Marine Bases Still Set for Closure, Officials Say

President Clinton’s order temporarily halting the transfer of Marine Corps helicopters from Orange County to San Diego is not expected to affect the planned closure of bases at El Toro and Tustin, military officials and civilian leaders said Tuesday.

For Orange County, “it’s a moot point,” said Jerry Hargarten, the chairman of MARCH--Move Against Relocating Choppers Here--which successfully lobbied Clinton to stop 112 copters from relocating to San Diego’s Miramar Naval Air Station, pending a Pentagon study.

Hargarten said “it would take an act of Congress” to keep the Marine Corps air stations at El Toro and Tustin operating past 1999, the year both have been ordered closed by the federal Base Realignment and Closure (BRAC) Commission.

Echoing Hargarten was Maj. Margaret Kuhn, the El Toro spokeswoman, who said Tuesday her superiors have received no hint that El Toro or Tustin might remain open, regardless of what happens to the copters.

“El Toro and Tustin are slated to be closed [by 1999] based on earlier BRAC decisions--no matter what,” Kuhn said, “and, at this point, only Congress could change that.”

BRAC had previously stipulated that El Toro and Tustin be closed and that the Marine helicopters now stationed at the two bases be transferred to another site.

Until Clinton’s decision on Monday, Miramar appeared to be the preferred site, despite opposition from nearby residents who believe the helicopters would be noisy and unsafe.

Kuhn said four CH-53 squadrons were scheduled to be transferred to Miramar before 1999, along with four CH-46 squadrons, with four more squadrons of the latter group going to Camp Pendleton.

That would mean that about 4,000 Marine personnel--including pilots, mechanics and support staff--would be transferring from El Toro and Tustin to Miramar, or wherever they end up.

As it is, eight active-duty F/A-18 fighter squadrons have transferred from El Toro to Miramar. At the moment, however, none of the groups opposing the transfer of helicopters to San Diego has included fixed-wing aircraft in their protests.

For now, Hargarten and other San Diego lobbyists--who have the bipartisan backing of Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) and Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham (R-San Diego)--appear to be steering the copters’ future home in the direction of March Air Reserve Base near Riverside.

March is about halfway between Marine installations at Camp Pendleton and Twentynine Palms, which Hargarten contends makes it more desirable than Miramar.

Saying he has the backing of civic officials in Riverside, Hargarten hopes the copters are redirected to the March air base, whose 7,000-acre installation has been whittled down to 2,500 acres because of military downsizing.

“The Marine copter issue has been in the forefront for quite a while,” said Capt. Stephen Razo, chief of public affairs for March.

He said that Riverside officials favor a reuse of excess land at the base, which could include bringing in copters from El Toro and Tustin.