For all the emotion sparked by the Pentagon’s recommendation to close or realign three northern New England military installations, the argument for keeping them open may boil down to cold, hard numbers.

On Wednesday, Maine and New Hampshire officials will make their case for the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, Brunswick Naval Air Station and the Defense Finance Accounting Service center in northern Maine to the panel reviewing the Pentagon’s hit list.

Expected to figure heavily in the pitch to the Base Realignment and Closure Commission is how the Department of Defense overlooked the value of each installation, and how much more it would cost to shutter or change them instead of maintaining the status quo.

Here are points likely to be raised at Wednesday’s hearing in Boston:

Portsmouth

. The numbers: Employs more than 4,000 civilian workers from Maine, New Hampshire and Massachusetts; pumps more than $250 million into the economies in Maine and New Hampshire.

The Department of Defense says closing the nation’s oldest federal shipyard would save $1.3 billion over 20 years. Maine and New Hampshire officials dispute that number; New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch said last week that the impact of closing Portsmouth could be as much as 10 times what the Pentagon estimates.

“I really do believe that the Department of Defense came to a mistaken recommendation based on erroneous data and incomplete analysis,” Lynch said.

The yard’s supporters also argue the Pentagon has underestimated by millions of dollars the savings from doing work at Portsmouth rather than shipyards elsewhere.

Members of the Maine and New Hampshire congressional delegations said last week they “will use the shipyard’s outstanding reputation for finishing work on time and under budget as concrete and tangible evidence for why the shipyard should not be closed.”

Brunswick

. The numbers: More than 4,000 active duty and reserve personnel and 720 civilians are based at Brunswick. Stands to lose 2,420 people under the realignment.

The Brunswick Naval Air Station would remain open, but all of its P-3 Orion patrol aircraft and C-130 Hercules transports, along with half of its military personnel, would be transferred to Jacksonville, Fla.

The Navy initially considered mothballing the coastal base for possible future use, but federal law bars the military from deactivating a base without selling or leasing the property.

Maine officials point to the more than $100 million spent on improvements at Brunswick over the past four years, including building a new control tower and a six-bay hangar. Unlike Jacksonville, Brunswick already has a hangar designed for the patrol plane that will replace P-3 Orions.

Brunswick’s supporters also argue Jacksonville doesn’t have the infrastructure to support the flood of planes and personnel, forcing the Pentagon to spend, not save, money.

Limestone

. The numbers: Employs 353 people.

Established to ease the impact of the 1994 shutdown of Loring Air Force Base, the Defense Finance Accounting Service center is one of 23 targeted for closure across the country. The Pentagon wants to consolidate its civilian payroll operations at three locations: Columbus, Ohio; Denver; and Indianapolis.

Backers want to expand the small Limestone center, whose good-paying jobs are important for the economy in northernmost Maine.

Despite being rural, officials say the area has a large pool of potential workers. Demand for the jobs is so great that vacancies fill in 9.2 days, on average – the fastest time in the entire defense accounting system.