SEAL BEACH : Finding Casts Doubt on Navy Expansion

An environmental study on the proposed expansion of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station at Anaheim Bay says the military will probably not berth its large supply ships in Southern California.

Without the need to service the large ships, one federal official said it might be more difficult for the Navy to justify spending $200 million to expand.

But the Navy said it still believes that the expansion is needed for other vessels loaded in Seal Beach.

“Right now, there’s probably a 90% chance that the supply-class ships (AOE-6s) will be home-ported in Bremerton, Wash.,” said Mark Davidson, spokesman for the Seal Beach facility.

“We still have other ships--aircraft carriers and amphibious assault ships--that do not fit inside the confines of Anaheim Bay because of the (limited) depth and the turning radius provided in the bay,” Davidson said.

The possible berthing of the huge ships in Long Beach or San Diego was considered in the study of the environmental impact of the proposed expansion, which has sparked a major controversy in Seal Beach.

The Navy has proposed dredging soil from the bay and building a 4,000-foot extension of a jetty to make it easier to load weapons onto vessels. Such ships must now anchor offshore, with barges carrying loads back and forth.

Gordon R. Labedz, a Seal Beach physician and leader of Stop the Breakwater, said the recommendation to berth the ships in Bremerton could hurt the Seal Beach facility’s prospects of expanding.

Kathleen Hollingsworth, a spokeswoman for the area’s congressman, Dana Rohrabacher (R-Long Beach), agreed that money for the project could be more difficult to acquire without the supply ships.

Rohrabacher has opposed the expansion, along with varied local groups including residents, surfers, realtors, environmentalists and the Seal Beach City Council. Many worry that the plan would depress property values, change wave patterns and erode sand.

According to the environmental report, the expansion might cause erosion south of the bay, Davidson said, adding that the Army Corps of Engineers is studying that issue.

But Labedz said he is already convinced an expansion would cause destruction: “It would completely dissolve away our beach. It’s a ridiculous idea.”

Seal Beach Councilman Frank Laszlo, who traveled to Vicksburg, Miss., to see a Navy model of the proposed expansion, said: “It’s really going to have to be proven to the citizens and to the rest of the area that the waves will not be reduced and the sand won’t be eroded.”

A public hearing on the environmental report is scheduled for May 16 at the Edgewater Clarion Hotel in Long Beach. Written comments on the expansion will be accepted until June 3. They can be mailed to Robert Schwarz, Chesapeake Division of Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Building 212, Washington Navy Yard, Washington, D.C. 20374-2121.