By Washington, DC
Alabama Public Radio – Congressman Spencer Bachus has written a letter to the chairman of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission. He told Anthony Principi it makes no sense to close the 117th Air Refueling Wing at the Birmingham International Airport. Bachus says the proposed realignment would cost the city an estimated 250-thousand dollars a year and will only save the Defense Department 23-thousand dollars a year. The BRAC plan recommends moving the 117th's nine aerial tanker aircraft to Air National Guard bases in Tennessee, Maine and Arizona. A regional BRAC hearing will be held in Atlanta on June 30th. Bachus says he'll attend the meeting.