Utah depots safe as BRAC closures take effect

Another harrowing base closure round is finally over.

The Base Realignment and Closure Commission's recommendations officially went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Wednesday. Utah survived the base closure round with barely a scratch, with just six lost jobs.

"I'm glad this BRAC round is ending," said Rep. Rob Bishop, R-Utah, whose 1st Congressional District includes Hill Air Force Base, Dugway Proving Ground, Tooele Army Depot and Deseret Chemical Depot. "It's a stressful time for all involved, with so much potentially at stake, but Utah fared very well."

The delegation and Utah defense officials worried the BRAC Commission might make significant jobs cuts or even close Hill Air Force Base, one of Utah's largest employers. Utah Defense Alliance President Vickie McCall said she feared the state could lose as many as 3,000-5,000 jobs.

Instead, not much happened at the Davis County military hub. A few workloads were shuffled to other bases, while Hill gained others to result in a net loss of six jobs. Final details of what goes where could take months to finalize, said Marilu Trainor, spokeswoman for Hill's Ogden Air Logistics Center.

The commission did, however, decide to shut down Deseret Chemical Depot, which was already scheduled to close by 2012. Since 1996, the depot has been destroying the nation's largest stockpile of chemical weapons, including GB and VX nerve agents and blistering agents like mustard, as part of an international treaty.

The 2005 BRAC round was the most aggressive in history, with recommendations affecting workers at 800 military bases. The four previous base closure rounds resulted in 97 major closures, 55 major realignments and 235 minor shuffles, according to the Defense Department.

"Hill fared very well this round, and that's a testament to the hard work and the dedication of the people at Hill," Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, said. "BRAC gave us the opportunity to show the nation's top defense leaders that Hill is among the best depots in the military. But BRAC was grueling, and we're all relieved that we've finally reached the end of the BRAC process."

Continued investment in Hill will only help in future BRAC rounds, Hatch said. More closures could be on the horizon. In August, BRAC Commission Chairman Anthony Principi recommended that Congress regularly schedule BRAC rounds every five or 10 years.

The United States Senate was expected to pass the Defense Authorization bill Thursday night, which included $150 million to continue in an investment plan that is enhancing the Air Force's maintenance repair and overhaul operations, including those at Hill's Ogden Air Logistics Center.