Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Panel Overrules Feds on New England Bases
Overruling the Pentagon on two of its biggest requests, a commission reviewing base closings voted to keep open a shipyard and a submarine base in New England that military planners wanted to shut down.
The panel also spared three other major facilities, in Texas, California and Louisiana, against the Pentagon's wishes as it sped through its first day of deliberations, debating and voting on even the most contentious proposals in under an hour each.
But it was New England that got arguably the biggest victories of the day: the commission voted to save two of the Navy's oldest facilities — the Portsmouth shipyard at Kittery, Maine, and Submarine Base New London in Connecticut. Together, the bases are considered economic engines of their region and elected officials from Maine, New Hampshire and Connecticut lobbied intently for months to save them.
