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Panel Votes to Keep Ellsworth Air Base

An independent panel votes to keep open South Dakota's Ellsworth Air Force Base. The base closing commission voted to reject a Pentagon plan to close the facility.

Sen. John Thune (R-SD) argued during the 2004 campaign that he would make a better case for sparing the base than then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle.

Below is a list of major votes by the base closure commission, as of 9:50 a.m. Aug. 26.

CLOSE (as Pentagon recommended):

California

-Naval Weapons Station Seal Beach Concord Detachment

-Riverbank Army Ammunition Plant

-Onizuka Air Force Station

Georgia

-Fort McPherson

-Fort Gillem

-Naval Air Station Atlanta

Indiana

-Newport Chemical Depot (closure was conditioned upon completion of treaty obligations)

Kansas

-Kansas Army Ammunition Plant

Michigan

-Selfridge Army Activity

Mississippi

-Mississippi Army Ammunition Plant

-Naval Station Pascagoula

New Jersey

-Fort Monmouth (closure was conditioned on an assurance that research under way in connection with the war on terrorism won't be disrupted)

Oregon

-Umatilla Chemical Depot (closure was conditioned upon completion of treaty obligations)

Texas

-Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant

-Naval Station Ingleside

-Brooks City-Base

Utah

-Deseret Chemical Depot (closure was conditioned upon completion of treaty obligations and a study to see if the depot can be converted for another use)

Virginia

-Fort Monroe

KEEP OPEN (either wholly or partially, rather than close as the Pentagon wanted):

California

-Naval Support Activity, Corona

Connecticut

-Submarine Base New London

Louisiana

-Naval Support Activity, New Orleans

Maine

-Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Nevada

-Hawthorne Army Depot

South Dakota

-Ellsworth Air Force Base

Texas

-Red River Army Depot

CLOSE (rather than downsize as Pentagon wanted):

Maine

-Naval Air Station Brunswick

KEEP OPEN (rather than drastically downsize as the Pentagon had wanted):

Alaska

-Eielson Air Force Base.

KEEP OPEN (with conditions):

The commission also decided to keep open two bases it had considered closing, but it added conditions in both cases. The Pentagon wanted all along to keep them open. Those bases are:

California

-Broadway Complex San Diego

Virginia

-Oceana Naval Air Station

Sources: The Associated Press

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