GlobeSt.com UPDATE: Rescue Plan Ready for Ammo Facility

"The first effort is we're going to try to privatize the jobs there," Duane Lavery, executive director for the Red River Redevelopment Authority, tells GlobeSt.com. "The opportunity is there because the facility is still there, the equipment is still there. As long as Day & Zimmerman can continue to get new work, the jobs are still there." The company's 400-plus workforce includes just 18 government-paid jobs, according to Lavery, who's marking his third go-round since 1995 with the Department of Defense over a military facility shutdown.

Lavery says the plan is to get the government-owned acreage transferred to a Bowie County entity, a process that could take as long as four years. First, the defense department offers the facility to other DoD agencies and then other federal agencies. If all take a bye, then the Base Realignment and Closure Commission can begin negotiations with the county, which could take another 18 to 24 months before an agreement is nailed down. In the interim, Day & Zimmerman Inc. should be able to secure an enhanced-use lease so it can continue to bid on military munitions contract, Lavery explains.

"It's not a guarantee," Lavery says. "Right now, essentially 400 people are going to lose their jobs. Since we have expertise on the ground here, hopefully it can be done concurrently in another 18 to 24 months."

Bowie County did hold onto the Red River Army Depot in neighboring New Boston, a 100% government-operated facility with 2,650 jobs and 3,800 indirect positions. The depot's rescue won't be final until Sept. 8 when the final list goes before President Bush and Congress. As for Lone Star, its operations will be shifted to facilities in Oklahoma and Pennsylvania. If the 32,000-acre pair had stayed on the list, officials projected a $200-million economic loss for East Texas. For the previous story about the Texarkana facilities, click here.

Across Texas, published accounts say Naval Station Ingleside in South Texas will be closed and the nearby Naval Air Station Corpus Christi will be realigned as will Naval Air Station Fort Worth and the Corpus Christi Army Depot. Several US Army and Navy reserve centers will be closed. Other facilities are ticketed to lose portions of their operations while Fort Hood stands to lose nearly 9,000 troops to Colorado's Fort Carson and Fort Bliss will get a large influx with the plan that's on the table.