Navy Plan for Port Addition Criticized

Salvos of criticism from environmental and peace activists as well as local residents bombarded the Navy’s proposal to build a $200-million addition to its port facilities at the U.S. Naval Weapons Station in Seal Beach before and during the project’s unveiling at a City Council meeting Monday night.

But far from abandoning the proposal, Navy officials remained confident that community members would see benefits in the plan.

“The station will continue to be a very quiet neighbor,” Capt. Stephen T. Holl, commanding officer of the weapons station, told the council, adding that he welcomed citizen involvement in an environmental impact study that will likely begin within two months.

Before the council meeting, representatives of Green Peace and the Peace Network passed out leaflets discussing concerns about naval accidents in the past to council members.

“We’re against this; we’re going to fight it tooth and nail,” said David Skelly, associate environmental director for the Surfrider Foundation, a Huntington Beach-based environmental group.

Council members also raised concerns about potential adverse environmental effects of the project.

Councilwoman Marilyn Bruce Hastings, who represents the Surfside area, said the project would “impact residential neighborhoods tremendously” and cited concerns about possible fuel spills from ships that would be closer to shore if the project is completed.

The proposal is still awaiting Pentagon and congressional approval. The city has no authority to approve or deny the project.

The Navy’s plan would, by 1997, reshape the entrance to Anaheim Bay. The man-made bay is used by the Navy to load and unload ammunition at the weapons station and by private boats to enter and exit Huntington Harbour.

A 4,000-foot extension to the bay’s east jetty would allow large warships to unload ammunition directly onto a new wharf. Currently, Navy craft too large to enter Anaheim Bay must anchor several miles away and wait for barges to carry their ammunition to and from the base.

The proposal has drawn criticism from environmentalists and homeowners who fear that it would turn a natural beach into something more like an artificial bay, shifting beach sand into new, unpredictable patterns, eliminating the offshore surf and ruining views.

The Navy defended the project, which it hopes to begin by 1993, saying that it would improve boater safety in the bay, slow down beach erosion in the Sunset Beach and Surfside areas and give the beaches a one-time “sand dividend” by using dredged-up sand to build up the shoreline.