News

Ellsworth saved
By Celeste Calvitto, Journal Staff Writer

Like the phoenix from the ashes, the status of Ellsworth Air Force base rose from expendable to essential in a matter of seconds when the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, or BRAC, voted Friday to save the base.

South Dakota's top lawmakers and the head of the Ellsworth Task Force were at the edge of their seats in the suburban Washington, D.C., hearing room when BRAC commissioner Samuel Skinner made a motion to reject the Pentagon's recommendation to close Ellsworth and move its 29 B-1B Lancer bombers to Dyess Air Force Base.

Looking for at least five commissioners to raise their hands in support of Skinner's motion, the South Dakotans instead saw all but one of the nine-member panel vote to save Ellsworth.

"It would have been nice to have nine (votes)," Pat McElgunn, Ellsworth Task Force director, joked by telephone just minutes after the vote. Later, he said, "I started counting, and when it got to five, I knew we were there."

The decision came at about 7:20 a.m. MT after less than an hour of discussion among BRAC commissioners.

"This is certainly one of the most significant recommendations to come before the commission," BRAC chairman Anthony Principi, a former U.S. secretary of veterans affairs, said in opening the deliberations.

Almost from the start, it appeared the vote would go Ellsworth's way as the primary arguments advanced by Ellsworth advocates over the past three months were mirrored in the presentations by BRAC staff members.

Among them:

--The "eggs in one basket" theory, or the risk involved in consolidation of the B-1 fleet at one location.

--Overestimated cost savings associated with the closing of the base.

--The uncertainty surrounding a federal lawsuit challenging Dyess' training ranges.

--The $278 million economic impact of closing the base on the Black Hills community and the state.

"That is what opened the door and drove us to be insistent that there was more to the story than what the Air Force said," McElgunn said of the list of Ellsworth arguments that got a boost from the BRAC staff.

"The relative merits of Ellsworth spoke for themselves," Sen. John Thune, R-S.D., said in a news conference following the hearing.

Principi's lines of questioning touched on nearly all of the points raised by Ellsworth advocates. He asked about the strategic threat posed by consolidation of the B-1 fleet, whether Dyess' airspace was adequate for training and whether the Defense Department underestimated the community impact.

Commissioner Samuel Skinner, a former chief of staff and Secretary of Transportation for President George H. W. Bush, focused on the effect of the litigation on Dyess.

"You need to able to train in the environment you fight in," Skinner said, noting that because of the lawsuit, training flyovers cannot take place under 500 feet at Dyess ranges.

Ellsworth advocates have argued that its training area, the Power River Military Operating Area in Wyoming, is unencumbered.

The Pentagon's estimated cost savings from closing Ellsworth were targeted by retired Adm. Harold W. Gehman Jr., former commander in chief of the U.S. Joint Forces Command. After being told by a BRAC staff member that the projected $1.8 billion savings over 20 years was "cost avoidance," Gehman said, "There are no savings ...You are essentially moving the airplanes from one very good base to another very good base."

The lone "nay" vote came from retired Air Force Gen. Lloyd Warren Newton, who mentioned the consolidation argument.

"I agree with Department of Defense when it says it measures the risk ... as probably acceptable," Newton said, noting, "We normally to do not employ these airplanes from the United States to the target, but from another location." He did agree with comments from other commissioners and staff about "cost avoidance" versus cost savings.

South Dakota's congressional delegation, Gov. Mike Rounds and McElgunn said they were gratified that the arguments that had been presented since the May 13 announcement that Ellsworth was targeted for closure had been heard by the BRAC commissioners and staff.

"They saw the quality of Ellsworth Air Force Base, the work that's gone on there, that there's no meaningful cost savings and that there would be increased vulnerability of the B-1 fleet," Sen. Tim Johnson, D-S.D., said.

Rep. Stephanie Herseth said the delegation "had been receiving signals that some of our arguments were resonating with the commissioners, particularly with respect to the projected cost savings of closing the base ... Not only did I become more optimistic, but I was confident that our odds had improved significantly. I am pleased that those signals were accurate and that we can celebrate today."

One man who was not present but who the South Dakota contingent said may have had the most potent contribution to the effort to save Ellsworth was retired Air Force Gen. John Michael Loh.

The value of Loh's videotaped testimony at the June 21 BRAC regional hearing in Rapid City, a letter to BRAC commissioners and personal visits to them was incalculable, Thune said.

"I called him this morning to thank him, and that we need to think about adding another face to Mount Rushmore," Thune said. "He talked to virtually everybody, and as the former head of the Air Combat Command, brought tremendous credibility."

Contact Calvitto at celeste.calvitto@rapidcityjournal.com or 394-8438.