BRUNSWICK – Two of the leaders who will soon decide Brunswick Naval Air Station’s fate visited the base Tuesday, touring the installation and calming concerns.
It’s not time to worry, they said. Not yet.
The two commissioners – former Transportation Secretary Samuel Skinner and retired Air Force Brig. Gen. Sue Turner – were among the eight members of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission who voted last week to add the local base to their closure list.
“You shouldn’t read anything into that, whatsoever,” Skinner said. “It gave us another option.”
Nothing has been decided, he said.
Based on the Pentagon’s recommendation earlier this year, the commission could shrink the base, add to it or keep it as is. Now, the commission also has the option of closing the base.
Perhaps more importantly, the move allows the base to be further scrutinized within the wider strategy of how best to protect the United States.
“I don’t think it’s spin,” said retired Navy Capt. Ralph Dean, among the locals who briefed the visiting commissioners in a closed-door meeting. “I think they’re playing it straight up.”
For Turner, the visit was meant as a chance to see firsthand what had been described to her in meetings and reports.
“For me, it was really important to get up here and see it for myself,” she said.
Accompanied by Gov. John Baldacci, the commissioners were briefed inside the tactical center for the base’s squadrons. The group visited hangars, housing and the new tower, and toured a P-3 Orion, the primary aircraft at Brunswick.
Skinner said he gained a better understanding of the P-3 Orion and its mission. He also asked lots of questions.
“I think it will help us,” Skinner said of the tour. “It’s a great facility, really up-to-date.” In all, the Pentagon has spent more than $100 million at Brunswick in the past five years.
After the on-base visit, the commissioners went to the nearby Atrium Inn and Convention Center, where they met with community leaders in private.
The discussion focused almost entirely on the military value of the base, said Richard Tetrev, chairman of the NAS Brunswick Task Force.
Skinner refused to say whether he was convinced by what he heard, saying only that the task force made a “compelling argument.”
Much of that argument turns on the base’s status as the Pentagon’s last active-duty airfield in the Northeast. To close the base would harm the safety of the United States, locals have argued.
It’s the same argument that supporters of the base have made for months.
The commission is scheduled to vote on the closure list on Aug. 23.
It’s the argument Tetrev and others plan to make in Washington on Aug. 10, when the Brunswick base again faces a hearing before the commission.
It will be the last chance that supporters will have to defend the base.
After that, all that’s left is waiting, Tetrev said. “We hold our breath.”
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