Lawmakers urge federal agency to build campus in Illinois

MASCOUTAH, Ill. -- Members of Illinois' congressional delegation are appealing to the head of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency in support of Scott Air Force Base's bid to host its new facility.

This week, U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Mark Kirk and other Illinois congressmen wrote a letter to NGA director Robert Cardillo, urging him to select a 182-acre site in St. Clair County, Illinois, as the location of the agency's new $1.6 billion campus.

The two-page letter was meant to show there's "unified support for the proposal from the bipartisan group representing communities across Illinois," according to a news release issued Wednesday by Durbin's office.

On Wednesday morning, Cardillo visited in Washington with U.S. Rep. Mike Bost, U.S. Rep. John Shimkus and representatives from the offices of Gov. Bruce Rauner and U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, the Belleville News-Democrat reported.

"More than anything, it was to get some questions on the criteria that might come into play that we weren't aware of," Bost said of the meeting's purpose.

Illinois lawmakers are offering the 182 acres, plus another 200 acres if needed, to the government free of charge. The land, which is adjacent to Scott Air Force Base, has an estimated real-estate value of $10 million.

Bost said he's gaining confidence Cardillo will pick the St. Clair County site over a 99-acre site in St. Louis that Missouri lawmakers have offered for the agency's new campus.

"I feel comfortable we're doing everything we possibly ... can," Bost said. "Our arguments are way above anything they have."

The National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency is near the St. Louis riverfront on the grounds of the 180-year-old St. Louis Arsenal.

The agency is seeking a new home because its current location is too small and requires greater operational security.

The agency specializes in the production of maps and other "geo-spatial" information based on satellite imagery for military, intelligence and civilian customers.

It has produced maps for military commanders in Iraq and Afghanistan, nuclear disarmament specialists overseeing Iran's nuclear enrichment sites and geographers charting the changing terrain of the Arctic as its great ice sheets melt.