New Mexico's U.S. senators this week hailed the Army's decision to shelve a study on whether to privatize some jobs at the White Sands Missile Range, according to the Alamogordo Daily News.

Sens. Pete Domenici, R-N.M., and Jeff Bingaman, D-N.M., in 2006 had asked then-Army Secretary Francis Harvey to hold off on the study, saying the privatization study made no sense in view of an expected expansion at the base, the Daily News said.

The Army said at the time it did not believe the planned changes at White Sands would "materially impact" the study, but on Wednesday it announced it had reconsidered and said conditions were not right to complete the study in view of growth coming to WSMR and the region, the paper reported.

A new brigade combat team, with about 3,500 troops, will be relocated from Germany to White Sands Missile Range by 2013, according to plans announced by the Pentagon last December.

"This is great news," Bingaman said on Thursday. "It never made sense to move ahead with a study to privatize jobs at WSMR just as the range was about to experience a growth spurt, and in my own view, the important jobs these civilians do are inherently governmental in nature."

Domenici also applauded the decision, saying, "It took the Army time to come to the right decision, but I'm pleased it finally did."

Rep. Steve Pearce, R-N.M., whose district includes WSMR and who is running against Rep. Heather Wilson for the Republican nomination to replace the retiring Domenici, also called the Army's move "the correct decision for WSMR and the surrounding community," the Daily News reported.

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