Senate Approves Bill Boosting Military Installations In North Dakota

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Legislation invests in new military facilities in Minot, Grand Forks, Bismarck and Fargo

November 17, 2009 -- (WASHINGTON, D.C.) --- The U.S. Senate approved an appropriations bill today that includes funding secured by U.S. Senators Byron Dorgan and Kent Conrad to construct new military facilities in Minot, Grand Forks, Fargo and Bismarck. Dorgan and Conrad said the bill will give a boost to North Dakota’s military missions.

“North Dakota has a long and proud military tradition. Our state is home to some of the finest soldiers and airmen in America, as well as a number of missions that are critical to our national security,” Senators Dorgan and Conrad said. “This legislation will give a boost to those missions, and help ensure that our state plays a key role in our nation’s military for decades to come.”

Dorgan is a member of the Senate Appropriations Committee, which drafted the legislation. The North Dakota projects in the Military Construction Appropriations bill include:

• $12 million for a Consolidated Security Forces Facility at Grand Forks Air Force Base. This funding will be used to consolidate and modernize the Security Forces functions on Grand Forks Air Force Base. Existing facilities are outdated, fail to meet existing standards and are spread across four separate locations on the base. Consolidating these operations into one location will improve emergency response times, command and control, and law enforcement and security operations.

• $11.5 million for a Missile Procedures Training Operations Facility and Munitions Trailer Storage Facility at Minot Air Force Base. These new facilities are critical to the security and continued viability of the nuclear weapons and Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles that are deployed at the base.

• $11.2 million for a new Armed Forces Reserve Center in Fargo. This funding will be used to replace the existing center, which is used by the Army Reserve and Army National Guard for training.

• $2 million for a Raymond J. Bohn Readiness Center Addition in Bismarck. This funding will be used to expand the Raymond J. Bohn Armory complex in Bismarck. The two-story addition will increase the administrative space available to the state’s Joint Force Headquarters and the Army National Guard. The current building is limiting available support for deploying units.

The bill goes next to a conference committee that will negotiate a final version of the bill.

Source: Senator Byron Dorgan