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New rent-free lease may be signed for NASA tracking station

A new rent-free lease could be struck for the NASA tracking station at Cooper's Island, says Base Commander Capt. Tim Bryan.

But no movement is expected soon on other outstanding issues in talks between Bermuda and the United States, Capt. Bryan told The Royal Gazette .

And the US Navy is unlikely to be involved in any further Bermuda talks related to the Base closure and handover, he said.

Capt. Bryan, who is quitting the Navy for the private sector, is set to leave Bermuda at the end of this month. He is being replaced as head of the US negotiating team by Dr. Robert B. Pirie, Jr., assistant secretary of the Navy for installations and the environment.

But Capt. Bryan said he did not foresee Dr. Pirie coming to Bermuda for any talks. "I see meetings in Bermuda, but I doubt that the Navy would be involved,'' he said.

Instead, officials from the National Aeronautics & Space Administration (NASA) could be involved in negotiations for a new Cooper's Island lease, he said.

A new lease would mark a concession by the United States, which until now has maintained that the original 1941 lease should remain in place for what is left of its 99-year life.

The new NASA lease would take in an area which did not include Clearwater Beach, thus assuring public access to the beach, considered one of Bermuda's finest, a Government source said.

Capt. Bryan said the US maintained it was under no obligation to terminate the existing rent-free lease. However, "rather than just be hardheaded about it'', the Americans agreed to draw up a new lease proposal, so that "we're not talking in the abstract''.

At a plenary meeting in June, Bermuda proposed a new lease for Cooper's Island which the Americans are now considering, he said. "The ball is in our court.'' Asked if Bermuda was demanding substantial rent payments in the new lease, Capt. Bryan said no rent at all was being requested.

But Management and Technology Minister the Hon. Grant Gibbons said the issue was more complex than that. "It's not an issue of just not asking for rent,'' he said.

"It has always been the Government's position that the 1941 agreement,'' which could otherwise continue until 2040, "should be terminated'', Dr.

Gibbons said. But Bermuda also felt NASA should be able to stay if it wishes.

"We are trying to find a separate agreement with NASA, and we are currently in discussions with NASA and the US Government, through the US Navy, to see if we could find something agreeable to both Bermuda and NASA.'' While the current rent-free status of NASA could be one aspect of the lease, there could be other cost recovery mechanisms because Bermuda would be providing services to NASA which are now provided by the US Navy, Dr. Gibbons said.

Dr. Gibbons said it would be premature to comment on the path of future talks while Capt. Bryan was still in Bermuda. But "we would work with the US Government to advance our cause at whatever levels we thought were appropriate,'' he said. "It's useful now to have a point of contact in Washington at the under secretary level.'' At a plenary meeting in June, Bermuda's position paper contained "absolutely nothing new'' from the previous Bermuda Government position presented in December, Capt. Bryan said.

There has been no movement by either side on two major outstanding issues, he said. Those are the $140-million US bill for "improvements'' to the Base lands and Bermuda demands for further environmental clean-up than what has been promised by the Americans.

"We both agree that these issues are outstanding and unresolved, and I'm not optimistic of a favourable outcome or a favourable resolution,'' Capt. Bryan said. "We've agreed that it's unlikely that we're ever going to agree on certain things.'' Dr. Gibbons took a somewhat different view. "Sometimes in negotiations ...

the way forward is to find areas where you can find an immediate solution, as opposed to areas where it will be hard fought,'' he said.

"We felt that while Capt. Bryan was still here, it would be useful to concentrate in the short term on an area where we could make some progress.'' "As far as the Bermuda Government is concerned, there is no intention to give up, or to agree that there can be no progress on the other issues. We will continue to press it, and we will look for any way we can to take us forward.'' Dr. Gibbons said Bermuda will be seeking compensation from the Navy for more than $1 million in costs to upgrade Airport lighting to International Civil Aviation Organisation standards. "We'll go ahead and correct it ourselves and (then) look for compensation,'' he said.

Capt. Bryan said the US had "rejected'' the demand for payment for lighting, because "there's nothing in the lease that requires that.'' Dr. Gibbons said the US had an obligation to improve the lighting under a 1948 amendment to the 1941 agreement.

The United Kingdom is backing Bermuda in the talks, but Capt. Bryan said that would have no impact on the outcome of negotiations. "The UK is the one that came up with the lease,'' he said.