Navy vs. City

The U.S. Navy has certainly not done itself any favors in its handling of the recent “chaff blackout” incidents.

First, the Navy apparently caused the loss of electrical power to 65,000 San Diego County homes and businesses Jan. 10 by dropping 3,000 pounds of hair-like slivers of aluminum-fiberglass composite over the ocean more than 100 miles from San Diego. Unexpectedly strong winds carried some of the chaff in a huge cloud toward the city, where it rendered the Federal Aviation Administration’s Lindbergh Field radar inoperable, knocked a television station off the air and interrupted electrical service over a wide area.

The next day the Navy denied responsibility for the power outages.

Then last Tuesday, a Navy airplane taking off from Miramar Naval Air Station accidentally dropped several packages of the chaff, covering power lines at a San Diego Gas & Electric Co. substation and causing lights downtown and in Mission Valley to flicker.

SDG&E; says the first chaff incident cost it at least $50,000 in damaged equipment, labor, and claims from customers who say some appliances and electrical devices failed to work even after their power was restored. But the Navy has so far refused to accept financial responsibility for either accident. It is investigating the incidents, it says, and those investigations could take a month or more.

SDG&E; recognizes the Navy’s need to practice with the chaff, which is designed to confuse radar-guided missiles and protect aircraft carrier battle groups, and the utility has been quite restrained in its public comments. But it has a right to expect the Navy to pay for the damage and trouble it has caused and to do so expeditiously.

The Navy also should be sure it is taking all necessary precautions in using the chaff and be aware that, while its mission is vitally important, so are providing power to a county of 2 million people and operating radar at a busy urban airport.