[CPEO-MEF] Environemntal Regulations Don't Impede Training Says Navy

[Aimee Houghton <aimeeh@cpeo.org>]

LOS ANGELES TIMES - Jan 20 2003


Island Test Site Now in High Gear
Military tries out its weapons on San Nicolas, but works to keep from 
harming the wildlife.

By David Kelly, Times Staff Writer

Shrouded in secrecy, San Nicolas Island is a remote spit of land in a vast, 
shimmering sea.

On this, the farthest flung of all eight Channel Islands, some of the 
world's most sophisticated weapons are tested, sometimes just a few hundred 
yards from where elephant seals trumpet in lagoons and island foxes trot 
through chaparral.

Tomahawk, Harpoon, Sidewinder and Sparrow missiles routinely whiz overhead. 
Some skim in over the waves at 500 mph to clobber fake Scud launchers or 
dummy radar sites on shore. Because explosives are not used, workers dig 
the missiles from sand dunes and use them again.

Much of what happens on the island, 65 miles southwest of Point Mugu, is 
top secret. But the Navy recently took visitors on a carefully guided tour, 
in which officials stressed their commitment to preserving the environment 
while saying missile testing is at an all-time high.

"The workload on the air and sea range has never been higher," said Stephen 
Mendonca, director for test and evaluation for the island. "Our primary 
reason for being here is not the environment, but we do our best to protect 
it."

Officials say the war in Afghanistan, national security and a possible 
confrontation with Iraq have fueled the increase in activity.

The island, owned by the government since 1933, is a laboratory for the 
latest generation of weapons. Some, like the Standoff Land Attack Missile, 
or SLAM, were seen on television during the Gulf War, flying down chimneys 
or through windows.

Newer SLAMs can be fired from San Nicolas to the Naval testing site at 
China Lake, near Lancaster, where they navigate buildings until locating a 
designated target. A chase plane follows the missile and can destroy it if 
it veers off course.

"The complexity of war has changed and you need a massive arena to evaluate 
systems," Mendonca said. "There are very few weapon systems that don't come 
through here."

The testing area around San Nicolas is 36,000 square miles, enough air and 
ocean to accommodate the most powerful weapons. British, Norwegian, 
Japanese and Italian armed forces often conduct secret tests in and around 
the island as well.

San Nicolas, 10 miles long and three miles wide, has a 10,000-foot runway 
that can handle the largest aircraft. Sophisticated telemetry centers, 
shaped like enormous golf balls, dot the island, monitoring everything that 
flies overhead.

A small but heavily armed security force patrols San Nicolas, turning back 
curious boaters who try to land.

Sailors liken the place to an aircraft carrier because of its shape and 
isolation and the fact that it moves north at one fourth-inch per year. The 
island's weekday population of about 150 military personnel and civilians 
drops to 30 on weekends.

"It's really a ship at sea," said Navy Cmdr. Raymond Schenk, military chief 
on the island.

Home for most is Nicktown, a small cluster of low-slung buildings, 
including dormitories and a mess hall, small store, bowling alley and 
saloon. The island is often cold and windy, with great fog banks drifting 
over the land.

"It takes a special individual to live here," said Jeff Chilton, the island 
coordinator who has worked on San Nicolas for six years.

Chilton, who usually goes home on the weekends, lives in a two-room 
apartment on the island. After work, he makes dinner on a small stove and 
says he goes to bed by 10 p.m. or "I turn into a pumpkin." At one point, 
island duty took such a toll on marriages that it was dubbed "Alimony 
Rock," he said.

"My wife and children live in Oxnard; fortunately my wife is a very 
independent woman," he said. "The island has been good to me, but people 
either love it or hate it. There is no gray area."

According to the military, most sailors love it. Schenk said 80% of the 
personnel ask to extend their duty on the island.

"A lot of the island fever is kept at a minimum because they can go home 
every weekend," he said. "I hear everything; I know what everyone is doing. 
We have very few disciplinary problems."

Talking to the military personnel was not an option. Officials steered 
reporters away from sailors, saying they were tired after taking part in 
exercises off the west side of the island.

Chris Willard, 30, a civilian bus driver from Ventura, said the place takes 
getting used to.

"When I first started I felt kind of enclosed here because you really 
couldn't go home at the end of the day," he said. "I have one friend here. 
When I am done at work, I go home and work out. I don't really do much else."

Getting to San Nicolas usually involves a 45-minute ride from Point Mugu 
aboard a small twin-engine aircraft. The plane flies about 6,000 feet above 
the ocean, making for a bumpy ride in bad weather. Heavy equipment is 
brought in by barges that take about 10 hours to make the crossing.

The combination of mercurial weather and rugged terrain gives San Nicolas a 
stark, brooding character. Sand dunes and ground-hugging succulents cover 
the terrain. There are few trees to break the near-constant roar of the wind.

Grunts of elephant seals fill the air as they battle for supremacy in 
lagoons and along empty beaches.

The rough surf seems to boil. Along one wild beach, waves from opposite 
sides of the island collide, creating spectacular rolling towers of water.

To view the entire article click on the following URL:
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/lasannicholas20jan20,0,304803.story?coll=l 
a%2Dheadlines%2Dcalifornia


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Aimee R. Houghton
Associate Director, CPEO
1101 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1000
Washington, DC  20036
tel: 202-452-8039; fax: 202-452-8095
Email: aimeeh@cpeo.org
www.cpeo.org
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