Hawaiian lawmakers urge base-closing commission to forget Pearl Harbor

As the deadline looms for the independent Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission to submit its recommendations to the White House, a debate is emerging about whether Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard's prime location in the Pacific is enough to protect the base from closing.

Initially spared in this base closure round, the historic Hawaii base is getting a second look from BRAC commissioners, who have asked the Pentagon to justify its decision to keep Pearl Harbor open while closing the more efficient Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Maine.

Pearl Harbor is one of four Navy-run shipyards, and it ranks lower than Portsmouth on the Pentagon's so-called military value scale, considered the key criterion the Pentagon used to determine whether to recommend shuttering an installation.

During a New England regional BRAC hearing last week, the Maine and New Hampshire delegations and shipyard workers made that point, arguing that Pearl Harbor had not met cost and schedule goals for ship repair and overhaul in recent years, while Portsmouth had routinely completed work months ahead of schedule.

The commission's inquiry and the Maine hearing has spurred the Hawaii delegation to take action. On Friday, the state's lawmakers -- including Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee ranking member Daniel Inouye -- held a meeting in Hawaii to discuss with shipyard employees their strategy to save Pearl Harbor.

Hawaii lawmakers intend to argue that the Navy's aging fleet requires all four shipyards to remain open. And they intend to continue to stress the strategic importance of Pearl Harbor's location, particularly as China emerges as a sea power and the U.S. Navy considers positioning another aircraft carrier fleet in the Pacific.

"The last time we were unprepared in the Pacific was December 7, 1941, at Pearl Harbor," said Rep. Neil Abercrombie, D-Hawaii, a member of the Armed Services Committee. He said Hawaiians plan to go on the offensive rather than badmouthing the Portsmouth facility.

Spokeswomen for Maine Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins stressed today that they do not foresee a BRAC battle between Pearl Harbor and Portsmouth. Rather, they said they, like Hawaii lawmakers, want to keep all four shipyards open. "There is not any excess capacity," a Snowe spokeswoman said. Staffers for Maine and New Hampshire lawmakers have met informally with the Hawaii delegation staff to discuss how to keep open all shipyards.

The Pentagon's recommendation to shut Portsmouth continues a trend toward trimming Navy-run ship repair facilities. A decade ago, the Pentagon shuttered the Long Beach Naval Shipyard in California because of excess capacity, despite higher-than-anticipated closure costs. Portsmouth was spared on the Pentagon's base-closure list, but the commission gave the Maine yard a closer look and ultimately decided to keep it open.