Plan to Close Bases Unfair, Wilson Says

Reacting to news reports that as many as nine military bases in California may be slated for shutdown, Gov. Pete Wilson on Sunday called the proposed closures an unfair blow to the state’s economy and a potential threat to national security.

“It is not fair to the working men and women whose livelihoods depend on the continued operations of these installations,” Wilson said at a news conference outside the McClellan Air Force Base, one of the bases believed targeted for closure. “In a larger sense, it’s not fair to the free world and those who may be called upon . . . to have to fight.”

The Long Beach Naval Shipyard, which employs 4,100 workers, is also believed to be on the recommended shutdown list--much to the dismay of city officials, who have been lobbying senior Navy officials against it. An Orange County base, El Toro Marine Air Station, which employs 15,000 military and civilian workers, is also reportedly on the list.

Wilson said the proposed base closures would eliminate 80,000 to 100,000 jobs statewide. The state would lose $2.5 billion to $3 billion in annual payroll, plus another $1.4 billion in defense contracts, Wilson spokesman Dan Schnur said.

Defense Department officials are expected to formally announce the recommendations this week--the second large round of shutdowns since 1991. In an interview Sunday on ABC’s “This Week With David Brinkley,” Defense Secretary Les Aspin declined to say which installations will be targeted but said the list will be long--”the mother of all base-closing lists.”

Pentagon officials said they will recommend that at least 30 major installations--many of them in California--be closed, and that up to 150 military depots and other sites be consolidated or pared back.

The independent Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission will hold public hearings and forward its recommendations to lawmakers. A final decision will be made by September.

Other California bases believed to be on the Pentagon’s list are: Mare Island Naval Shipyard in Oakland, Oakland Navy Supply Center, Treasure Island Naval Station, Alameda Naval Air Station, the Presidio in Monterey and March Air Force Base.

Long Beach Councilman Ray Grabinski called the Pentagon proposal the “California Devastation Act.”

Losing the Long Beach Naval Shipyard would leave the region “at the mercy of private-sector yards,” he said. “We have been the ‘military city’ on the West Coast for years. The reward for great facilities and terrific attitude is a slap in the face.”

Grabinski was one of five public officials and union leaders who went to Washington last month to lobby Navy officials against closing the base, arguing that the shipyard is one of the government’s most productive ship repair facilities and that it provides skilled jobs that Long Beach residents desperately need.

Orange County officials vowed to mount an aggressive campaign to save the El Toro base. “I guess I’m praying,” said Orange County Supervisor Thomas F. Riley, a retired Marine general whose district includes the base. “I have difficulty understanding what the rationale for this would be.”

In 1991, the federal base-closure commission ordered the shutdown of 34 bases--19 of them in California--and the consolidation of 48 others by 1997. Included was the Long Beach Naval Station and Tustin Marine Air Station, now scheduled to close in 1996.