Badham, Packard Ask That FAA Halt Its Study of El Toro

Reps. Robert E. Badham (R-Newport Beach) and Ron Packard (R-Carlsbad), angered about not being informed of a new study of El Toro Marine Corps Air Station for possible use by commercial passenger jets, have asked the Federal Aviation Administration to halt the review.

In a letter sent Friday to FAA Administrator T. Allan McArter, the two congressmen said the study would be ill-advised because opening El Toro to commercial jet service is “very strongly opposed by the local communities and most of their elected leaders.”

Moreover, they told McArter, El Toro is the only major Marine Corps air facility on the West Coast and its strategic importance to the national defense requires that it remain free of any commercial or general aviation traffic.

The two lawmakers, who oppose joint use of El Toro, also said in the letter that they plan to ask Congress to repeal the “misguided directive” to study the feasibility of commercial jets sharing the El Toro base.

‘Take More Than That’

McArter was unavailable to comment on the letter, which was delivered to his Washington office Friday.

But an FAA spokesman said it is “highly unlikely” that the agency would stop the study “based on the request of two congressmen. It will take more than that. . . .”

The study is expected to begin by the end of the month and must be completed by March 31.

Badhan and Packard, as well as most Orange County politicians, were stunned last week when they learned that a new study of joint use at El Toro had been ordered. Authorization of the study was quietly included in a catchall transportation spending bill that was passed last month by the House-Senate budget conference committee.

The study of El Toro and two other military bases in the Midwest for possible use by commercial flights was tacked on to the spending bill by a Michigan congressman who is a member of that conference committee.

Badham, whose district includes El Toro, and Packard, whose district borders on the sprawling airfield, said Rep. Bob Carr, a Michigan Democrat, never consulted them about including El Toro in his study request.

As a result, aides said, the two local congressmen plan to complain to the chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, Rep. Jamie L. Whitten, a Mississippi Democrat.

“Rep. Carr violated a common congressional courtesy and we think that Chairman Whitten will take a dim view of that,” said Paul Wilkinson, a spokesman for Badham. “We are going to leave it up to (Whitten), but we are confident he will take action to repeal this study order.”

Whitten, like Badham, Packard and Carr were unavailable for comment Friday.

El Toro base, in the past, has been discussed as a second regional airport in Orange County, but the idea has been opposed by the Marines and most surrounding communities.

In the letter to the FAA, Badham and Packard, pointed out that a similar joint-use study in 1984 concluded that such use was technically infeasible.

Since that study, they said, “no significant factors have changed . . .” so “further investigation would only prove to be a waste of taxpayers’ money.”

The two lawmakers also told McArter that El Toro is “absolutely essential for the readiness and training and is critical to deployment in the event of a national security emergency.”