Two BRAC Commissioners Visit Galena
By Tim Bodony – KIYU
July 29, 2005
At a meeting with the Galena City and Tribal leaders this
morning, the discussion focused more on how and when the Air Force would leave
Galena, and not if they would leave.
BRAC Commissioner James Bilbray caused the biggest stir in
the meeting when he explained that a hand over of a military facility can take
6 years or longer to occur, and that there possibly is BRAC money available for
paying some of the heating and utility expenses for the Galena facilities in a
transitional arrangement.
Those assertions addressed two of the biggest variables in
the BRAC process from the perspective of the city and tribal governments: how
to pay for heating, powering and maintaining the buildings if the Air Force no
longer did; and how much time the community has to make some sort of
transition.
First Chief Peter Captain Sr. from Louden Tribal Council was pleased to hear that no one is threatening to make a quick change.
“It gives us some sort of relief that we have a period to
work on these avenues,” Chief Captain said.
“And we have been working like that for years - put things in place that
will benefit us tomorrow.”
|
|
|
|
First Chief Peter Captain Senior during the meeting. |
Sidney Huntington speaks to Commissioners Bilbray (left)
and Coyle (right) |
Galena elder Sidney Huntington led off the meeting with a
speech on the positive contributions made by the Air Force to his family and
the community as a whole. He also
encouraged the Commissioners to considering paying a portion of the cost of
expanding the boarding school currently operating on the base – in the event
that the Air Force does indeed close the Galena FOL. But given that the Galena school district apparently has some
time to make plans and find money, he too is optimistic.
“I think they will give us a year or two down the
road, or maybe more. That will give a
lot of the people that are building houses and stuff like that to utilize them
and realize what they want to do. If
the military moves out and we can maintain the school at the base, then it will
be around here for a long time,” Sidney remarked on Friday.
Along with staff members and Air Force officers, the
Commissioners began their visit to Galena by touring the grounds of the former
Galena Air Force Base, which has been in warm status since 1993.
Comissioner Philip Coyle, a former Assistant Secretary of
Defense for Test and Evaluation, thinks that site visits like the one in Galena
are critical learning experiences for the Commissioners.
“What we found throughout this BRAC process,” Coyle observed,
“is that we learn so much from visiting these bases and talking to people
in the community that we could not possibly have gotten if we did not come
here in the first place.”
 |
 |
|
Commissioner Philip Coyle
|
First
Chief Peter Captain Sr. and Commissioner Philip Coyle
|
When the BRAC Commission first mentioned Galena in a July 1
communication to the Defense Department, it was in connection with Eielson Air
Force Base, suggesting that Galena’s mission as a forward station for alert
aircraft could be transferred to Eielson regardless of what happens to Eielson
in this BRAC round.
After the meeting in Galena, the commissioners elaborated on
if and how they see a link between Galena and Eielson. Commissioner Philip Coyle doesn’t exactly
think they are two sides of the same coin.
“Obviously there is an interplay between the two bases. But I believe we will look at them
separately and we will certainly vote on them separately,” Coyle said.
But Commissioner James Bilbray sees more of a direct
connection. He has excused himself from
voting on Eielson since 18 planes from Eielson would be redeployed to a base in
his home state of Nevada under the DoD plan for realignment and closure.
Nevertheless, Bilbray predicts that if Eielson is realigned
according to BRAC recommendations: “then closing Galena doesn’t make as much
sense. On the other hand, if Eielson
stays open, then the money savings by closing Galena helps the situation.”
The commissioners also said that the operational
capabilities of the F/A –22 raptor, due to be deployed in Alaska within 3
years, have not factored in to considerations very much so far.
But knowing the range and speed of the F/A-22 is something
that Marvin Yoder stressed to the Commissioners today. Unrolling a large Alaska map on the
conference table, Yoder showed how fighters scrambled from Galena could make
intercepts over the Bering Sea, as they did about 200 times against Soviet
planes during the Cold War. If the Air
Force still wants to respond quickly to intrusions in northwest Alaska, Yoder
argues, then there still is a need for Galena.
“You can’t do it from Eielson and you can’t do it from
Elmendorf,” Yoder stated, in reference to making intercepts over the Bering
Sea.
“If you have a whole different mechanism for patrolling out
there, then that needs to be brought up.
But to suggest that Eielson could be a forward operating base, I think
[that] is a misnomer. The Commissioners
have tied those two together incorrectly.
If you make the strategic argument that that kind of patrol is no longer
necessary, then that is up to them to decide.”
 |
|
Galena
City Manager Marvin Yoder arguing for Galena's strategic location
|
The definitive vote on whether or not the Galena FOL is
added to the BRAC list will occur during the fourth week of August.
In the meantime, representatives from the Department of Labor plan to come to Galena next week, to talk about securing funds for a redevelopment plan – like the one that was done with community input in 1996, when the Air Force base was downgraded to warm status.