border and a Defense Finance Accounting Service center in northern Maine, as well as changing the role of the Brunswick Naval Air Station.

In Brunswick, local residents carried signs that said carried signs that said, “NASB securing our future,” “NASB defending the homeland,” and “Thank you for coming.”

Erenn Kiriaell, a Navy veteran who lives in Lisbon, said she was heartened that there’s no effort afoot to close the base entirely. But she said that removing the aircraft and diminishing the base’s mission could ultimately lead to its demise.

“What worries me is the old adage, ‘Use it or lose it,”‘ she said.

Jack Bauman, a Navy veteran who served at the Brunswick base in the 1970s, said it doesn’t make sense to move all Navy patrol planes to Florida because consolidating them all in one place would make them more vulnerable to attack.

He also said the importance of the base goes beyond national security and economic impact. Navy families and retirees, he said, are part of the diversity and fabric of the community.

“You can’t measure that in dollars and cents,” he said.