ASSESSING NASA’S UNDERUTILIZED REAL PROP- ERTY ASSETS AT THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER FIELD HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS OF THE COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED THIRTEENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION FEBRUARY 10, 2014 Serial No. 113–87 Printed for the use of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.fdsys.gov http://www.house.gov/reform U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 87–175 PDF WASHINGTON : 2014 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:40 Mar 28, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\DOCS\87175.TXT APRIL COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM DARRELL E. ISSA, California, Chairman JOHN L. MICA, Florida ELIJAH E. CUMMINGS, Maryland, Ranking MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio Minority Member JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR., Tennessee CAROLYN B. MALONEY, New York PATRICK T. MCHENRY, North Carolina ELEANOR HOLMES NORTON, District of JIM JORDAN, Ohio Columbia JASON CHAFFETZ, Utah JOHN F. TIERNEY, Massachusetts TIM WALBERG, Michigan WM. LACY CLAY, Missouri JAMES LANKFORD, Oklahoma STEPHEN F. LYNCH, Massachusetts JUSTIN AMASH, Michigan JIM COOPER, Tennessee PAUL A. GOSAR, Arizona GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia PATRICK MEEHAN, Pennsylvania JACKIE SPEIER, California SCOTT DESJARLAIS, Tennessee MATTHEW A. CARTWRIGHT, Pennsylvania TREY GOWDY, South Carolina TAMMY DUCKWORTH, Illinois BLAKE FARENTHOLD, Texas ROBIN L. KELLY, Illinois DOC HASTINGS, Washington DANNY K. DAVIS, Illinois CYNTHIA M. LUMMIS, Wyoming PETER WELCH, Vermont ROB WOODALL, Georgia TONY CARDENAS, California THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky STEVEN A. HORSFORD, Nevada DOUG COLLINS, Georgia MICHELLE LUJAN GRISHAM, New Mexico MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina Vacancy KERRY L. BENTIVOLIO, Michigan RON DESANTIS, Florida LAWRENCE J. BRADY, Staff Director JOHN D. CUADERES, Deputy Staff Director STEPHEN CASTOR, General Counsel LINDA A. GOOD, Chief Clerk DAVID RAPALLO, Minority Staff Director SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS JOHN L. MICA, Florida, Chairman TIM WALBERG, Michigan GERALD E. CONNOLLY, Virginia Ranking MICHAEL R. TURNER, Ohio Minority Member JUSTIN AMASH, Michigan JIM COOPER, Tennessee THOMAS MASSIE, Kentucky MARK POCAN, Wisconsin MARK MEADOWS, North Carolina (II) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:40 Mar 28, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\87175.TXT APRIL C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on February 10, 2014 ....................................................................... 1 WITNESSES Mr. Robert D. Cabana, Director, John F. Kennedy Space Center, Nasa Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 6 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 8 Brigadier General Nina Armagno, Commander, 45th Space Wing, U.S. Air Force Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 12 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 14 Mr. John Smith, Public Building Service Regional Commissioner, Southeast Sunbelt Region, U.S. General Services Administration Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 22 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 24 Mr. Jim Kuzma, Chief Opeerating Officer, Space Florida Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 29 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 32 Mr. Charles Lee, Director of Advocacy, Central Florida Policy Office, Audubon Society Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 45 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 48 Mr. John Walsh, Chief Executive Officer, Cape Canaversal Port Authority Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 54 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 56 APPENDIX Statement of Sen. Marco Rubio, submitted by Rep. Mica .................................... 90 (III) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:40 Mar 28, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\87175.TXT APRIL VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:40 Mar 28, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\DOCS\87175.TXT APRIL ASSESSING NASA’S UNDERUTILIZED REAL PROPERTY ASSETS AT THE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER Monday, February 10, 2014 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES SUBCOMMITTEE ON GOVERNMENT OPERATIONS COMMITTEE ON OVERSIGHT AND GOVERNMENT REFORM Washington, D.C. The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 9:00 a.m., in Ken- nedy Space Center Visitor Complex 1, Kennedy Parkway, Cape Ca- naveral, Florida, Hon. John L. Mica [chairman of the sub- committee] presiding. Present: Representatives Mica, DeSantis, and Bentivolio. Also Present: Representatives Posey and Miller. Staff Present: Ashley H. Callen, Deputy Chief Counsel for Inves- tigations; Linda Good, Chief Clerk; Mark D. Marin, Deputy Staff Director for Oversight; Jenna VanSant, Professional Staff Member. Mr. MICA. Good morning. I would like to welcome everyone this morning to the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, the Subcommittee on Government Operations, welcome them first of all to our hearing this morning. This is a field hearing of the committee and subcommittee, and the title of this hearing is ‘‘As- sessing NASA’s Underutilized Real Property Assets at the Kennedy Space Center.’’ First of all, I would like to thank the Visitor Center for accommo- dating us today, and NASA for also their assistance, and the Air Force for helping us. Yesterday we had a tour of the properties of NASA and the Air Force base. I would like to welcome everyone. We are actually in Mr. Posey’s district and adjacent to Mr. DeSantis’ district. We are joined today by both Mr. Posey and Mr. DeSantis. I will recognize them in a minute. We also have Mr. Bentivolio from Michigan, who is a member of the Government Reform and Oversight Committee. We are also joined by the distinguished gentle lady from Michi- gan who chairs the House Administration Committee, Candace Mil- ler, and also a senior member of the Homeland Security Com- mittee. The order of business. We will start with opening statements. We have a panel of witnesses. We have six witnesses today, someone from NASA, someone from the United States Air Force, U.S. Gen- eral Services Administration, Space Florida, the Audubon Society, and the port of Port Canaveral. (1) VerDate Aug 31 2005 13:40 Mar 28, 2014 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\DOCS\87175.TXT APRIL 2 We will hear from those witnesses. We will go through all the witnesses, and then we will have questions from first members of the committee and then from those who are participating. Without objection, Mrs. Miller and Mr. Posey will be accepted as participants in this hearing even though they are not on the com- mittee, and also entitled to question the witnesses and participate after the members of the committee have completed their respon- sibilities. Without objection, so ordered. So that is sort of the opening rules of how we will proceed today. Welcome, everyone, again, and thank you for your accommoda- tion. We will start with opening statements, and I will give some re- marks and a little bit of background, and then I will yield to any other members that wish to submit oral testimony or comments, opening statements today, or written statements for the record. So again, I thank everyone for coming. I am pleased to be here. I am particularly pleased that we would have fairly good represen- tation from our members of Congress for a field hearing. Some- times it is hard to get members out, although today is a beautiful day. We will have to go back and tell them what they missed in Florida. So, thank you for coming and making the trip, those from outside this area. And again, we are privileged to have two mem- bers who represent this area, most specifically Mr. Posey, and adja- cent Mr. DeSantis. The reason that we have gathered here today is to review NASA and the Air Force options for dealing with either vacant or under- utilized buildings or facilities, land, that may no longer be needed. The mission of NASA has dramatically changed in the last few years, and we are looking at more commercialization of the space activities that have traditionally been here for the past four dec- ades. Currently, NASA has 144,000 acres and many facilities at the Cape Kennedy Center. In addition, the Air Force has some 16,000 acres at the Canaveral Air Force Station. I think someone cal- culated today that is probably about 240 square miles of space. That is a huge piece of real estate. As the mission has changed, we find ourselves with—I believe the inventory that was provided to the committee—720 buildings and structures on the NASA property, and the most recent infor- mation we have gotten from their database is 330 of those prop- erties, buildings, or structures