Mediator Sought for Navy Radar Facility
The California Coastal Commission announced Tuesday it will seek federal mediation in its two-year impasse with the Navy over a Port Hueneme radar facility.
The state panel is attempting to determine whether sophisticated radar equipment at the Surface Warfare Engineering Facility at the mouth of the Port of Hueneme poses a health threat to nearby residents and beachgoers.
The Navy insists its equipment is safe. But because some of the information needed to prove that claim is classified, the commission--and some residents--remain unconvinced.
The Navy also has been unable to find the environmental documentation that first allowed the 50,000-square-foot facility bristling with radar antennas to be built.
The commission Tuesday held a public hearing in Huntington Beach, followed by a closed-door session during which the idea of mediation was endorsed.
“The goal would be to find a third-party mediator,” said Steve Scholl, commission deputy director. The mediator could come from the federal Office of Ocean and Coastal Resource Management, he said.
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