[CPEO-MEF] Ventura (CA) Navy Base encroachment

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Maintaining buffers essential to military bases and wetlands

By Janet Bridgers
Ventura County Star
February 23, 2005

The Naval Air Weapons Station at Point Mugu, now part of what is called
the Naval Base Ventura County, plays an extremely valuable role in the
Ventura County economy. 

As one of the county's largest employers, the base helps maintain the
county's delicate economic balance. The military base, together with
agriculture, forms the economic foundation that gives Ventura County
open spaces, lower population density and a much higher quality of life
than in any of the counties to the south. 

However, periodically a process known as the Base Realignment and
Closure Commission, or BRAC, addresses the military's efficiency and
looks for bases around the country that could be closed. One of the
factors that may influence BRAC is "encroachment" -- the creep of
civilian life into the vicinity of the base. Encroachment into the area
of a military base weighs against a base's desirability as a military
establishment because, by definition, it brings civilians closer to the
military's work, creating hazards and making security more difficult. 

...

For the entire article, see
http://www.staronline.com/vcs/opinion/article/0,1375,VCS_125_3568190,00.html

-- 


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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