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1
SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION

 
2     WHEREAS, President George W. Bush has called for a 2005
3 round of defense base realignment and closure (BRAC); and
 
4     WHEREAS, The United States Department of Defense has stated
5 it wants to trim about 25% of its infrastructure and every one
6 of the nation's 425 bases is at risk; and
 
7     WHEREAS, Secretary of Defense Rumsfield has predicted the
8 2005 BRAC round will close 100 facilities and save $7 billion
9 that will be used for advanced weapons systems and improving
10 the quality of life for military members; and
 
11     WHEREAS, The Department of Defense forwards its list of
12 military installations recommended for realignment and closure
13 to the BRAC Commission for review on May 16th, 2005; and
 
14     WHEREAS, The State of Illinois supports the United States
15 Government's defense posture with excellent military bases and
16 industrial facilities; and
 
17     WHEREAS, The State of Illinois has four military
18 installations in danger of being closed - Peoria Air National
19 Guard Base, Rock Island Arsenal, Scott Air Force Base, and
20 Springfield National Guard Base; and
 
21     WHEREAS, These military and industrial operations are
22 centrally located and are cost effective; and
 
23     WHEREAS, When viewed in light of the BRAC military value
24 and special considerations selection criteria, it is clear that
25 each installation is crucial for the defense of this nation and
26 is serving the country in a highly cost-efficient manner; and
 
27     WHEREAS, Peoria Air National Guard, located at the Greater

 

 

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1 Peoria Airport in Peoria, Illinois, has approximately 383
2 full-time equivalent employees and an additional 938 part time
3 positions; the total impact to the community is $45.5 million
4 in spending and $39.2 million in compensation with a total
5 economic impact of $250 million dollars; the 182nd Airlift Wing
6 at Greater Peoria Regional Airport has a new, modern facility,
7 is upgrading its equipment and has a long-term lease; the 182nd
8 flies the C-130E aircraft and more recently will be receiving
9 C-130H3s to replace their "E" model aircraft; this Wing is one
10 of the leaders in the airlift business, continues to be
11 mobilized in support of "Operation Iraqi Freedom", and has had
12 troops in Iraq and Afghanistan; the base was rebuilt in the
13 mid-1990s and is relatively new in comparison to others; the
14 base was re-built to accommodate numerous and diverse missions
15 for the future; the Peoria Air National Guard has about 230
16 unused acres fit for future use; the Airlift Wing possesses two
17 hangars for maintenance; the base has two active runways of
18 10,000 ft. and 8,000 ft. which will accommodate most airlift
19 transport and tanker aircraft; the 182nd Airlift Wing has
20 various Expeditionary Combat Support units which include
21 security police, communications, civil engineering, services,
22 supply, personnel, an air support operations center, air
23 support operations, combat communications, and an Air Force
24 band; small arms range and munitions storage capability exist
25 on base, and the civil support team is Illinois' first
26 responder for disaster relief and emergencies; and
 
27     WHEREAS, The Rock Island Arsenal is strategically located
28 on an island in the Mississippi River between Iowa and Illinois
29 and is the second largest employer in the Quad City region with
30 an estimated strength of over 6,300 jobs, and it supports over
31 12,600 additional jobs in the surrounding communities; the
32 total annual impact of the base is $1.16 billion to the local
33 community; the Joint Manufacturing Technology Center (JMTC) on
34 Rock Island Arsenal is a vertically integrated facility with
35 the only Department of Army foundry; Rock Island Arsenal is

 

 

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1 noted for its expertise in the manufacture of weapons and
2 weapons components; every phase of development and production
3 is available from prototype to full-scale production of major
4 items, spare parts, and repair items; Rock Island Arsenal is
5 home of approximately 50 Department of Defense organizations
6 comprised of a multi-faceted dynamic workforce unlike any other
7 in the United States; the Arsenal provides the base operations
8 support to all tenant activities, and has its own logistics and
9 industrial facilities that provide critical products and
10 services to all of the Armed Services; the Arsenal is a primary
11 provider of armor for Hummers and has recently been working on
12 an emergency request for machine gun pedestals for light
13 military vehicles; and
 
