A lot could happen to alter plans for a Pacific Regional Center at Ford Island, but, at least in concept, it would be a public asset with excellent potential. Ford Island has been pegged for redevelopment, and the new center could become a welcome attraction, as well as a logical grouping of cooperative agencies.

Among the obstacles may be money: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration doesn't have in hand the $242 million that the center is projected to cost. Whether NOAA fulfills all of its hopeful plans for a center that pulls together its functions — including an educational "gateway" visitors' center for the newly designated Northwestern Hawaiian Islands monument — will depend on how future cuts to the federal budget play out.

There is some resistance coming primarily from the Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, a group representing people who would work at the center. There's the complaint about the project's expense, which is legitimate at a time when Uncle Sam is already swimming in red ink. NOAA has to work within these constraints and may need to scale back some of its ambitious plans.

However, the group's other criticisms include concerns about the center's exposure to damage in the event of a tsunami, and the NOAA study seems to reasonably assess this risk as minimal. PEER argues that it's foolish to locate the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center on an island that conceivably could be evacuated if tsunami danger looms.

Judging by the history of tsunami damage in Hawai'i, though, Ford Island appears to be in a more protected spot than the warning center's current location in 'Ewa Beach. True, the only exit from the new location would be by bridge, but moving inland through a crush of 'Ewa traffic doesn't seem much easier.

Finally, Ford Island has been broadly identified as qualifying for federal Superfund cleanup dollars; however, the project's earlier environmental assessment contends that there is no danger near the center itself.

So far, the principal hindrance appears to be financial. But if funds can be secured, the center holds promise as an operational boon to NOAA scientists and an informational resource to all who want to learn about our ocean.