Panel votes to remove air tankers

Air refueling tankers flown and maintained by the Washington Air National Guard should be moved out of Fairchild Air Force Base, a federal commission ruled Friday evening.

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission refused to alter a Pentagon recommendation to move the eight tankers operated by the Air Guard’s 141st Air Refueling Wing to a base in Iowa. The commission voted 7-2 against an amendment that would have offered some possibility of returning tankers to the unit at some future date, when the Air Force receives a new design to replace some of the aging KC-135s.

Most of the 900 men and women of the 141st would remain at Fairchild under the Pentagon’s proposal. The wing would become an “associate unit,” flying tankers assigned to the 92nd Air Refueling Wing, the largest military unit at Fairchild.

That unit, and other operations at Fairchild such as the Air Force Survival School, would continue to operate at the West Plains base.

But the 92nd already has mechanics and ground personnel that maintain its planes. The Pentagon’s initial recommendation estimated that nearly 200 jobs – about 26 military and 172 civilian – would be lost. But a spokeswoman for Sen. Maria Cantwell said Friday it’s not clear if that’s what will happen.

“It’s very difficult to determine what that number is right now,” Cantwell aide Charla Neuman said. “These plans are kind of like broad sketches.”

Local Guard supporters have said that a flying unit losing its airplanes is akin to an infantry unit losing its rifles. The loss of planes could hurt recruiting and would take away the ability of the governor to call on the unit to fly cargo missions in emergency response situations.

Cantwell was “disappointed but not surprised” by the commission’s decision, Neuman said, and will coordinate any efforts to fight the decision with Washington Gov. Christine Gregoire.

In some states, governors are taking legal action to keep the Pentagon from moving or closing Air Guard units. A federal judge in Pennsylvania ruled Friday the Pentagon could not deactivate an Air Guard fighter unit without consent from Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, who has said he would oppose the decision.

But the impact of U.S. District Judge John Padova’s decision on the 141st, which is losing its planes but not being shut down, is unclear, an aide to Cantwell said.

Gregoire has also written to the Pentagon to say she has not given her consent to moving the Washington Air Guard tankers out of Fairchild, spokesman Glenn Kuper said Friday afternoon. Legal staff will be studying the Pennsylvania decision through the weekend to determine whether it applies to Washington, he added.

“We haven’t had time to read through the decision,” Kuper said. “We are considering our options, including legal action. We believe consent is necessary.”

Earlier in the day, the commission voted to keep an Oregon Air National Guard unit of F-15 fighters in Portland.