MEDIA ADVISORY
UNH Economy Expert Ross Gittell Available To Discuss
Wednesday’s BRAC Vote On Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

Contact: Lori Wright
603-862-0574
UNH Media Relations

Aug. 23, 2005



DURHAM, N.H. – Ross Gittell, James R. Carter professor and professor of management at the University of New Hampshire Whittemore School of Business and Economics, is available to discuss the outcome of the vote of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission (BRAC) hearings Wednesday, Aug. 24, 2005. Gittell is an expert on the New Hampshire and New England economies, and has extensively researched the impact that closure of the shipyard could have on the local and state economies.

Gittell can be reached directly at 603-862-3340, or ross.gittell@unh.edu.

The hearings will be televised live on C-SPAN2 beginning at 8 a.m. Wednesday. The hearings could run through Saturday. C-SPAN2 Schedule: http://inside.c-spanarchives.org:8080/cspan/schedule.csp.

BRAC BACKGROUND
According to BRAC, this week the commission’s nine commissioners will vote whether to remove the shipyard from the Pentagon’s recommended closure list. The commission will present its report to the president Sept. 8. The president has until Sept. 23 to accept the report, forwarding it to Congress, or reject it, returning it to the commission.

If the report is returned to the commission, it has until Oct. 20, to resubmit its report to the president. If the report is returned to the commission and then resubmitted to the president, the president must approve and certify the resubmitted report to Congress by Nov. 7. Congress has 45 days from the day it receives the report from the president to enact a joint resolution to reject the report in full, or the report becomes law.

Should the president fail to approve or transmit either the initial or revised commission recommendations by the above dates, the BRAC process will be terminated.