News Release
Contact: Barry Dillon
Phone: 770-270-7835
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Electric Co-ops Give $15,000 to Support Georgia Military Bases
TUCKER, Ga. - Georgia Transmission Corporation (GTC) joined Georgia Electric Membership Corporation and Oglethorpe Power Corporation in donating $15,000 today to an effort to keep Georgia's 13 military bases open as the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) begins another effort to downsize its worldwide infrastructure.
The money will help support the work of the Georgia Military Affairs Coordinating Committee (GMACC), which is partnering with the Georgia Chamber of Commerce to demonstrate the value of Georgia's bases to national security and to their local communities. GMACC funds will help pay for community studies which highlight the critical importance of Georgia military facilities.
"We know how vital it is to protect the thousands of men and women who serve at these military facilities," said A. Paul Wood, president and CEO with Georgia EMC. "The electric cooperatives want to do our part to work with community and military leaders to prevent closings or at least minimize the damage, if they occur."
Gov. Sonny Perdue has charged the Georgia Chamber of Commerce with raising $300,000 to help retain Georgia's military installations. The electric co-op donation of $15,000 represents the second, and largest, corporate contribution to date and accounts for five percent of the total fund-raising goal.
"This generous donation will go a long way in aiding our efforts to retain our military installations," said retired Army Brig. Gen. Philip Browning, executive director of the GMACC. "I'd like to rally other corporate leaders to join us in addressing one of the most vital issues to come before our state in a decade.
"Community support plays a large part in the decision-making process," he added. "We're at an important juncture, and we need the help and support of military and civic leaders."
The DOD has indicated the need to reduce the U.S. military infrastructure worldwide by 25 percent in the coming years under the Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) process. Some Georgia bases could be at risk when the Secretary of Defense announces his recommendations to the BRAC Commission in May 2005. The nine-member commission is scheduled to take four months to evaluate the military's list, and make its own recommendations to the President in September.
GMACC's mission is to demonstrate the economic and military value of the state's 13 installations and to help ensure each base continues to be vital to national security. GMACC also shows these bases' capability to grow and accept other missions. The state's installations contribute $21 billion annually to the economy and provide 120,000 jobs. Any facility closure would have a dramatic impact on surrounding communities.
Georgia was spared in previous rounds of BRAC in 1988, 1991, 1993 and 1995. It joins Texas, California, Virginia, Florida and Arizona with the most active military bases heading into 2005.
GTC is a not-for-profit cooperative that provides electric transmission service to 39 electric membership cooperatives (EMCs) throughout Georgia. Its more than $1 billion in assets include more than 2,600 miles of transmission lines and 570 substations.
GEMC is the statewide trade association, representing the state's 42 EMCs, Oglethorpe Power Corporation and Georgia Transmission Corporation. The state's 42 customer-owned EMCs provide electricity and related services to 3.9 million people, nearly half of Georgia's population, across 73 percent of the state.
A Fortune 1000 company, Oglethorpe Power Corporation is a $4.8-billion power supply cooperative that manages generating assets and power purchase contracts on behalf of the 39 EMCs that it serves.