
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: THURSDAY, April 11, 1991                   TAG: 9104110229
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A-8   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: The New York Times
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

MILITARY BASES FACE CLOSINGS/ CHENEY WANTS 30 SHUT, SCALED DOWN

The Bush administration is about to propose a new round of military base closings, including Fort Ord in California and Whidbey Island Naval Air Station in Washington state, administration officials said Wednesday.

Officials said Defense Secretary Dick Cheney's latest plan to shrink the military, expected to be announced Friday, included proposals to close or scale down more than 30 bases.

The proposed closings would cost thousands of military and civilian jobs and are virtually certain to stir intense opposition among lawmakers whose districts or states would be affected.

Among bases under consideration for outright closure, officials said, are Myrtle Beach Air Force Base in South Carolina, Fort McClellan Army Base in Alabama, Sacramento Naval Depot in California, Bergstrom Air Force Base in Texas, Philadelphia Naval Shipyard and Fort Benjamin Harrison in Indiana.

Under law governing procedure for closing or reducing bases, Cheney will submit his list to an eight-member presidential commission. The panel has 75 days to accept the administration's recommendations or alter the list of bases.

The commission's plan would then go to Congress and President Bush for approval by a Sept. 1 statutory deadline.

by CNB