01-04-2025
NIMAC, Cooper get national recognition for Niagara Falls base advocacy
John Cooper has been an advocate for the Niagara Falls Air Reserve Station for the past 30 years and his tireless work has not gone unnoticed.
The Niagara Military Affairs Council chairman is one of three national honorees the Association of Defense Communities is recognizing this year for their work in communities that host American military bases. He and the other honorees will be recognized at the Defense Communities National Summit today in Washington, D.C.
This is the first such national recognition Cooper and NIMAC received for their efforts, which they were informed of this past November. He will not be in D.C. for the ceremony; his son will accept it on his behalf.
'To get the recognition of your peers is a great honor,' Cooper said. 'There are a lot of people who made this happen. It wasn't a one-person effort.'
Currently, home to the Air Force's 914th Air Refueling Wing and New York Air National Guard 107th Attack Wing, the military has had a presence on the Niagara Falls airport grounds ever since Bell Aircraft opened its plane manufacturing facility there in 1941.
The 1995 Base Realignment and Closure Commission proposed closing the air base. The former Niagara Falls area chamber of commerce tasked Cooper and Merrell Lane to lead the process, resulting in NIMAC's creation.
That campaign preventing that included several trips to the Capitol and Pentagon and educating local communicates on the consequences of base closure, resulting in over 125,000 letters to the BRAC commission and keeping it open. It was listed on the BRAC 2005 list of possible base closures, the last time this process happened, with NIMAC again preventing it.
'What he's been able to do with that group is emblematic of how community leaders can go up and beyond,' said Mat Borron, the executive director of ADC.
The base is one of the county's largest employers with around 3,000 military, civil service, and defense contract personnel there, with an estimated economic impact of around $200 million.
Cooper still makes regular trips to Washington to promote the base and appeal for funding. Ongoing base improvements include a $30 million fuel delivery system, a new $20 million headquarters for the 107th, the $65 million runway rehabilitation, and a proposed $54 million operations facility NIMAC hopes is included in the next federal defense budget.
Borron noted that base closures are a conventional topic of conversation, with the idea being floated around Washington.
'What John was able to do with NIMAC to influence decision-makers, you need champions like that at the local level,' Borron said.
The ADC filmed a four-minute video about Cooper in Niagara Falls to play during the award ceremony. It features interviews with Cooper, State Sen. Rob Ortt, 914th Commander Col. Joseph Contino, NIMAC treasurer Robin Pfeil, and Lee Weitz, the director of aviation for the Niagara Frontier Transportation Authority.
