Using El Toro for Air Cargo

* The Orange County Business Council believes that the decision to explore the possibility of an interim cargo use at El Toro Marine Corps Air Station is sound.

Orange County’s businesses depend upon a comprehensive air and land transportation system to move goods and services. Twelve percent of Orange County’s “domestic” product is exported.

Orange County is the 13th-largest exporter of 253 metropolitan areas in the nation, and by 2001, 55% of Orange County’s businesses will compete in the global marketplace. Orange County’s cargo volume is projected to increase from 3 million annual tons in 1996 to 9 million in 2020.

John Wayne Airport is able to serve only 4% of Orange County’s air cargo demand. The remainder--96%--is handled at airfields outside of Orange County. Moreover, San Diego airports handle a mere 1% of San Diego’s cargo. The balance is trucked to LAX, through Orange County, on the freeway.

Orange County is part of a dynamic, growing region and as such, must be a player in regionwide efforts to meet our air and ground transportation needs.

The Orange County Business Council believes that cargo capability at El Toro will enable us to address the important needs of our businesses to move goods efficiently while reducing traffic, congestion, and air pollution for Orange County residents.

STAN OFTELIE

President & CEO

Orange County Business Council

* The Times rightly called for a fair planning process for the reuse of El Toro in a recent editorial. Additionally, the credibility of the entire county government planning was called into question.

The Times was ignored along with South County. Instead, the county supervisors (once again on a 3-2 vote) kicked planning in the teeth and stabbed the entire South County in the back by planning commercial cargo flights out of El Toro, even before the Marines can finish packing, and despite a federal law prohibiting joint military and civilian use.

Instead of giving South County residents a 48-hour noise test to really determine the massive impact an airport would bring, the supervisors want to get a foot in the door with the cargo flights.

They believe that once commercial operations begin at El Toro, it will be virtually impossible to discontinue them, and they will be able to turn El Toro into the 38-million annual passenger and cargo behemoth that those who do not live in South County wish on us, thus circumventing a fair planning process and bypassing all legal challenges.

Superior Court Judge Judith McConnell ruled the county’s flawed draft environmental impact report “artificially minimizes the effect of a civilian airport at El Toro” and found many inconsistencies and errors in the document.

The county, instead of trying to be honest with its citizens, is appealing her honest appraisal of a very flawed document.

CHERYL HEINECKE

Irvine