In the halcyon days when there was more than enough federal pork to go around, closing an outmoded military base was a rather simple operation. Between 1961 and 1977, for example, the Pentagon disposed of hundreds of military installations by executive fiat. But in 1975 the Air Force made the mistake of trying to shut down its Loring base in northern Maine. The state's Republican Congressman, William Cohen (now a Senator), joined then House Majority Leader Tip O'Neill to require the Pentagon to submit costly and time-consuming environmental impact studies before any base could be shuttered. Loring was saved, as were...
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