Backers say closure of Fairchild unlikely

People involved in touting the virtues of Fairchild Air Force Base had been hoping a high-profile “native son” would be named to the panel that will determine the fate of dozens of the nation’s military installations.

They didn’t get their wish. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission, announced last week by President Bush, includes former congressmen, former military officers and former Cabinet officials, none from the Northwest.

“It would have been an advantage” to have had someone from the Northwest on the nine-person panel, said Rich Had-ley, Spokane Regional Chamber of Commerce president.

The chamber had been hoping one seat on the panel would be filled by former Sen. Slade Gorton, former Rep. George Nethercutt or former House Speaker Tom Foley. All have a history of finding federal money and new missions for Fairchild.

“But do I think it’s a disadvantage not to have one?” Had-ley added. “No.”

That may sound contradictory. But the makeup of the commission is less important this year than in previous rounds of base closures, said many people familiar with the process, both in Spokane and Washington, D.C. The process is expected to be less political this time and commissioners will have less ability to target bases for closure that the Pentagon thinks should remain open.

Members of the congressional delegation said they have a high opinion of Anthony Principi, a former Veterans Affairs Cabinet member named by Bush to head the commission.

“I have had a really good working relationship with Secretary Principi,” Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash., said. “I’ve known him to be very fair and reasonable.”

Part of that working relationship involved proposals by the Bush administration to close several VA hospitals in Washington state, proposals that Murray and other members of the delegation derailed. But throughout that process, Murray said, Principi was helpful and made trips to Washington to tour the hospitals targeted for closure.

“He’s very familiar with Washington state,” Murray said.

Freshman Rep. Cathy McMorris, who made Fairchild her top priority by seeking a seat on the Armed Services Committee and its subcommittee on readiness, remembers Principi from a hearing in Walla Walla about the VA hospital in that city.

“I found him to be very accessible and approachable,” she said.

One other member of the committee, retired Army Gen. James Hill, also is familiar with Western Washington from a stint as a commander at Fort Lewis, and is a “straight shooter,” said Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Wash.

Dicks, the senior member of the Washington delegation and a key figure on the House committee that decides how military dollars are spent, said the most important decisions on the fate of military bases will be made before the commission even begins its deliberations. The Pentagon is scheduled to release its recommendations for closing or shrinking bases May 16.

“If you’re on that list, you’re in trouble,” said Dicks, who believes that Fairchild and the other Washington bases are safe from the Pentagon’s closure list.

That’s because Fairchild should score well on the criteria the Pentagon is using to judge the future of its bases, he and other members of the congressional delegation said.

Its geographic location gives the Air Force the ability to refuel planes on routes throughout the Northwest and into the Pacific Rim.

It has multiple missions. Along with the squadrons of Air Force KC-135s, there is also an Air National Guard tanker unit and the Air Force Survival School, which trains all air crews. The school uses the Colville National Forest for some of its training, and finding a similar arrangement at another base would be difficult.

The airspace above the base is relatively uncrowded, and the land around it is relatively undeveloped.

It’s the second-most requested assignment in the Air Force, after Hawaii, and the community has a long history of supporting the base.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been spent in the last two decades to upgrade or renovate everything from base housing and a new elementary school to squadron offices and fuel pumping systems.

But members of Forward Fairchild recall the base was also popular, with strong community support and a steady stream of new building projects in 1993, when the military went through a similar round of closures.

That year, Fairchild and the Navy home port at Everett weren’t on the initial list but were added by commission members. Both communities kicked into overdrive to defend their bases. At a hearing in Spokane, the commission conceded it had received incorrect information about Fairchild’s facilities, and the West Plains base was eventually removed from the list. The Navy backed Everett, saying the new base was more economical to operate than a home port in California that was eventually shut down.

Twelve years ago, adding a base to the list took a simple majority vote by the commissioners. This year at least seven of the nine commissioners would have to agree to add a base to the list and consider it for closure. Dicks thinks few, if any, bases will be added to the Pentagon’s list.

Because of that, local officials are concentrating their lobbying efforts on Air Force and Department of Defense officials who are involved in preparing the list. Hadley said members of Forward Fairchild will be meeting with Philip Grone, the deputy undersecretary of defense for installations and the person shepherding the base closure list through Pentagon. They’ll be reiterating Fairchild’s strong points for what it does now and talking about other missions it could take on in the future.

That’s because the closure list won’t be the only thing that communities with military bases will be watching on May 16. The military personnel and equipment from the bases that close will have to be sent somewhere, and the Pentagon is expected to release a separate list of bases that will be candidates for expansion through “joint ventures” – new missions, possibly with other branches of the services.

That’s a list Spokane-area officials want Fairchild to be on. They are already pushing for it to become the home for some of the region’s Army National Guard units and are lobbying for the base to be the home for a new air crew training facility.