Hill not out of the woods yet

Round one is over, but the fight remains.

Hill Air Force Base escaped the Pentagon's list of base closures and realignments with relatively little damage — a proposed realignment could cause a net loss of 145 jobs. But Hill isn't safe yet. The Base Realignment and Closure Commission could add Utah's largest employer to the final list, due out in September.

Hill could avoid a potential blow by teaming up with Dugway Proving Ground to serve as key bases for homeland security.

"We're putting a strategy together, trying to decide how Utah can play in homeland security," said Vickie McCall, president of the Utah Defense Alliance. "We think that's going to be really big."

Dugway didn't make Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's list. Utah's congressional delegation believes Dugway's mission will increase dramatically but that it will be funded through the Department of Homeland Security.

Ron Carbon, executive director of the 21st Century Partnership, said Hill and Dugway are perfect partners: Hill can provide the overhead structure and "the oversight to keep Dugway running," while Dugway continues work as the nation's premier military research and testing facility.

The Utah Test and Training Range separates the two military installations, and both could use that premier piece of land, Carbon said.

"Both of those are out there, and they are assets that are here in the United States," said Carbon, who leads a group lobbying to save Robins Air Force Base in Georgia. "The (Department of Defense) can control them, and there are very little restrictions in their use."

Rumsfeld on Monday defended his recommendation to close 33 major domestic bases and realign hundreds of others.

"Some asked why we're proposing any base closures during a time of war," Rumsfeld told the BRAC commission. "The answer is the changes are essential in helping us win the conflict."

Rumsfeld proposed closing 180 military installations from Maine to Hawaii, including 33 major bases.

Utah escaped Rumsfeld's list relatively unscathed.

"We are basically being held harmless," Gov. Jon Huntsman Jr. said.

Now it's up to former Utah congressman Jim Hansen and the BRAC commission. Hansen is one of nine commissioners who will review Rumsfeld's recommendations and ultimately decide which bases go and which bases stay.

This is the fifth round of military base closings, and in all five rounds Hill survived. Since 1988, the base has practically skated through the base closure process, with no major job losses. And during the 1995 round, the base flourished, adding more than 2,000 jobs.