AUGUSTA – The Base Realignment and Closure commission has scheduled a public hearing for Saturday to allow the Department of Defense to present additional arguments to support its base closing proposals, a move that is causing members of the Maine congressional delegation and Gov. John Baldacci some concerns.

“This means they [DOD] get another bite of the apple, ” said Republican Sen. Olympia Snowe. “I am concerned about what they may bring up just before the commission starts deliberations.”

The BRAC commission is scheduled to begin deliberations next Wednesday, Aug. 24, and complete their voting on recommendations sometime on Saturday, Aug. 27.

Snowe said the timing of the hearings, just days before the commission starts to take votes, is a concern because there will be little time to thoroughly assess any additional facts or arguments made by DOD.

“We have to be ready with the rest of the story, so to speak,” Gov. Baldacci said. “Since the beginning, the DOD case has been half-baked.”

Baldacci said the state and the delegation have to be alert to any “curve balls” the DOD may present at Saturday’s session. He said if anything new is presented, he believes the commission owes it to the state to allow it to respond.

“We need to make sure we can do that,” he said. “This is a process and we should have the opportunity to respond.”

Republican Sen. Susan Collins shares the concern of Baldacci and Snowe. But she is confident the delegation and the state will be able to respond in some fashion to any additional arguments made by the DOD.

“Even if it is informal, from staff to staff, I think we will have the opportunity to make any additional information available to the commission that we want to present,” she said.

Democratic Rep. Tom Allen agreed with Collins. He said the commission has been very careful to allow the states and local communities affected by the BRAC process to have the opportunity to provide information and arguments.

“We will be watching carefully to what is presented and I am sure if there is anything new or that needs a response, we will be able to provide that to the commission,” he said. “The commission has made every opportunity to be open in this process and I think that will continue.”

In fact, Collins said, the additional hearing could prove beneficial to the state’s case on all of the bases.

“The more questions that they ask about the Brunswick Naval Air Station and the Pentagon’s illogical realignment plan, the better as far as I am concerned,” she said.

Collins, a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said with the Saturday afternoon hearing focusing on the Jacksonville Naval Air Station and its proposed realignment, there may be the opportunity to push a realignment that benefits BNAS.

“It would make way more sense to move squadrons from Jacksonville to Brunswick,” she said. “Brunswick has the capacity now to handle the new maritime patrol aircraft. Jacksonville does not.”

But, Collins added, she believes all four existing bases with maritime patrol missions should be maintained for homeland security reasons as well as national defense.

Allen said the additional discussions on Jacksonville could relate to Brunswick because in his judgment the commission is leaning against closing the base and instead developing a realignment plan.

“If they do come up with a new realignment plan, or DOD comes up with one, we will only have a few days to figure out what impact it will have,” he said.

Baldacci said that based on the strong arguments made by the state, he is convinced the panel will not vote to close Brunswick. But he is worried what realignment plan may be proposed by either DOD or the commission.

“The plan as proposed by DOD makes no sense with a few staff left here with the planes moved to Jacksonville,” he said. “We don’t know what may be proposed.”

In announcing the Saturday hearing, BRAC commission Chairman Anthony Principi said the hearing was added to give DOD the opportunity to present the panel information it can use in making its recommendations the following week.