ME/NH DELEGATION MEMBERS JOIN COMMUNITY SUPPORT GROUP TO REASSERT DETERMINATION TO PROTECT PNS FROM BRAC ROUND

(Washington, D.C.)---Members of the Maine and New Hampshire Congressional Delegations joined members of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard (PNS) Community Support Group today to reassert their determination to protect PNS from a Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure Commission (BRAC) round, scheduled for later this year. The unified declaration came at a Capitol Hill meeting of Delegation members and their staffs with the Community Support Group members who are also talking with key Pentagon officials this week at meetings arranged by the Joint Delegation.

"The Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has earned its right to continue its strategically vital mission through the skill and hard work of its employees, the efficiency and creativity of its managers and PNS''s unmatched record for overhauling submarines under budget and ahead of schedule," Maine Senators Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins, New Hampshire Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu, Maine Representative Tom Allen and New Hampshire Representative Jeb Bradley said in a joint statement. "Although performance alone ought to be sufficient to protect PNS from the upcoming BRAC round, we know from experience with past BRACs that success will also require the Shipyard Community to continue its unified, aggressive campaign on the Yard''s behalf. The Shipyard community, which includes those of us in the Congressional delegation, along with state and local elected officials, Shipyard employees, the Seacoast Shipyard Association, Seacoast-area Chambers of Commerce and area citizens, remains steadfast in our commitment to protecting the Shipyard."

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