[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 40 (Friday, March 3, 1995)]
[House]
[Page H2642]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


       RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE BASE REALIGNMENT CLOSURE COMMISSION

  The SPEAKER pro tempore (Mr. Oxley). Under a previous order of the 
House, the gentleman from Alabama [Mr. Browder] is recognized for 5 
minutes.
  Mr. BROWDER. Mr. Speaker, I am convinced that Secretary of Defense 
William Perry's recommendation to the Base Realignment and Closure 
[BRAC] Commission to close Fort McClellan, AL, is a mistake with 
significant and dangerous ramifications.
  With this recommendation, the Pentagon Jeopardizes the American 
soldier's ability to survive chemical warfare, breaks faith with 
hundreds of thousands of Alabamians at risk from their neighboring 
stockpile of aging chemical weapons, and seriously undermines the 
Chemical Weapons Convention and Bilateral Destruction Agreement.
  Let me be specific about what's wrong with the proposed closure of 
Fort McClellan:
  First, it contradicts two earlier directives of the Base Realignment 
and Closure Commission refusing closure efforts of 1991 and 1993. The 
BRAC Commission has ruled twice--and the President and Congress 
concurred--that the chemical defense mission performed at Fort 
McClellan is vital to our national defense and that the Army's 
recommendation violates the criteria of military value established by 
law. The 1993 Commission reprimanded the Pentagon for attempting a 
second closure--following the unsuccessful initiative of 1991--and 
warned:

       . . . if the Secretary of Defense wants to move the 
     Chemical Defense School and Chemical Decontamination Training 
     Facility in the future, the Army should pursue all of the 
     required permits and certification for the new site prior to 
     the 1995 Base Closure process.

  The Pentagon has not acquired any of the required permits and 
certification; its only justification for the proposal is its 
assumption that the requisite permits can be granted to allow operation 
of the Chemical Defense Training Facility elsewhere.
  Second, it would shut down the only facility in the free world where 
live agent chemical weapons defense training can be conducted for 
America and its allies. All United States services, 27 allied foreign 
nations, and the international CWC Preparatory Commission train at this 
facility. National and international experts have testified that 
relocation of the Chemical School and live agent facility would 
seriously disrupt our chemical defense program for a decade; even more 
importantly, they maintain, it is highly unlikely that such a move can 
be accomplished under today's environmental restrictions.
  Third, it would destroy a chemical defense capability which is 
considered vital to the success of the Chemical Weapons Convention, 
whose article 10 guarantees chemical defense assistance to threatened 
signatory countries.
  Fourth, it would dismantle a working chemical weapons program 
considered critical to the training of international inspectors for 
carrying out the requirements of the Chemical Weapons Convention.
  Fifth, it would abrogate a written commitment of extensive Fort 
McClellan resources--medical, technical, and security personnel and 
facilities--to help protect the hundred thousand at-risk civilians in 
case of a chemical accident/incident during the storage and planned 
demilitarization of the across-town Anniston Army Depot chemical 
weapons stockpile--as required by the Bilateral Destruction Agreement 
and Chemical Weapons Convention. This commitment was made in the 1990 
demilitarization permit request filed by the U.S. Army with the Alabama 
Department of Environmental Management [ADEM], which has authority over 
the demilitarization process. This commitment has been incorporated 
into numerous emergency response plans and agreements among Fort 
McClellan, Anniston Army Depot, and the surrounding community. It has 
been operationalized in chemical stockpile emergency preparedness 
drills throughout the local area under the direction of the Army and 
Federal Emergency Management Agency. Finally, it was reconfirmed to me 
in a meeting with and letter from Deputy Secretary of Defense John 
Deutch 6 months ago. ADEM has assured me that the loss of these 
resources--through closure of Fort McClellan--will virtually prohibit 
issuance of the permit.
  I am shocked and disappointed that the Secretary of Defense who has 
broad responsibilities for the national and international security of 
our country, has yielded to the bean-counters and numbers-crunchers in 
the bowels of the Pentagon.

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