Opinion ID: 353836
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 5

Heading: Alternatives (11)(a), (b) and (c).

Text: 58 The McDowell alternatives, which we denote as alternatives (11)(a), (b) and (c), were suggested by Robert L. McDowell at a public hearing in Kansas City in September, 1976 (see n.8, supra ). These alternatives were submitted after the draft environmental statement was issued and before the EIS was published. They were carefully thought out and accompanied by a detailed cost analysis and comparison. The McDowell analysis gave rise to a study by the General Accounting Office and resulted in the Air Force making substantial changes upward in its cost analysis of the proposed action. 59 Alternative (11)(a) proposed to keep AFCS and the 442 TAW at Richards-Gebaur, to reduce all personnel services and to privately contract for base operating services and maintenance. While the proposed action, alternative (6), would admittedly produce annual savings in excess of $5 million per year, McDowell estimated that under alternative (11)(a) the annual savings would be.$8.3 million per year. McDowell's estimate, however, was based on the Air Force's estimate that the private contract to provide for base operating services and maintenance would require two hundred employees. The Air Force estimate was for the proposed action which would reduce base personnel by 91%. The (11)(a) estimate is, therefore, substantially too low because under (11) (a), base personnel would only be reduced by 40%. It is obvious that it would cost more to provide base operating services and maintenance under this proposal. Considering the Air Force figures for other proposals, the cost of contracting for base operating services and maintenance under alternative (11) (a) would be substantially higher than that estimated by McDowell and would, in all probability, be more than sufficient to wipe out the annual savings of.$8.3 million projected under alternative (11)(a) by McDowell. 10 60 McDowell's alternative (11)(b) proposed to close Richards-Gebaur, to move AFCS into a privately owned, leased building in the Kansas City area and to move the 442 TAW to Whiteman Air Force Base in Missouri. The Air Force rejected this alternative arguing that although the relocation of the 442 TAW to Whiteman Air Force Base could be accomplished with little degradation to the unit's capability to perform its mission, construction costing in excess of $4.2 million would be required to adequately house the unit at Whiteman. Moreover, the Air Force pointed out that for AFCS personnel, base housing at Richards-Gebaur would have to be retained or relocation allowances paid to those personnel who were forced to move out of base housing if Richards-Gebaur was completely closed. In addition, the Air Force noted that the administrative space required to house AFCS was not currently available in the Kansas City area. McDowell estimated that under (11)(b), there would be annual savings of at least $6 million more than those estimated for the proposed action. The Air Force further pointed out that McDowell's estimate did not include an estimate of the cost of transferring and relocating the personnel presently assigned to the 1866th Facility Checking Squadron (1866 FCS). 61 The Air Force was remiss in failing to examine this alternative in greater detail and in failing to attach cost estimates for the transfer of the 1866 FCS and housing subsidies for AFCS personnel. The fact remains, however, that there is little in this record to suggest that leased space for the AFCS could be obtained at a lower cost than the already available space at Richards-Gebaur, or that leased space was available at all. A more detailed analysis in the EIS of the actual costs and personnel reductions which could have resulted from (11)(b) would have been desirable. As well, a factual basis for the EIS statement that leased space to house the AFCS was not available in the Kansas City area should have been included. However, the record does support the discussion in the EIS and we do not find that the less than thorough discussion of (11)(b) renders the EIS inadequate. 62 Alternative (11)(c) proposed keeping AFCS at Richards-Gebaur but reducing Richards-Gebaur to an Air Force station and reducing all personnel services. A private contract would provide base maintenance. The 442 TAW would be moved to Whiteman Air Force Base. The Air Force rejected this alternative for reasons previously discussed. The first part of the alternative, keeping AFCS at Richards-Gebaur and contracting for base maintenance, was thoroughly considered under alternative (11)(a). Moving the 442 TAW to Whiteman was considered under alternative (11)(b). As we stated above, sufficient justification was given for rejecting various portions of these alternatives, but a detailed analysis should have been included in the EIS. A complete review of the record, however, convinces us that although not as thorough as desired, the consideration of alternatives in the EIS is adequate.