RETAINING MILITARY BASES RUNNER, MCCARTHY CALL FOR COMMITTEE.

Byline: Jim Skeen Staff Writer

EDWARDS AIR FORCE BASE - A legislative committee to help California's military bases survive a new round of base closures is being sought by Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, R-Lancaster, and Assemblyman Kevin McCarthy, R-Bakersfield.

The two Assembly members wrote a letter Thursday calling on Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson to form an Assembly Select Committee on Military Base Retention. In the letter, Runner and McCarthy said that the committee was needed to ``create a level playing field for California in Washington, D.C.''

The committee could help develop legislation and state strategies to address the needs of California's bases, the lawmakers said.

``A special committee can help us to protect our economy and the jobs of our region,'' Runner said.

Both Assembly members believe that the formation of such a committee is vital, as the Defense Department is preparing to release in 2005 a list of bases it wants to close.

Previous base closure rounds hit California hard, cutting 100,000 defense-related jobs and costing the state as much as $9.6 billion in annual revenues.

``We hope to save our bases and to protect our communities from additional blows to the economy,'' Runner said.

Defense Department officials said the nation needs only three-quarters of the bases it has now and that it lacks the money to properly maintain the installations it does deem vital.

The previous four rounds of base closures have saved the Defense Department more than $16.7 billion thus far. Savings from the closures are expected to reach $6.6 billion annually, according to the General Accounting Office, the auditing body for Congress.

It was estimated that another round of base closures could save as much as an additional $3.5 billion annually.

California still has the largest number of military installations in the nation - 36 major and 25 minor facilities, including military installations, Department of Defense laboratories and testing facilities, according to the state Technology, Trade and Commerce Agency.

Department of Defense expenditures in California totaled more than $29 billion annually, with $11.3 billion of those funds spent on military and civilian payrolls.

Antelope Valley officials are gearing up to protect the region's two largest centers of employment, Edwards Air Force Base and Air Force Plant 42.

In the past, Pentagon officials said Edwards Air Force Base was safe from closure and that it had irreplaceable assets - such as the dry lake beds used as landing sites in emergencies and for experimental aircraft.

Antelope Valley officials said there are no certainties during a base closure round and that while the Air Force isn't likely to completely shut down Edwards, it could bleed off missions and jobs.

Edwards is the largest center of employment for the Antelope Valley, with a work force of some 11,500 people and an estimated economic impact of more than $2 billion annually.

Occupied by some 6,000 workers, Air Force Plant 42 is one of three Air Force-owned production facilities, the last remnant of some 100 that existed at one time.

The government owns the facilities, and they are operated by contractors like Boeing, Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin. Lockheed Martin also owns its own facility adjoining Air Force Plant 42.