The news Friday morning that the Pentagon's Base Realignment and Closure list did not include eliminating any jobs at the Tooele Army Depot or Dugway Proving Ground swept away the furrowed brows of those bracing for the worst.

The Deseret Chemical Depot was on the list but already had been scheduled to close in 2008.

"It's a wonderful thing. I'm elated," said Clint Leatham, a Tooele Army Depot veteran of 24 years. Leatham was laid off in 1993 when the base closure and realignment process made deep cuts in the depot's programs and personnel. He later was rehired at the munitions depot in shipping and receiving.

"Once you have been through that, there is no sense of security. This was a horrible flashback," Leatham said of the anxiety leading up to Friday's announcement by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld.

"But this is a good morning," Leatham said. "I was up early and had the TV on. My people were calling me. It's a good deal."

Tooele Mayor Charlie Roberts, too, found the news refreshing.

"Super. That's good to hear," he said upon receiving word that the depot would not be affected by the latest round of closures and realignments.

At the height of the Vietnam War, the Tooele Army Depot employed about 5,000 civilians. Today, it's only a tenth of that but still accounts for a significant piece of Tooele's economy

With about 500 civilian employees and another 150 contractors, the depot is responsible for a payroll of about $30 million a year, Roberts said.

"That's a sizable amount in our community," he said.

Many of the workers at the Army depot have been there a long time and would have found relocation challenging, said Malcolm Walden, chief of the depot's management office.

"It's definitely good news," Walden said. "Our folks have been through one BRAC [realignment] and it's a relief to know we won't have to go through another one."

Dugway worker Guy Koford, said he couldn't be happier.

"As long as I've got my job - that's what it's all about," Koford said. "What we heard this morning, for Utah, it couldn't be any better."

Even Jack Peterson, who works at Deseret Chemical Depot, was in good spirits. "That's good news," he said. "We've had a lot of younger people leave DCD to go to TAD."

Local business owners were in high spirits, too. "I know the people who work in those places," said Dave Bickmore of Dave's Pharmacy in Tooele. "I'm happy for them and, of course, as a business person, it's good for us."