79R18758 CCK-D

By:  Frost                                                      H.C.R. No. 210



CONCURRENT RESOLUTION
	WHEREAS, The Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission 
has announced tentative plans to close the Red River Army Depot and 
the adjacent Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant in Bowie County, 
Texas; and
	WHEREAS, Review of the facilities to be affected by the 2005 
round of base realignment and closure now goes to the president, who 
must issue a list to the U.S. Congress by September 23, subsequent 
to which the congress has 45 days to respond; and
	WHEREAS, The Red River Army Depot and Lone Star Army 
Ammunition Plant, which occupy more than 33,000 acres west of 
Texarkana, opened at the outset of World War II, and have long 
played a vital role in this nation's military missions and combat 
readiness; and
	WHEREAS, The depot, whose operations are critical to our 
troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, is responsible for armor-plating 
military transportation vehicles, rebuilding Bradley tanks, and 
recertifying Patriot and Hawk missiles, among other major weaponry 
supply roles; and
	WHEREAS, Sharing an ordnance role with its neighbor facility, 
the depot includes among its work such activities as ammunition 
storage, renovation and demolition of conventional munitions, and 
shipments and receipts of stock to and from locations and forces 
throughout the world; and
	WHEREAS, A practitioner of the management philosophy of Total 
Army Quality, the Red River Army Depot has won numerous excellence 
awards and has consistently proven its versatility in times of war 
and peace; and
	WHEREAS, The Lone Star Army Ammunition Plant is a 
government-owned, contractor-operated facility that loads, 
assembles, and packs primers, fuzes, grenades, boosters, bursters, 
detonators, and tracers, as well as ammunition items ranging from 
mortar to 155-millimeter projectiles; and
	WHEREAS, Under the jurisdiction of the U.S. Army Armament, 
Munitions, and Chemical Command (AMCCOM), the plant likewise 
performs a vital defense role, and in conjunction with the depot, 
contributes significantly to the employment of several thousand 
patriotic Texans and Arkansans and to the economic prosperity of a 
wider four-state region; now, therefore, be it
	RESOLVED, That the 79th Legislature of the State of Texas 
hereby petition the Congress of the United States, in its upcoming 
base realignment and closure deliberations, to ensure the 
continuation of the Red River Army Depot and the Lone Star Army 
Ammunition Plant; and, be it further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward official 
copies of this resolution to the president of the United States, to 
the speaker of the house of representatives and the president of the 
senate of the United States Congress, and to all the members of the 
Texas delegation to the congress with the request that this 
resolution be officially entered in the Congressional Record as a 
memorial to the Congress of the United States of America; and, be it 
further
	RESOLVED, That the Texas secretary of state forward copies of 
the resolution also to the house and senate presiding officers of 
the Arkansas General Assembly, with the invitation to join Texas in 
adopting a comparable resolution in support of retaining two 
defense facilities of mutual importance to our states.