El Toro Analysis May Come Earlier

The Federal Aviation Administration is moving to get its analysis of a proposed airport at El Toro released before county supervisors take their final vote this month on the fate of the closed Marine base.

Rep. John Mica (R-Fla.), chairman of the House aviation subcommittee, wants to be briefed on the report before it is released to other members of Congress, including those representing Orange County, FAA spokesman Jerry Snyder said in Los Angeles.

The FAA has asked Mica for a briefing on Tuesday but that meeting hasn’t been confirmed, Snyder said. The report, analyzing how the new airport would operate within Southern California’s crowded airspace, initially was to have been released in April.

Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Riverside) said Mica told him Thursday on the House floor that his briefing would occur Oct. 17--one day after the Orange County Board of Supervisors is expected to take its final vote on the airport plan. County officials have said they don’t expect the report to trigger significant changes in that plan.

Most opponents and many supporters of an airport at the closed Marine base have demanded to see the FAA’s analysis before the board vote. Anti-airport forces have accused airport supporters of pressuring the FAA to withhold the report because they believe it will question the safety and reliability of the county’s airport plan.

Mica’s office didn’t return calls Friday seeking comment. Calls to Transportation Secretary Norman Y. Mineta were referred to the FAA.

Mica toured El Toro in August at the invitation of board Chairwoman Cynthia P. Coad and praised the former Marine base as an ideal site for an airport. His comments and a photo of him meeting with county officials were posted on the county’s Web site.

Pro-airport forces also used the photo and Mica’s comments in a cable-TV ad that aired last month in Washington. It was pulled after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

Gary Burns, Mica’s legislative director, said this week that Mica asked for an El Toro briefing last month as a “standard courtesy by the FAA” to the aviation subcommittee chairman. But more pressing matters related to the attacks have consumed Mica’s time.

The report is expected to address whether the county’s takeoff and landing patterns for El Toro will fit with other Southern California airports and flight paths.

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ON THE WEB

Base: For a complete package of stories about the airport controversy and an online discussion on The Times’ Web site, go to: https://www.latimes.com/eltoro.