THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, March 6, 1995 TAG: 9503060026
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: NORTH CAROLINA
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: WINSTON-SALEM LENGTH: Medium: 99 lines
Gov. James B. Hunt Jr. plans a four-month press to snatch back 3,400 jobs worth $150 million to the state's economy that seem headed to Virginia Beach rather than Havelock.
The Pentagon announced last week that it wants to move 136 F/A-18 Hornets to Oceana Naval Air Station in Virginia Beach from Cecil Field Naval Air Station in Florida, which is being closed.
Under a plan Congress approved in 1993, the fighter-bomber jets were to move to Cherry Point Marine Corps Air Station near Havelock, a tremendous boon for rural Craven County.
Depending on whether the official doing the talking is from North Carolina or from Virginia, the Navy either crumpled under intense political pressure or made the right economic decision.
Hunt and his allies accuse Sen. John Warner, a Virginia Republican who is a former Navy secretary, of influencing what is supposed to be an apolitical process.
Virginia officials and Navy spokesmen note that Navy studies have shown that it would cost an extra $335.1 million to move the planes to North Carolina.
On the political front, Virginia outflanked and outgunned North Carolina, the Winston-Salem Journal reported.
Officials in the Hampton Roads region, which includes Virginia Beach, have worked for 18 months to protect vulnerable bases from this year's base-closing round. The area, with a population of 1.5 million, is home to about 108,000 sailors and Marines. The Department of Defense makes up one-quarter of the local economy, about $7.6 billion.
The round of base closures in 1993 both scarred and scared the region.
A Naval Aviation Depot was shut down at a cost of 5,000 jobs, and Oceana, with its 10,500 jobs and $542 million economic presence, was scrutinized.
Rep. Owen Pickett, a Virginia Democrat, formed a committee to preserve Oceana. So did the Hampton Roads Planning District Commission.
With a war chest of $500,000, Hampton Roads officials hired two highly regarded Washington consultants with extensive base-closing experience. With Oceana's 204 A-6 Intruders and F-14 Tomcats being mothballed, its future was jeopardized, and the committees set their sights on helping Oceana's admirals prove that it would be cheaper to put the F/A-18s there.
Meanwhile, in North Carolina, not much politicking was going on.
``It's a wake-up call,'' said Marion Smith, the deputy director of Hunt's New Bern office.
Smith said that North Carolina, with its concentration of rapid-response forces, has been immune to most cutbacks.
In the past months, Hunt has met with Pentagon officials, and he hired former Rep. Martin Lancaster, whose old district includes the air base, as a $350-a-day consultant.
Smith said that Lancaster has been invaluable, but could name little the congressman has done.
Hunt has said that Lancaster will not be available to work long term on bringing the nine F/A-18 squadrons to North Carolina. The entire process, however, will be over in just four months, after the Base Closure and Realignment Commission holds hearings and makes its recommendation.
Hunt has $200,000 to spend on protecting the state's bases. But he has spent little, even though he has known about Virginia's efforts from the beginning. He is searching for a military liaison and is about to hire a Washington consultant. Virginia officials hired their consultants 18 months ago.
Even the state's congressional delegation is not all on board.
It appears that so far, just GOP Sen. Jesse Helms has signed on to help Hunt win back the planes. Fellow Republicans Sen. Lauch Faircloth and Rep. Walter Jones, who has the air base in his 3rd District, both want to look at the numbers before committing.
An aide to Rep. Bill Hefner, the ranking Democrat on the military construction subcommittee, said that Hefner would do all he could to support the state.
Smith believes the state will make a compelling argument for stationing the planes at Cherry Point, despite the projected $350 million cost of building taxi lanes, hangars, housing and a touch-and-go training runway.
Virginia officials doubt it.
Oceana, a sprawling 6,000-acre base, has four parallel runways to Cherry Point's two crossed runways, and has enough hangar and ramp space, recently upgraded, to park all the F/A-18s.
But Smith said that the Navy's estimate of $60 million to prepare Oceana is low, and noted that the Navy has already spent $25 million on planning and a draft environmental-impact statement for Cherry Point.
Smith also said that increased development in the flight paths makes the addition of 136 planes a serious threat to Virginia Beach.
``The potential is very risky,'' she said. ``That's a tremendous number of jet fighters that you're putting in an urban area.''
Troy Snead, the Oceana base spokesman, said that Virginia Beach will move two schools near the flight paths.
The base-closure commission, an independent panel, will sort through this debate during the next four months and make a recommendation to Clinton that incorporates all proposed base closings and realignments.
If the president approves it, Congress will vote on the entire proposal.
KEYWORDS: BASE CLOSURE AND REALIGNMENT COMMISSION BASE CLOSING by CNB