Navy and Smog Officials Debate Shipping Lanes

Federal and local air quality officials want to divert oil tankers and large freighters to the waters beyond the Channel Islands to prevent the ships’ exhaust from blowing onshore.

But the Navy wants commercial shipping lanes to stay put safely in Santa Barbara Channel so that passing ships do not get in the way of the Navy missiles test-fired on the sea range outside of the islands.

Both sides are working hard on a mutually agreeable way to help Ventura County meet federal air quality rules--partly out of fear that the issue could be used against local Navy installations in the upcoming round of base closures.

“We are trying to come up with a way to reroute the ships without interfering with the Navy’s mission,” said Richard Baldwin, the county’s air pollution control officer.

Pentagon officials are now scrutinizing bases for potential closure, and Defense Secretary William Perry is scheduled to recommend a hit list of bases on March 1.

As a test center for missiles, the Point Mugu Navy base faces some risk for closure or consolidation with bases that perform similar functions, Pentagon officials said. One of the strongest arguments for preserving Point Mugu is its proximity to its 36,000 square miles of heavily restricted ocean and airspace used daily for weapons testing.

Any intrusion into the Navy’s sea test range could be a strike against Point Mugu in the fourth and final round of cuts ordered by the federal Base Closure and Realignment (BRAC) law, said Maggie Kildee, chairwoman of the County Board of Supervisors.

“We’ve been saying it is a free and clear range,” Kildee said. “But now if we are going to have a problem with ships, that becomes a BRAC problem.”

Furthermore, some officials believe that environmental problems could prevent Point Mugu from accepting new activities, should it be chosen as a site to receive jobs or other spoils from bases closed elsewhere.

“I’m not just interested in retaining what we have; I’m interested in expanding what we have,” said Judy Ann Miller, director of the governor’s office of military base retention.

She said the governor has ordered state officials to study air pollution issues so they do not negatively influence the outcome of base closures or consolidation. “The goal we are hoping for is that the governor issue a statement that this is not a show stopper for California.”

Like several other jurisdictions in the state, Ventura County fails to meet federal health standards for air pollution. Although local air quality has improved in recent years, the county continues to have days that exceed healthful levels of ozone, the major component of smog.

To help the county meet air quality standards, the Environmental Protection Agency and county officials have proposed rerouting commercial shipping lanes so the large vessels travel outside of the Channel Islands. As these diesel-burning ships ply the Santa Barbara Channel, most of their exhaust is carried onshore with the prevailing breeze.

The Navy has objected to the proposal because the ships could interfere with the sea test range or military exercises by Navy vessels based in San Diego.

Capt. Roger Hull, vice commander of Point Mugu, points out that firing a test missile usually involves hundreds of employees at various radar and control stations on ships, at Point Mugu and on San Nicolas Island.

If a commercial ship steams into the area, everything must shut down as a safety precaution, he said.

“It interferes with our business,” Hull said. “It wouldn’t be unusual to be paying $50,000 an hour,” he said. And the cost of delays must be absorbed by the base.

To come up with a solution, the Navy has figured out that 17% of the ships account for 72% of the nitrogen oxide pollutants--which react in sunlight with other chemicals to create ozone. These heavier polluting ships are the largest cargo vessels, including oil tankers traveling between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“If they pushed three ships a day outside the island, they could reduce emissions by 72%,” Hull said. He suggested that diverting fewer ships would be more palatable to the Navy.

Baldwin said he and other county air pollution officials are poring over the numbers to determine if the county could allow some emissions from merchant ships and still meet state and federal health standards.

“We’re working together to see what we can live with and how we can do it,” he said.