'Whatever it takes' pledge may include money for roadwork

01/06/04

Gov. Bob Riley committed the state Monday to "doing whatever it takes" to preserve military jobs at Redstone Arsenal and to fend off any Washington attempts at closing the Army post.

The "whatever" includes spending state money to build roads and other needed construction projects that might arise before a special commission decides which bases will be affected by any base realignment or closure decisions.

"It's not just jobs I'm talking about, either," Riley told Times reporters and editors during a telephone interview. "We want to send a message to (Washington) that the state of Alabama is serious about doing whatever it takes" to protect military bases around the state.

Riley said state money could be used to build part of the Southern Bypass, or Patriot Parkway. The highway would ease congested traffic on Redstone, which has about 30,000 cars a day passing through its gates.

"The concern I had was access to a restricted military base at a time when we are trying to limit access to these protected areas," Riley said. "But we spoke to (Army) people, and they don't seem to have a problem with it. If they don't, we should do whatever we can" to get the road built.

Money from the state's capital improvement fund could be used to build the road, Riley said. The governor pointed out state money is used every year to help lure major businesses, such as Toyota and Mercedes, and should be used to keep military jobs.

Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has announced Pentagon intentions to close or realign military bases that do not have more than one major mission on the base.

Riley plans to visit state military bases Wednesday, including Redstone, Fort Rucker in Dothan and the Anniston Army Depot, as a way to bolster local support of the Army posts.

The visit comes more than a year before President Bush is set to appoint a nine-member Base Realignment and Closure Commission. The appointment date - March 15, 2005 - is set by law.

The nine-member panel will review every U.S. military base and unit in the world before deciding if military outfits are essential.

By September 2005, the commission will inform Congress which bases and units have been selected and why.

The president either will approve the list and send it to Congress or reject it and give it back to the commission. Neither the president nor Congress has authority to amend the list. If the president approves it, the list will become law in 45 days unless Congress votes to reject it by December 2006.

State officials are coming together to protect Alabama's four major military bases - Redstone, Anniston Army Depot, Fort Rucker and Montgomery's Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base.

"We wanted an overarching commission that the state would use" to protect Alabama bases, Riley said. "But these communities said they didn't want that."

Riley spoke in grave terms about the Anniston Army Depot, saying it could be a hindrance if all bases were treated equally.

"Each community must stand on its own and develop its own plan," he said.

Anniston has a chemical weapons disposal plant that has not been received well by community or state leaders. Defending all the bases to the Pentagon could put the state in a position to trade some missions for others.

"If Anniston didn't make it, then Huntsville might come out worse," Riley said.

He believes Redstone will not be closed or suffer base closure or realignment decisions because the post has so many different missions. Redstone is home to the Army Aviation and Missile Command, a missile and explosive ordnance school and, by the end of January, the Army Space and Missile Defense Command will move a majority of workers on post.

Also, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center is on the arsenal, Riley noted. In all, the federal presence on the arsenal generates almost 30,000 jobs in North Alabama and southern Tennessee.