[CPEO-IRF] Concord (CA) - lawmakers respond

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Lawmakers oppose Navy plan for base
Tauscher, Miller and Feinstein demand that Concord be involved in 
changes at naval weapons station

By Tanya Rose
CONTRA COSTA TIMES (CA)
November 16, 2006

Federal lawmakers vowed Wednesday to fight the U.S. Navy's decision to 
consider selling the Concord Naval Weapons Station to a private 
developer, saying it would unfairly -- and perhaps illegally -- yank 
planning power away from the city of Concord.

Rep. Ellen Tauscher, D-Alamo, said she still is trying to assess how 
serious the Navy is about selling the 5,170-acre base to construction 
and environmental cleanup firm the Shaw Group Inc. in exchange for 
military construction. If need be, she said, she would support 
legislation intended to stop the Navy in its tracks.

"This kind of conveyance has never been done by the Navy in this 
context, and obviously we don't want the public scratched out of the 
planning process," she said Wednesday.

Tauscher, Rep. George Miller, D-Martinez, and Sen. Dianne Feinstein, 
D-Calif., are trying to determine whether the legal authority cited by 
the Navy is being used properly.

But those familiar with the process by which bases are closed and later 
turned over for public use say this type of conveyance -- and the legal 
authority used -- may be the wave of the future, as the military finds 
itself needing to unload its excess military bases quickly.

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/news/local/states/california/16025992.htm

Also, see the accompanying editorial at
http://www.contracostatimes.com/mld/cctimes/16025948.htm

--


Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org


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