Local News
Aug 26th, 2005 at 3:35 pm by Susie
This means a reprieve for Willow Grove Air Force Base:
PHILADELPHIA, Aug 26 (Reuters) - A federal judge ruled on Friday that the Pentagon had broken the law in seeking to close down the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard without first obtaining the governor’s approval.
The ruling was a victory for Democratic Gov. Ed Rendell, who challenged the Pentagon’s plan to close the fighter wing at a naval base near Philadelphia. The disputed closure, which would cost more than 1,200 jobs, is part of round of planned domestic military base reductions.
Good this gives the govenor of Oregon some ammo. The air base in Portland is on the block and he’s not signing on. Seems we have a coastline and ports to defend, that D.C. has forgotten about. Makes you wonder.
Why are we shutting down bases while at the same time fighting “terror” here and abroad?
Make you wonder, what the real mission is.
In the usual late Friday surprise, the commission has voted to close Otis Air National Guard base. The story is
“Federal commission votes to close Otis Air National Guard base”, at boston.com.
The Pentagon wanted to move the 18 F-15 fighters at Otis to NJ and FL, but the base commission is sending them to Barnes ANGB in western MA. Trouble is, Barnes is not presently constituted to handle F-15s. Maybe the Northeastern coast will wind up with adequate air defense, but it sure sounds strange.