PRINTER'S NO. 926
No. 130 Session of 2005
INTRODUCED BY GREENLEAF, WONDERLING, ERICKSON, CONTI, O'PAKE,
TARTAGLIONE, BOSCOLA, KITCHEN, PICCOLA AND GORDNER,
JUNE 14, 2005
REFERRED TO RULES AND EXECUTIVE NOMINATIONS, JUNE 14, 2005
A RESOLUTION
1 Urging the President and the Congress of the United States and
2 all members of the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure
3 Commission to remove the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base
4 Willow Grove, Pennsylvania, from the list of military base
5 closures recommended by the Department of Defense.
6 WHEREAS, The Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base Willow
7 Grove, commonly referred to as the Willow Grove Naval Air
8 Station, located in Horsham Township, Pennsylvania, has been
9 recommended for closure by the Secretary of Defense; and
10 WHEREAS, The Willow Grove Naval Air Station, first
11 commissioned in 1943 as a naval air base with 196 acres, now
12 covers 1,100 acres and includes a joint reserve base, the only
13 one in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, that is home to Navy,
14 Air Force, Army, Marine and Air National Guard units; and
15 WHEREAS, The Willow Grove Naval Air Station is one of only
16 three military facilities in the United States that brings
17 together branches of the armed forces to prepare for joint
18 operations and is considered a model facility by some defense
19 analysts; and
1 WHEREAS, The Willow Grove Naval Air Station is strategically
2 located near all major metropolitan and port areas in the
3 Northeast corridor, enabling fighters to be deployed within
4 minutes to Philadelphia, New York, Baltimore and Washington, DC,
5 which is critical to homeland defense; and
6 WHEREAS, Its modern 8,000-foot runway can accommodate any
7 military aircraft, including Air Force One, and land commercial
8 aircraft from Washington, DC, to New York in emergencies; and
9 WHEREAS, The Willow Grove Naval Air Station has a state-of-
10 the-art radar system which is one of four digital air control
11 systems in the United States; and
12 WHEREAS, The Willow Grove Naval Air Station is home to the
13 913th Airlift Wing of the Air Force Reserve, which trains and
14 equips reservists to perform aerial resupply and also provides
15 air logistic support for active and reserve Navy units; and
16 WHEREAS, The Willow Grove Naval Air Station is also home to
17 the 111th Fighter Wing of the Pennsylvania Air National Guard,
18 that has the honor of being the oldest flying unit within
19 Pennsylvania and has had many unit members deployed worldwide to
20 support operations against terrorism since the September 11,
21 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States; and
22 WHEREAS, The Willow Grove Naval Air Station employs people
23 from the Berks, Bucks, Montgomery, Chester, Delaware and
24 Philadelphia County areas, and the closure of this base will
25 result in the loss of economic activity and jobs; and
26 WHEREAS, A study commissioned by the Suburban Horsham-Willow
27 Grove Chamber of Commerce determined that closure of the Willow
28 Grove Naval Air Station will result in the area losing $375
29 million in economic activity annually and more than 10,000 area
30 jobs, including more than 7,000 jobs on the base; and
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1 WHEREAS, Closure of the Willow Grove Naval Air Station will
2 result in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania losing nearly $7.2
3 million in State tax revenue and $2.4 million in local tax
4 revenue; and
5 WHEREAS, The surrounding communities support the mission and
6 operations of the base; and
7 WHEREAS, The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has lost a greater
8 percentage of positions in the four prior rounds of the Base
9 Realignment and Closure Commission than any other state, with a
10 total loss of 16,033 jobs consisting of 3,009 military and
11 13,024 civilian positions; therefore be it
12 RESOLVED, That the Senate of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania
13 support maintaining the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base
14 Willow Grove and urge the President and the Congress of the
15 United States and all members of the 2005 Base Realignment and
16 Closure Commission to support the same; and be it further
17 RESOLVED, That the Senate urge the President and the Congress
18 and all members of the commission to remove the Naval Air
19 Station Joint Reserve Base Willow Grove from the list of
20 military base closures recommended by the Department of Defense;
21 and be it further
22 RESOLVED, That copies of this resolution be transmitted to
23 the President of the United States, to the presiding officers of
24 each house of Congress, to each member of Congress from
25 Pennsylvania and to all members of the 2005 Base Realignment and
26 Closure Commission.
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