Base Realignment and Closure Process (BRAC Process): A Case Study
Closing the Homestead Air Force Base was proposed under the Base Realignment and Closure process (BRAC process) when Hurricane Andrew destroyed what remained of it in 1992. Thereafter, President Clinton promised to put the Homestead Base conversion to another use under the Base Realignment and Closure process (BRAC process). This was to become a model for other installations. More than a dozen years later, the conversion remains to be realized.
Everglades Betrayal – The Issue that Defeated Al Gore is a case study of the events surrounding the proposed conversion of the Homestead Air Force Base using the Base Realignment and Closure process (BRAC process). Everglades Betrayal details the efforts to scurry a reckless proposal through the approval process and honor the President’s commitment to restoring south Florida’s economic powerhouse. As readers will learn in Everglades Betrayal, that proposal met with equally strong force to preserve two national parks that are the remains of the greater Everglades ecosystem.
Astute environmentalists used the Base Realignment and Closure process (BRAC process) and provisions in the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) as tools to require further analysis of the proposal’s impacts on the greater Everglades ecosystem and to either mitigate those impacts or reject the proposal. Everglades Betrayal contains all the steamy details of an exciting drama that includes revered and reviled characters, their strategies and consequences, and an unbelievable ending.
The heart of this story, however, remains with the Base Realignment and Closure Act process (BRAC process) and its intent to convert decommissioned military installations for other fruitful uses. As described in Everglades Betrayal, the Base Realignment and Closure Act process (BRAC process) served its purpose, although the conversion remains to be realized.
The Everglades Betrayal – The Issue that Defeated Al Gore is now available to you online.
