Summary: By September 1998, the Defense Department (DOD) had completed actions on about 85 percent of the 451 recommendations made by the four base realignment and closure commissions. DOD declared about 464,000 acres of base property as excess. Forty-six percent of the unneeded property was to be kept by the federal government; 33 percent was slated for nonfederal users, such as state and local authorities or private parties; and the disposition of the rest was undecided. By 2001, DOD estimates that it will have spent $23 billion on base realignments and closures and saved $37 billion, for a net savings of $14 billion. Beyond 2001, when the last of the four rounds of base closures and realignments is complete, DOD expects to save $5.7 billion annually. However, the cost estimates omit some federally incurred costs, while the savings estimates have not been routinely updated and are thus imprecise. A major cost factor in base realignments and closures, as well as a major obstacle to the disposal of unneeded property, is the need for environmental cleanup at these bases. Available military data suggest that the total environmental cost will top $9 billion; the cleanup efforts, including monitoring, will extend well beyond 2001; and the potential for higher costs exists. Most communities adjoining closed bases are faring well economically in relation to the national average.
