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NewsCenter: Releases
11/16/2006
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
  
Delegation Fights for Release of Cannon Air Force Base Funding
  
$13.2 Million in Construction Funding Not Yet Released


WASHINGTON – The New Mexico Congressional Delegation today sent a letter urging Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld to release $13.2 million that they secured last year for a modern fuel storage and distribution system at Cannon Air Force Base in Clovis.

The funding was included in the FY2006 Military Quality of Life and Veterans Affairs Appropriations Bill, but has not been released by the Pentagon.

“We strongly believe this project is of critical importance and request that this funding be released to allow this project to move forward,” the delegation wrote in a letter to Rumsfeld.

The funding for Cannon will support construction of two jet fuel storage tanks and a loading facility.  A modern fuel storage and distribution system will help renovate facilities constructed in the 1960s so that commercial fuel delivery trucks can be safely unloaded.  

The release of the funding was stalled during the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process, but the delegation contends that the funding should have been distributed following the announcement that CAFB would be the new home to Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) forces.

“We believe that progress on these important projects is necessary to ensure the men and women of AFSOC have the equipment and facilities they need to accomplish their mission,” the Delegation added.  “We respectfully urge the release of funds for the Fuel Loading and Storage Facilities project to further improve CAFB preparations for the 16th Special Operations Wing assuming control of the base in 2007.”

Following the decision to locate AFSOC at Cannon, the delegation successfully got the Defense Department to release $9.5 million they secured in FY2005 funding to begin planning and construction of a consolidated airmen’s center at Cannon.  This facility will include a dining hall, postal center, a laundry exchange, and troop subsistence issue.

 
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