Portsmouth Naval Shipyard

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

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Silver Lining for Shipyard in DOD Report

By Elizabeth Kenny
ekenny@seacoastonline.com
March 29, 2004

A report justifying the need behind a 2005 round of base closures may
contain a silver lining for the future of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard and
its 4,600 employees.

On Wednesday, the Department of Defense (DoD) released a lengthy report
suggesting nearly a quarter of military facilities could close during
the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process.

But the report also states it would consider "difficult-to-reconstitute"
infrastructure on a different level from other, more common bases.

Former shipyard commander Capt. Bill McDonough said the report is
"favorable" for military infrastructures like a shipyard, which is
virtually impossible to reproduce or realign to another base.

The report also provides proof that previous base closures have saved
the DoD billions of dollars and it examines former bases to illustrate
what a realigned base looks like.

While some of the stories shared showed positive results, experts say
closing the shipyard would not be as bright for the Seacoast.

...

If the yard were to close, McDonough said, the economic recovery for the
Seacoast would not look like Pease International Tradeport, the only
other base closure to which Seacoast residents can liken a possible
shipyard closure.

The Air Force base closed in 1991, and has since become somewhat of an
economic hub, with more than 150 businesses.

The shipyard's future would not look as bright, some say.

"It would become a dead elephant sitting there," McDonough said. "They
could build condominiums, but that doesn't generate 4,000 jobs."

Pease: An unusual story

"We're probably now at a place where that piece of land is generating a
lot more jobs and is much more important to the economy than the base
once was," said Peter Loughlin, who sat on the Pease Development
Authority's board of directors during the closure.

Loughlin, a Portsmouth attorney, said Peace's healthy transition could
be attributed to the way it acted as its own little community.

"That's the difference between the Air (Force) base and shipyard," he
said. "Pease only had about 500 civilian jobs versus the 4,000 or so at
the shipyard."

...

For the entire story, see
http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/03282004/news/7630.htm

--


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
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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