Pearl Harbor shipyard 'not bulletproof'
By Mike LeidemannAdvertiser Staff Writer
New England officials yesterday claimed that closing the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard would save far more money than closing the one in Portsmouth, N.H., in a hearing before the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission in Boston.
Armed with charts, graphs and expert testimony, witnesses picked apart the Pentagon's rationale one by one as they argued against closing or scaling back Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.
Meanwhile, officials here said Hawai'i needs to mount a full-scale defense of the Pearl Harbor shipyard as a nationwide debate over military base closings heats up.
"We're not bulletproof," said Ben Toyama, vice president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers, which represents the bulk of shipyard workers. "We need to prepare a professional presentation that defends Hawai'i the way other places are defending themselves."
The Pearl Harbor shipyard was included last week on a list of more than a dozen military facilities that the federal Base Realignment and Closure Commission wants to review as a possible step toward closing. That could jeopardize about 4,500 jobs at the shipyard.
"It's not yet time to hit the panic button, but there is some sense of urgency," U.S. Rep. Ed Case said yesterday. "This is the time to prepare."
DIFFERENT MISSIONS
The Pentagon's computer model indicated that closing the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard could save $760 million more than shuttering Portsmouth over 20 years, Maine Sen. Susan Collins said at the hearing in Boston.
But Toyama, who watched yesterday's hearing on C-SPAN television, said the East Coast officials were comparing apples and oranges.
"They're not entirely right or wrong, but they're not comparing the same thing because our yard has home-ported ships that require ongoing repairs, while they are working on nonoperational ships," said Toyama, who called yesterday's presentation the most comprehensive community defense he has seen.
"They've got the community and political supporters behind them and they've got a smooth and polished defense of their shipyard. We need to get the community together here to start doing the same sort of thing."
Case said the base-closing commission could make a preliminary decision by July 19 on whether to add Pearl Harbor to the list of possible closings.
"That's the big day and it's reason for heightened concern but we're not in the same situation that Portsmouth is in now. We've got many things going in our favor, but we can't take the process for granted, either. We've got to be highly vigilant," he said.
But even if the local shipyard is added to the list, Hawai'i would ultimately have a chance to defend itself before any final decision is reached in August, Case said.
"They'd have to have site visits and hold hearings, and that's when we would be able to make our response and have our day in court," he said.
When the Pearl Harbor shipyard has been threatened in the past, community leaders from the governor on down have quickly come to its defense, Toyama said.
"We're the only community that hasn't done that this time," he said. "The community as a whole needs to start doing that before it's too late. Some places have been working on their plans for six months already."
Case, however, said Hawai'i's congressional delegation is taking the lead in organizing a defense of Pearl Harbor.
"We're not sitting around. We're watching what's going on and coordinating our efforts," he said.
PORTSMOUTH TOUTED
Congressional leaders from Maine and New Hampshire said Portsmouth was the Navy's best-performing shipyard and closing it would not deliver promised savings and, instead, would reduce the Navy's capability to handle unexpected submarine repairs.
Portsmouth contributed an additional 60 weeks of submarine operation time by returning submarines to the fleet ahead of schedule, while 124 weeks of operation time have been lost by the other shipyards, Maine Sen. Olympia Snowe said during the regional hearing.
"The faster and better our submarines are repaired and upgraded, the sooner they will return to the fleet and the more effective they will be," added Maine Sen. Susan Collins.
JOB LOSSES IN MAINE, N.H.
Military officials have argued, however, that it's important to keep the Pearl Harbor shipyard because of its strategic position in the Pacific, Case said.
"Military efficiencies are a matter of definition," he said. "I'm sure we can go out and justify our position if we have to."
During his testimony, New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch said the Department of Defense ignored his state — where 40 percent of shipyard workers live — in calculating the economic impact of closing Portsmouth. And shutting down the yard, he said, would mean the loss of 12,000 total jobs in Maine and New Hampshire.
"The highly specialized skills of these workers are unmatched, but they are not easily transferable to other industries," Lynch said.
BRAC Commission Chairman Anthony Principi said after the hearing that data presented so far indicated Portsmouth was more efficient than Pearl Harbor, a point the commission made last week when it asked the Pentagon why the Hawai'i shipyard had not been targeted for closure.
SAVINGS DISPUTED
Case said seven of the nine commission members would have to vote to add Pearl Harbor to the closing list and that a new congressional report gives added support to the military's decision to keep a shipyard in Hawai'i.
Supporters of the Brunswick Naval Air Station contended the Navy focused solely on cost savings from moving P-3 Orion patrol aircraft and military personnel to Florida's Jacksonville Naval Air Station because Brunswick's strategic value as the last active military airfield in New England is beyond question.
The Pentagon overstated personnel savings, ignored higher mission costs for patrols over the North Atlantic, and made unrealistic assumptions concerning the timing of military construction, Snowe said.
Cutting to the core of the Navy's case, she said the proposal would save far less than the $239 million over 20 years that the Pentagon contends. An independent analysis indicates savings of only $56 million in the same period, Snowe said.
"We can only conclude that the driving force for false savings was overwhelming," she said.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
