Base Closure Panel Adds South Dakota B-1 Base to Overrule List
An independent review panel added Ellsworth Air Force Base to the short list of U.S. military installations that should remain open, in opposition to the Dept. of Defense recommendations laid out last May. By an 8-1 vote Aug. 26, panel agreed with South Dakota�s governor and congressmen that the base, one of two that houses B-1 bombers, should remain open. Earlier, the commission voted to spare two New England Navy installations in the pending round of military base closures. But in its first day of votes, held Aug. 24, the Base Closure and Realignment Commission generally followed the blueprint that DOD laid out last spring.
Whatever the shape of the final closure list, construction officials expect substantial work to follow, both in environmental cleanup at bases to be shut and new building at installations that will gain workers transferred from those closed posts. Additional construction also should take place when closed bases are converted to other uses.