"Between Tooele and Deseret, there are sufficient (storage) igloos as far as we are concerned."

The impact on TAD is not known exactly. There would have been some workloads shifted to TAD from Hawthorne, but it was never specified by the military how many jobs were at stake.

Former U.S. Rep. Jim Hansen, R-Utah, now a member of the commission, abstained from votes involving Utah facilities. But he was in the thick of Wednesday's proceedings, casting the only vote against keeping open a Connecticut facility and unsuccessfully trying to save a Texas naval base.

In that case, Hansen appeared to take a swipe at Utah's efforts to keep military bases viable, pointing out that Texans knew how to present their case to BRAC officials and how Texans weren't satisfied to throw a measly couple hundred thousand dollars at the effort.

"That's how we operate in my chintzy state," he said.

Hansen, who did not return Deseret Morning News calls, may have been referring to efforts by Texas and Florida to host a major naval air base, now in Oceana, Va., with each state offering between $300 million and $400 million in development incentives should Oceana be closed.

The Utah Legislature appropriated only $5 million toward efforts to save Hill Air Force Base.

"I am delighted" with the state's efforts, said Vicki McCall, a member of the Utah Defense Alliance, who added she was not offended by the comments." We could have been in a world of hurt right now. I hope at the end of the day we are in as good a shape."

McCall said Hill Air Force Base is now in a position to expand its missions and work force.

---

Contributing: Doug Smeath, Joe Bauman, Lisa Riley Roche, Deseret Morning News; Liz Sidoti, Associated Press

E-mail: spang@desnews.com