As early as today, the fate of Maine’s military bases may be decided.
The Base Realignment and Closure Commission is scheduled to begin working through its list of bases today outside Washington, voting on each base one by one.
The commission is expected to continue the work for three or four days, though officials expect to vote on whether to close Brunswick Naval Air Station and Portsmouth Naval Shipyard on the opening day of deliberations.
“This is the big one,” said Richard Tetrev, who is leading a community fight to save the Brunswick base. By Sept. 23, the president must forward the BRAC report to Congress or return it to the commission for further evaluation. Congress can reject the entire report, or it becomes law; Congress can’t change parts of it.
In four previous closure rounds, every base targeted for closure by the commission has shut down.
The hearing, to be televised on C-SPAN 2, is expected to be prime viewing in Brunswick, where the town plans to set up a TV in its former high school for people to gather and watch the discussions.
A few miles away at the Navy base, TVs are expected to be similarly tuned in. A closure decision would transfer more than 2,500 full-time military personnel to other bases, principally to Jacksonville, Fla. It would also end more than 700 civilian jobs in Brunswick.
A closure would affect 4,510 jobs at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard: 4,032 would be civilian jobs; 201, military; and 277, mission contractors. The primary mission of the shipyard on Seavey Island in the Piscataqua River between Maine and New Hampshire is to overhaul, repair, modernize and refuel nuclear-powered submarines.
However the vote goes, Brunswick base leaders plan to gather military and civilian workers at the base for a town meeting-style discussion, led by Capt. George Womack, the base’s commander.
Meanwhile, Tetrev plans to watch from a conference room at a nearby hotel. For the former second-in-command, it will signal an end to years of work.
“This has been my calling,” Tetrev said Tuesday. He has been working on ways to strengthen the local base since he worked there in the mid-1990s. It continued when he led the region’s chamber of commerce.
“It’s been a labor of love and deep concern,” he said.
The hearing is scheduled to begin at 8 a.m.
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