Panel Saves South Dakota Base

(CBS/AP)  A federal panel voted Friday to keep open Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota, rejecting a Pentagon plan to close it.

The vote came at the start of what's expected to be the final day of deliberations by the nine-member base-closing commission.

The surprise decision on Ellsworth was a setback for Pentagon leaders, a blessing for South Dakotans who feared losing about 4,000 jobs, and a victory for Sen. John Thune and the state's other politicians who lobbied vigorously to save the base. Thune, a freshman Republican, unseated then-Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle partly on the strength of his claim he could help save the base.

South Dakota Gov. Mike Rounds called it "a great day for South Dakota."

Ellsworth is home to half the nation's fleet of B1-B bombers. The Pentagon had wanted to move all the bombers to their other location, Dyess Air Foce Base in Texas.

But the commission found that closing Ellsworth wouldn't save any money over 20 years, and that it actually would cost nearly $20 million to move the planes to the Texas base. The Pentagon had projected saving $1.8 billion over two decades with the closure.

"We have no savings, we're essentially moving the airplanes from one very, very good base to another very, very good base, which are essentially equal," commissioner Harold Gehman said about the proposal.

Still to be decided is the fate of another major base – Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis, N.M. The commission was also expected to take up the revamping of the Air National Guard, a contentious proposal that some states have sued over.

Earlier Friday, the panel signed off on proposals to shift forces around Lackland Air Force Base in Texas and Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

The panel must send its final report to President Bush by Sept. 8. The president can accept it, reject it or send it back for revisions. Congress also will have a chance to veto the plan in its entirety but it has not taken that step in four previous rounds of base closings. If ultimately approved, the changes would occur over the next six years.

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