Ellsworth Cutbacks Affect Black Hills Contractors

RAPID CITY, S.D. (AP) - Federal spending cuts that have affected Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota also are having an impact on area contractors that supply the base with workers and products.

The base over the past couple of months has deferred building projects, increasingly asked airmen to take over janitorial services and grounded most of its local fleet of bombers.

The Rapid City Journal reports (http://bit.ly/16tWp2m ) that the cutbacks have affected organizations such as Black Hills Work, a nonprofit that finds jobs for disabled people and sends some workers to the base.

Across the state border, Wyoming Refining Co. expects to supply 75 percent less jet fuel to the base over the next five months.

Contractors say they're staying optimistic that the cuts will not be long term.