[CPEO-IRF] Oceana (VA) - "quick retreat" vs. "attrition"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

The editorial excerpted and linked below is a welcome variance from the 
knee-jerk reactions that usually accompany base closure proposals. In 
most cases, host communities are better off with closures or 
realignments that make property available for civilian reuse, rather 
than retention decisions that convert bustling bases into military ghost 
towns.

The opportunity cost of mothballing bases are obvious. However, the 
underutilization option has another downside: the slow deterioration of 
facilities and infrastructure. This is what happened at San Francisco's 
Hunters Point Naval Shipyard, which was formally closed more than 15 
years after it had lost most of its missions. By the time closure 
occurred, many buildings were unusable. Not only did normal property 
maintenance stop, but in some cases wiring and piping had been removed.

It's relatively easy to maintain and secure a base with hundreds or 
thousands of active-duty military personnel, or even with a comparable 
level of civilian employment. But once the major missions are gone, it's 
difficult to continue even routine activities. That's a lose-lose 
proposition for both the military and the community that will eventual 
gain control of the property.

Lenny Siegel

***


On Oceana, time to face reality

Editorial
The Virginian-Pilot
July 25, 2005

If Oceana Naval Air Station’s mission can’t be saved, if the next 
generation of thunderous fighters must indeed take off from runways 
someplace else, Virginia Beach would be arguably better off with a quick 
military retreat instead of a prolonged campaign of attrition.

According to a letter and to testimony before the Base Realignment and 
Closure Commission, the Pentagon sees decades of commercial and 
residential encroachment as eventually making the base’s mission 
impossible in the Beach.

Though it could survive this BRAC go-round, this may well be Oceana’s 
last reprieve. The Navy hopes to eventually replace the 6,000-acre 
master jet base with a new, bigger facility elsewhere, one on a plot so 
large that surrounding development will never be an issue.

...

For the entire editorial, see
http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=89652&ran=143430


--
Lenny Siegel
Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
c/o PSC, 278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
http://www.cpeo.org

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