The new PX will be more accessible from Route 60 and Interstate-79, and constructed on property owned by the Allegheny County Airport Authority. The existing PX, the Charles E. Kelly Support Facility in Oakdale/Collier Township, will remain open though 2011, said U.S. Congressman Tim Murphy (R-Upper St. Clair).

"The COD approval was critical to ensuring the commissary remains permanent," Murphy said. "It is our goal certainly to have the new PX open by 2011. I'd like to see this facility opened within two years. Most of the funding is there, I will do all I can to get the rest of the money in place so construction can begin."

The U.S. Army estimates a new commissary will cost about $8.2 million, the U.S. House and Senate already appropriated $4 million, and Allegheny County has promised $2 million more, Murphy said. The federal money to be used to build a new commissary was included in the 2008 Defense Appropriations bill. State funding has been requested of Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, Murphy said.

The new commissary in Moon Township will be next to Pittsburgh International Airport. The U.S. Army wants Allegheny County to build the facility and lease it back to the Department of Defense.

Under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure report, the Charles E. Kelly Support Facility is scheduled to close with units relocated to the Pittsburgh U.S. Army Reserve Center in Coraopolis.

Department of Defense policy for continued operation of a commissary requires at least 100 active duty soldiers be assigned to the installation. At least 300 active duty soldiers are expected to remain in the immediate area as a part of the new U.S. Army 316th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary).

Without a commissary, these soldiers, their families, and veterans would be required to travel 400 miles round-trip to the next closest commissary to receive access to the benefits they have earned defending this nation.