I just read a Bloomberg.com article titled "Maine's 205-Year-Old Navy Yard Mobilizes Against Closure, Again." The truth is that the BRAC has come and gone several times to this shipyard and now it seems that it now just might strike home. The sad fact is that most of jobs that will be lost are NOT in the immediate area. Those who do not have sufficient time in service to retire will either have to relocate or make serious life style changes.
There were thousands of local community residents as well as a large portion of the shipyard workers ready to meet the commissioners when they arrived. Having some inside sources, they mentioned that these commissioners did not look the slight impressed. They were just in from visiting the Navy Yard in Groton, Connecticut, for one hour and now they were in Kittery, Maine to visit our yard.
Tomorrow its off to Brunswich Naval Air Station for their review. It has already been disclosed that there will be a public forum held in Boston, Mass in the beginning of July to allow further publick feedback.
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GREGG, SUNUNU CO-SPONSOR MEASURE TO FORCE DOD TO RELEASE BRAC JUSTIFICATION
WASHINGTON, DC– U.S. Senators Judd Gregg (R-NH) and John Sununu (R-NH) announced today that they have co-sponsored legislation, introduced today by Senator Olympia Snowe (R-ME) which would require that DoD provide to Congress all of its documentation related to the 2005 BRAC round within 7 days of enactment of the legislation. This legislation provides that, should DoD not comply with this request within 7 days, the current BRAC round would be terminated.
Senator Gregg stated, “As we have made clear to the Department of Defense, we find it unconscionable that the documentation for the decisions made in the 2005 BRAC proposal has not yet been released to the public. We are moving forward on proving to the BRAC Commission, that the decision to include the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on this list was in error; however, this argument is made substantially more difficult without knowing the specific reasoning that the Department used. This legislation sends a strong message that we have every intention of proving the Department wrong and making sure that the Shipyard is kept open and operating.”
Senator Sununu stated, “Although members of the New Hampshire and Maine Congressional delegation have called on DoD to release the essential data it used to recommend closure for PNS, the Pentagon has yet to satisfy our request. This legislation would compel DoD to provide Congress with all of the crucial data and documentation that it used to make closure recommendations – and includes provisions that would terminate or delay the current BRAC round should the Pentagon not be forthcoming in doing so.
The Pentagon must provide this information in an expeditious manner or risk compromising the ability of the BRAC Commission to do its work.”The BRAC documentation includes all certified data collected during data calls (requests for information sent to all military installations by the Pentagon prior to making its BRAC recommendations), and all documentation related to DoD's application of military value criteria and other criteria to installations recommended for closure or realignment and potential receiving installations.
Should DoD comply, all deadlines for reporting by the BRAC Commission would be extended by the same number of days after May 16 (the original reporting date) that it took for DoD to provide information to the Commission. The BRAC Commission is hampered in carrying out its duties by a lack of information, but it continues to operate under a tight timeline established by the original legislation.
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Read more information and pictures about this recent event:
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