New Plan: Save El Toro, Shut Tustin : Military: O.C. Reps. Cox and Dornan present latest option for air stations to base-closing commission.

Already considering several base closure options involving the El Toro Marine Corps Air Station, the federal base closing commission has added another scenario to its list--keep El Toro open, close Tustin Marine Corps Air Station as originally planned and move Tustin’s helicopters to March Air Force Base in Riverside County.

Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach) said the latest plan, which he developed with Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove), was formally presented to Chairman Jim Courter of the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission, and Commissioner Beverly B. Byron, during a private meeting Friday in Washington.

The Pentagon proposed last March that the presidential commission, which has been recommending bases for closure as part of the defense cutbacks ordered since the Cold War’s end, cancel its 1991 decision to move Tustin’s helicopters to Twentynine Palms, and move them instead with El Toro’s aviation units to Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego.

Under this scenario, El Toro would be closed and most of the Navy units at Miramar would be sent to the Lemoore Naval Air Station in Central California.

But Orange County officials have opposed the move, arguing that the Navy underestimated by almost $1 billion the cost of moving the El Toro and Tustin troops. That figure was developed by El Toro base commanders.

Following the meeting with the commissioners, Cox and a spokesman for Dornan’s office said everyone present, including the commissioners, concluded that the costs of moving the Tustin and El Toro Marines to Miramar would be prohibitive.

Instead, the discussion focused on where to relocate the Tustin helicopter squadrons, Cox said. Dornan was not at the meeting, but he was represented by his staff.

A spokeswoman for the commission did not comment on the meeting between the Orange County delegation and the commissioners, but said “there is concern” that the Navy’s cost estimates used in deciding to close El Toro were too low.

“I think we agreed on two points: that March Air Force Base is a very convenient location--some 30 miles away (from Camp Pendleton)--and that (sending the Tustin Marines to the March Air Force facility) does not present any problems,” Cox said.

During recent hearings, commissioners have spoken of the need for “inter-servicing” of facilities in order to cut overall defense costs. March Air Force Base is scheduled to lose its active duty personnel under the current base realignment plan.

The proposal by the Orange County congressmen calls for the Navy jets to leave Miramar as originally proposed by the Pentagon.

San Diego-area congressmen, however, have vowed to wage their own fight to save the bases in their community and will have an opportunity to state their case on Wednesday, when Commissioner Peter B. Bowman is scheduled to tour Miramar.

The following day, the commission will hold a public hearing in San Diego on bases that were recently added to the closure list. The commission will vote on base closures in late June.

In a related matter, a spokesman for Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) said the fate of the Seal Beach Naval Weapons Station probably will not be taken up at the San Diego hearing because only a small portion of its mission is being considered for transfer.

The commission staff had tentatively scheduled five minutes for Seal Beach supporters to testify. But the time probably will not be needed, said Gary Curran, Rohrabacher’s chief of staff, because the congressman has received assurances that the panel’s interest in the weapons station is limited to the “depot testing” of tactical missiles, which makes up only 8.5% of the workload at the base.