Coastal Panel Rejects Expansion of Navy’s Warfare Test Center

The California Coastal Commission on Friday blocked the Navy’s plans to turn a radar weapons testing center at the Port of Hueneme into the largest electronic warfare test center on the West Coast.

The move was applauded by Oxnard-area residents who have been fighting the expansion plans.

“It’s a victory for the community,” said Silver Strand resident Vickie Finan, president of the Beacon Foundation, a beach-area environmental group.

The commission unanimously rejected a proposal to expand the 15-year-old Surface Warfare Engineering Facility, which tests the Navy’s warship radar and weapons systems.

That decision came after the Navy refused to allow an expert outside the Department of Defense to weigh in on a public health study ordered as a condition of the expansion, said Sara Wan, chairwoman of the Coastal Commission.

Commissioners told the Navy earlier this week that the expansion was contingent on agreeing to add a civilian to the Navy’s health assessment panel.

“At this point, I’m at a loss to explain why the Navy would take this position,” Wan said. “It’s such an easy request.”

The Navy declined to comment Friday. A press release issued Thursday said the Navy “does not believe adding another participant to the survey team is necessary.”

The Navy has two options if it still wants the expansion to go forward, Wan said. It can agree to an outside expert or it can appeal to the U.S. Department of Commerce, which can overrule the commission’s decision.

Finan and other residents who opposed the expansion say they are concerned that warship radar and high-energy radio waves beamed during tests of weapons systems could cause burns, cataracts or brain damage.

The expansion would include installing new lasers, microwave beams and satellite transceivers, all of which require permits under the Coastal Zone Management Act. That act is administered by the Coastal Commission.

A mediation panel of independent scientists said last month that the facility poses no inherent risk to people or wildlife, but suggested several precautions that could ensure safety. Those included a public health study that would involve the input of a nonmilitary expert.

In a letter issued Thursday, Capt. J.W. Phillips of the Naval Surface Warfare Center told coastal commissioners the Navy has bent over backward to ease public concerns, agreeing to a thorough Department of Defense study and description of test equipment and location.

The Navy does not believe, however, that the Coastal Zone Management Act requires that it allow nonmilitary personnel on the panel, Phillips said.

“We are also skeptical that this measure would further enhance public trust or confidence” in the project, he wrote. “We do not believe that certain members of the public would be satisfied with any measure that the Navy takes to better public relations.”