14     WHEREAS, Scott Air Force Base, located in St. Clair County
15 in Southwestern Illinois, is the largest employer in Southwest
16 Illinois and has an effect on the lives and livelihoods of more
17 than 100,000 people in the metro east region; Scott Air Force
18 Base employs over 13,000 people, and the loss of these
19 individuals and their families and retirees would have an
20 adverse impact upon the communities in Southwestern Illinois;
21 the estimated annual impact of Scott Air Force Base is over
22 $2.1 billion to the region; the Scott Air Force Base
23 organizations are integral to the day-to-day execution of
24 National Security Policy, and their daily operations connect
25 the installation directly to the nation's war-fighters at risk
26 in the Global War on Terrorism and serving the United States in
27 other missions worldwide; its central location in the Midwest
28 makes it the perfect spot for the headquarters of the U.S.
29 Transportation Command (TRANSCOM), Defense Information
30 Technology Contracting Office (DITCO), Air Force Mobility
31 Command (AMC), and the single CONUS interface to the Defense
32 Information Systems Network; the nearby MidAmerica Airport
33 provides access to an additional two runways of 8,000 ft. and
34 10,000 ft. which are capable of supporting any-size military or
35 commercial aircraft; Scott is home to the Navy's Military

 

 

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1 Sealift Command and the Army's Military Surface Deployment and
2 Distribution Command; it is also home to the 18th Air Force
3 Headquarters, the 375th Airlift Wing, the 932nd Airlift Wing
4 Air Force Reserve, and the 126th Illinois Air National Guard
5 Refueling Wing; the Base has had significant investment in
6 critical facilities including a $2.3 billion plant replacement
7 value (PRV); there are nearly 100 acres on-base with an
8 additional 630 contiguous acres owned by St. Clair County that
9 could be used if necessary, and the Base is in a strategic
10 location in the United States Midwest, near St. Louis,
11 Missouri, and Chicago, Illinois, that could be threatened by
12 the Global War on Terrorism; and
 
13     WHEREAS, Springfield Air National Guard located in
14 Springfield, Illinois, provides $2,450,000 for annual
15 commercial services/vendors and $182,000 annually for local
16 hotels; the economic impact is estimated to be $51 million
17 annually to the nearby area including the counties of Sangamon,
18 Logan, Macon, Christian, Montgomery, Macoupin, Morgan, Cass,
19 and Menard; it employs 343 full-time equivalent and 938
20 part-time positions; the 183rd Fighter Wing is a premier F-16C
21 Unit that has a long and proud tradition in the fighter
22 mission, including being the first unit with the F-84F in the
23 1950s and the F-4C in the 1970s; since converting to the F-16
24 aircraft, the Wing has proven itself continually with its Air
25 Expeditionary Force (AEF) rotations and other demanding
26 missions; the Unit is centrally located to effectively and
27 efficiently utilize seven MOAs and five training ranges which
28 allow for specialized training; the Springfield Air National
29 Guard has a state-of-the-art, 45,000-square-foot, $10 million
30 composite support facility now under construction; and the
31 Guard has two runways of 8,000 ft. and 7,000 ft. which are more
32 than adequate to accommodate fighter aircraft with a third
33 runway of 5,300 ft. which could potentially be made available
34 for use; and
 

 

 

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1     WHEREAS, The shutdown of these four military bases would
2 have extremely adverse economic and social effects upon the
3 local communities around the bases and to the State of Illinois
4 as a whole; therefore, be it
 
5     RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-FOURTH GENERAL
6 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
7 CONCURRING HEREIN, that we urge the Department of Defense and
8 the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to save these four
9 military installations from closure due to their clear military
10 and local value factors; and be it further
 
11     RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be delivered to
12 the Department of Defense, the Base Realignment and Closure
13 Commission, and to each member of the Illinois Congressional
14 Delegation.