EDITORIAL
We must make case for retaining shipyard

The current political reality of rising defense costs — and intense pressures to cut them — leaves little room for sacred cows.

And so the news that the Base Realignment and Closure Commission has placed Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard on a list of candidates to be considered for shutdown delivered a stunning wake-up call to the shipyard's 4,500 workers. They perhaps had become too sleepily confident that the facility's future is, as one union official termed it, "bulletproof."

Although the commission remains a long way from a final decision on the closure list, the potential is real and should be treated seriously. Pearl Harbor's shipyard is the state's largest industrial employer, and the potential loss of those jobs should unnerve everyone in Hawai'i.

Members of both Hawai'i's congressional delegation and the Chamber of Commerce of Hawai'i have been vocal advocates for retaining the shipyard. They correctly maintain that Pearl Harbor's geographic location gives it an undeniable advantage in repairing and dispatching ships to the Pacific.

Still, the location also adds to the expense of the Pearl Harbor operation, as do the high labor costs. It's thus imperative to demonstrate that the payoff in defense terms is worth the investment.

It's critical that more leaders from the public and private sectors join the chorus from the Washington delegation and business, making this case even more affirmatively. A full-court press in defense of the shipyard is in order.