The Air Force and Sacramento County officials in California reached an historic agreement that will transfer the former McClellan Air Force Base to the county before its environmental cleanup and removal from the EPA’s Superfund site list. Sacramento County Supervisor Roger Dickinson called the agreement a “great success for the local community and Sacramento” because it will enable faster cleanup of the facility and speed economic development. The deal, which still must pass muster with Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger and the EPA, transfers land, money, and authority to the county to perform the cleanup. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-Calif.) said the agreement resulted from “years of hard work and negotiation between the Air Force, the county, and a number of federal and state environmental agencies.”
A newly-released Air Force plan to replace the C-5 and C-17 airlifters with a single airplane type called the Next-Generation Air Lifter (NGAL) will keep those fleets in service another 20 and 50 years, respectively. The plan will likely require a service life extension for the C-17 fleet.
