[Congressional Record Volume 162, Number 79 (Wednesday, May 18, 2016)]
[House]
[Pages H2704-H2705]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                NATIONAL GEOSPATIAL-INTELLIGENCE AGENCY

  The SPEAKER pro tempore. The Chair recognizes the gentleman from 
Illinois (Mr. Bost) for 5 minutes.
  Mr. BOST. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to bring attention to a matter of 
national security. Over the last several months, the National 
Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, or NGA, has been considering locations 
for its new Western headquarters. The agency, which collects and 
analyzes satellite maps in support of warfighters, has outgrown its 
current location in St. Louis.
  With construction of the new NGA-West facility scheduled to begin 
next year, the question is: Where? There are two sites under 
consideration. One is in north St. Louis. The other is in St. Clair 
County, Illinois, next to Scott Air Force Base.
  This site, which I have a chart of, is shovel ready. It is 182 acres 
of undeveloped land with room to expand. It is free of cost to the 
American taxpayers, with the county ready to hand over the deed to the 
NGA.
  To help make their decision, the NGA enlisted the help of the Army 
Corps of Engineers to study the environmental impact. Unfortunately, we 
have found that the Army Corps of Engineers' Environmental Impact 
Statement is deeply flawed. The report is filled with errors, 
omissions, and underestimated risks. It is clear that the Army Corps 
did not provide an accurate accounting of the facts. The result is that 
the NGA announced plans last month to relocate to north St. Louis. 
Before that decision becomes final on June 2, I am here to set the 
record straight.
  To the right of this chart, you will see St. Clair County, Illinois. 
This is the site under consideration by the NGA. However, the Army 
Corps of Engineers' report included data related to St. Clair County, 
Missouri, and St. Clair County, Michigan. One is 263 miles away from 
the actual site, and the other is 580 miles away from the actual site. 
The report also highlighted a river that isn't even in southern 
Illinois.
  When alerted to these embarrassing errors, the Army Corps of 
Engineers failed to correct them. Considering that the NGA is a mapping 
agency, maybe they could teach the Army Corps of Engineers how to read 
one.
  Now, let's look at the impact on mission security and public safety. 
Clearly, a DOD mapping agency would be a prime target for those who 
wish to do harm against this agency. This chart shows evacuation zones 
if either location were attacked by a car bomb.

                              {time}  1015

  You can see that St. Clair County has ample setback to protect local 
residents and the site itself. The north St. Louis site, obviously, 
does not.
  We now know that security was a top criteria for placement of the new 
NGA. We know that force protection standards have traditionally led to 
colocating with existing military installations. So why are the 
standards being ignored for this facility?
  Let's look at the facts. We have already talked about the NGA belongs 
in St. Clair County. We have already talked about mission security. We 
talked about public safety, and we saw the difference in the blast 
zones.
  St. Clair County is the right choice for taxpayers. The Army Corps 
claims

[[Page H2705]]

the St. Clair County site would be 20 percent more expensive, but they 
haven't even completed studies of the north St. Louis site. St. Clair 
County is shovel-ready now. North St. Louis is not.
  Every year that we delay this, it adds $40 million to the cost to 
this budget. St. Clair County has been proactive and transparent with 
the environmental studies. North St. Louis hasn't even conducted its 
full analysis. The north St. Louis site has significant unknowns, 
including reports of hazardous waste and potential contamination from 
cold war era testing. How can this decision be made without answers to 
these very serious and health-related questions?
  In terms of recruiting the next generation, Scott Air Force Base 
attracts the best of the best. Thousands of millennials work at Scott 
Air Force Base, and many already have their security clearance. 
Finally, St. Clair County has the roadways, railways, and 
infrastructure to make NGA a success. North St. Louis will need to 
seize land through eminent domain and then create a network we already 
have in place.
  Mr. Speaker, I believe the NGA is making a terrible mistake that 
could have serious consequences. They didn't have the correct data. 
Before this decision is made final, the people deserve the truth. Not 
just the people of St. Clair County, not just the people of north St. 
Louis, but we, the United States citizens.
  That is why I have called for a full investigation by the Inspector 
General's Office.

                          ____________________