mr. chairman , i am proud to follow my neighbor from texas ( mr. delay ) xz4001040 . 
ellington is in his district , but i am the next closest member . 
i rise to express my disapproval for the recommendations of the defense base realignment and closure and urge my colleagues to support the gentleman from illinois ' resolution , of which i am a proud cosponsor . 
this is the most ill-advised , ill-timed round in base closure history . 
we currently have men and women fighting in two countries , and we passed three large supplemental requests , and the fourth likely in the next few months . 
we are in the process of closing bases overseas and bringing them home . 
given these uncertainties , we can not know what our base needs or our threat needs will be for the next 5 , 10 or 20 years . 
ellington is home to the 147th air national guard wing , texas air national guard wing . 
houston is the fourth largest city in our nation . 
it is our home and has a huge petrochemical complex that accounts for nearly half of the nation 's base petrochemical production . 
the houston ship channel in the port of houston handled more foreign tonnage than any other port . 
we have the texas medical center and nasa 's johnson space center . 
one of the most vulnerable targets in the area is the petrochemical complex , along with these other assets . 
yet the base closure commission on a close vote decided to close ellington . 
now , what they are doing is they are saying that we are going to provide service from san antonio , texas . 
the problem is that is 23 minutes away . 
as we know , an airborne attack on a refinery complex could seriously disrupt our nation 's energy supply , causing major nationwide economic impacts . 
an attack on a chemical plant could result in a hazardous release and thousands of casualties . 
currently our 147th air wing provides air security in the area , and the solution from the pentagon is rotating several planes to fly on alert out of ellington , which provides a much smaller deterrent than having a full squadron . 
what would happen if we had multiple planes that are attacking different facilities ? 
i urge a `` yes '' vote on the resolution . 
mr. chairman , i rise to express my disapproval with the recommendations made by the defense base realignment and closure commission , and to urge my colleagues to support this resolution . 
this is the most ill-advised and ill-timed round in the history of base realignments and closures . 
we currently have men and women fighting in two countries , we have passed three of the largest supplemental requests in our nation 's history with a fourth likely in the next several months , and we are in the process of closing bases overseas and bringing troops home . 
given these uncertainties , we can not begin to know what our basing needs will be 5 , 10 , or 20 years down the road . 
however , instead of postponing this round of closures for 2 or 3 years like many members of the house and senate supported , one of the most contentious rounds of brac was pushed through . 
like many other communities across the country , the district i represent was affected by the defense department 's plan to consolidate air national guard units , leaving one of the largest metropolitan areas in the country less prepared to respond to a terrorist attack . 
houston is the fourth largest city in the nation , and is home to a petrochemical complex that accounts for nearly half of the nation 's base petrochemical production capacity . 
the houston shipping channel and the port of houston handle more foreign tonnage than any other u.s. port . 
also , we have nasa 's johnson space center , and the texas medical center . 
one of the most vulnerable targets in the area , and possibly the country , is the petrochemical complex ; a tremendous complex that stretches the length of the houston ship channel and continues along the coast through beaumont , texas . 
we have seen in the aftermath of katrina and rita the negative effects caused by disruptions in our oil supply and refining capacity , and leaving this area unprotected is leaving the door open to a terrorist attack on this critical infrastructure . 
the port of houston is the second largest petrochemical complex in the world , and the largest in the western hemisphere , which produces over 35 percent of the nation 's gasoline at a great many refineries . 
numerous chemical plants also line the channel , producing a number of volatile compounds . 
according to the u.s. coast guard , 7 , 600 deep draft vessels arrive each year , and 60 percent of those ships carry sensitive oil/chemical cargos . 
an airborne attack on the refinery chemical complex could seriously disrupt the nation 's energy supply , causing major nation-wide economic impacts . 
an attack on a chemical plant could result in a hazardous release with thousands of casualties . 
currently the 147th fighter wing of the texas air national guard provides air security in the area and could respond to a threat on the complex or at the port in minutes because of the close proximity . 
rotating several planes to fly on alert out of ellington , provides a much smaller deterrent than having a full squadron permanently stationed there , and would not provide enough planes to respond to multiple attacks on multiple targets in the area . 
meanwhile the closest full squadron would be in san antonio , and would take approximately 23 minutes longer to respond to a threat than the f-16s at ellington can currently provide . 
in addition to providing security for the houston area , the 147th is capable of providing precision strikes , close air support , offensive counter air , defensive counter air , and suppression of enemy air defenses . 
the area around ellington also provides the 147th with excellent training airspace , including over-water air-to-air training on the gulf of mexico allowing them to perform supersonic flights and lights out training from the surface to 50 , 000 feet . 
terrorists have proven their intent and capability to attack ground targets with multiple aircraft and retiring the 147th fighter wing 's f-16s leaves houston vulnerable to an attack . 
the savings estimated in the dod 's brac report are minimal and do not justify moving the f-16s away from ellington ; while it is estimated that retiring the f-16s will save dod $ 3.6 million over 20 years , an attack on any of the possible targets listed above , especially the petrochemical facilities and port of houston , would cost our national economy billions of dollars . 
mr. chairman , this round of brac is ill-advised and ill-timed and i urge my colleagues to join me in supporting this resolution . 
