House Vote Spells End for 86 Bases : Closure Clears Last Legislative Hurdle but Foes File Suit

The House Tuesday cleared the way for the closing of 86 military installations and the consolidation of others, overwhelmingly rejecting a measure that would have blocked a politically sensitive cost-savings plan.

The 381-43 vote virtually wiped out the last legislative chance to save four major military bases in California listed for closing, including Norton Air Force Base and George Air Force Base, both in San Bernardino County.

Also slated for extinction are the Army’s historic Presidio in San Francisco and Mather Air Force base near Sacramento, as well as such national landmarks as Illinois’ Ft. Sheridan and Ft. Dix in New Jersey. Two smaller California facilities, Hamilton Army Airfield in Marin County and the Navy’s inactive Salton Sea Test Base, also would be closed.

No Senate Action Needed

With the House vote, any action by the Senate becomes irrelevant, because disapproval by both houses of Congress was necessary to prevent the findings of a blue-ribbon base consolidation panel from going into effect.

Opponents of the base closings acknowledged that the prospects for halting the plan now are nearly nil.

“The House has spoken rather emphatically,” said Rep. George E. Brown Jr. (D-Colton) after the vote. “The chances of reversing that are very slim.”

Brown, who introduced the House measure to save the bases, said: “It’s time now to focus on getting the job done, on getting (Norton Air Force Base) cleaned up.”

Anticipating the outcome of the vote, however, the National Federation of Federal Employees had filed suit Monday in federal court in the District of Columbia to block implementation of the panel’s recommendations.

Civilian Group’s Suit

The federation, whose membership includes 5,000 civilian employees at George and Norton Air Force bases, charged that in establishing the commission to pick military facilities for closing, former Defense Secretary Frank C. Carlucci unconstitutionally had delegated powers that belong in the hands of elected officials.

Congress, struggling with a severe federal budget deficit and the inevitable political obstacles to shutting down major government employers, last year passed legislation creating the commission and charged it with identifying obsolete military installations that could be phased out to save money.

Carlucci was directed to appoint the members, and Congress agreed to accept its recommendations unless both chambers acted to block them. On Dec. 29, the panel proposed closing 86 military installations and shifting many of their functions to 54 other bases, for an estimated savings of $5.6 billion in the next 20 years.

Tuesday’s House vote followed three days of intermittent debate, during which opponents of the closings criticized the commission’s screening methods and charged that the savings promised were far less than Carlucci had once estimated might be possible--$3 billion to $5 billion per year.

“That’s bait and switch at its worst,” said Rep. Larry J. Hopkins (R-Ky.). “What we wanted were real savings. What we’re getting is false economy.”

They insisted that many of the bases were targeted arbitrarily, that they still perform valuable defense services and mean much more economically to their regions than the relatively small cost savings to be gained from closing them.

However, supporters insisted that hard choices had to be made if Congress were to trim back defense costs that the nation can no longer afford.

“This objective piece of work has passed the test,” said Rep. Dick Armey (R-Tex.). “. . . I know it’s painful for the communities involved. But the bottom line is that defense dollars are for defense needs, not for community development.”

Rep. Jerry Lewis (R-Redlands), who lobbied vigorously to block the closings plan, estimated chances of saving the installations now at 5%. He said that lawmakers could have additional opportunities to keep bases open during the budget appropriations process. The Bush Administration will need to seek further congressional approval for funds to begin the closures.

“Because this resolution passed doesn’t mean the ballgame is over,” Lewis said. “There’s a long way between now and the end of the process.”

But House Armed Services Committee Chairman Les Aspin (D-Wis.), who called the commission’s work “well done,” warned opponents that his panel will work to thwart any efforts to remove funds for the closings.

At the same time, members of the committee echoed opponents’ concerns that the Defense Department will be slow to clean up toxic waste that has accumulated at several of the installations slated for closure.

“We are sympathetic,” Rep. Patricia Schroeder (D-Colo.), a defender of the closures, told Lewis during floor debate. “We know that California has been mistreated before. We’re going to do everything to see that these cleanups are done.”

The Pentagon has estimated that it will need $800 million to clear obsolete bases of toxic waste over the next six years.

Two San Bernardino officials joined Brown at the conclusion of Tuesday’s vote to announce that they will pursue “parallel paths” of encouraging efforts to save the bases while also planning for new civilian uses for the facilities.

“While we are tempted to continue the fight, we must be honest with our constituents,” Brown, San Bernardino Mayor Evlyn Wilcox and San Bernardino County Supervisor Robert Hammock said in a joint statement. “Blocking the base closures is an uphill struggle against a vast majority in Congress.

“We therefore believe it is in the interest of our communities to shift the focus of our efforts to ensuring that the base’s closure leads to economic growth for our region,” the statement said.

The closings affect 6,653 military and civilian workers at Norton and 5,358 at George. But March Air Force Base, 9 miles southeast of Riverside, would pick up an additional 3,420 military and civilian employees from proposed consolidations, many of them from Norton.

Hammock and Wilcox said that during their trip to Washington, they had secured concessions from Pentagon officials, including permission for county managers to begin planning for the use of Norton Air Force Base by civilian planes. The officials said that the petition to open Norton to commercial air traffic was made before the commission recommended Norton’s closure. But they added that the Pentagon’s approval now could ease the base’s transition to life as a fully commercial airport.

Hammock and Wilcox also won assurances that the Defense Department will seek $40 million by 1991 to clean toxic wastes from Norton, and secured a Pentagon grant of $140,000 to help fund the development of plans for the conversion of Norton and George Air Force bases.