Florida officials lobby BRAC panel to shift Virginia base

Florida officials are trying to persuade the independent panel reviewing military base closures to turn a potential loss for Virginia into a major gain for the Sunshine State.

Republican Gov. Jeb Bush and Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton, also a Republican, are lobbying the Base Realignment and Closure Commission to move the Master Jet Base at Oceana Naval Air Station, Va., to Cecil Field, which was the only other Master Jet Base on the East Coast until it closed in 1999.

Moving the training facility could bring as many as 10,000 military and civilian jobs to a state that already stands to gain nearly 3,000 jobs as part of this base closure round. Nearby Jacksonville Naval Air Station alone would add about 2,025 personnel to its rolls if the commission adopts Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's recommendations later this month.

Oceana was initially spared on the Pentagon base closure list released in May. But the commission opted last month to add the installation to its own list for consideration, largely because of concerns that development in the surrounding community was encroaching on the base and impeding training missions.

In a Monday letter to BRAC Chairman Anthony Principi, Bush pledged to stem future encroachment "so that the Oceana experience is not repeated and so the Navy can be assured of operationally realistic training." Bush added that there are no other locations on the East Coast capable of absorbing Oceana's personnel and mission.

After it closed in 1999, Cecil Field was turned into the Jacksonville area's third general aviation airport. Over the last half-decade, local, state and federal governments have poured $133 million into upgrading the facility's hangars, utilities, drainage systems and roads. Cecil Field is now "in far better condition than it was when the Navy left," Peyton wrote in a letter last Friday to Principi. Florida lawmakers estimate that readying Cecil Field to resume naval training flights would cost roughly $240 million, compared to more than $1 billion estimated to "stand up" a new Master Jet Base, Bush wrote.

Oceana currently is the Navy's busiest jet base, with takeoffs and landings occurring every 2.5 minutes. The Navy has recognized that it would eventually have to relocate the jet base, but decided against doing so in this BRAC round. But some members of the commission see the move as inevitable and said they would attempt to find short-term solutions to the problem.

Virginia lawmakers, meanwhile, have contended that the encroachment problem is manageable and keeping Oceana's gates open is the only viable solution. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner, R-Va., Sen. George Allen, R-Va., and Virginia Democratic Gov. Mark Warner pleaded their case to the commission during an hour-long public hearing on Capitol Hill.

Sen. Warner questioned the integrity of the base-closing process, saying the BRAC commission failed to make public communications it had with a Defense Department official about the possible closure of the jet base at Oceana. Under base closure law, all proceedings and deliberations must be made public.

"Citizens have the right to know what were the facts," Warner said. He requested that Armed Services Readiness Subcommittee Chairman John Ensign, R-Nev., review the allegations.

Principi responded that the panel is committed to be open and transparent. "Integrity is critical to the success of an effort you have championed," Principi told Warner.