By JIMMY LAWTON
CANTON – St. Lawrence County Finance Committee members approved a resolution supporting Fort Drum as the preferred site for an East Coast Missile Defense Agency (MDA) ground-based interceptor.
The MDA continues to prepare the Continental United States Interceptor Site Environmental Impact Statement to evaluate sites for a potential additional ground-based interceptor site. This EIS is required by the 2013 National Defense Authorization Act.
Currently three locations are being considered. Aside from Fort Drum, Camp Ravenna, Ohio and Fort Custer, Michigan are potential locations.
The Department of Defense has not made a decision to deploy or construct an additional interceptor site. There currently is no expressed military requirement for an additional ground-based interceptor site.
According to the resolution the project would provide significant economic benefits to New York and the surrounding communities including estimated short-term creation of 600-800 jobs, estimated long-term creation of 650-850 jobs, an increase annual sales tax of $1.65 million and overall $27 million annual long-term economic value to New York State and the region.
The resolution says the project will “further distinguish Fort Drum as a strategic federal installation to the nation as well as a vibrant part of the North Country economy.”
