Hard work has elevated the debate over closing shipyard

Since 07-25-05

From: Waspscpo@aol.com [mailto:Waspscpo@aol.com]
Sent: Monday, July 25, 2005 4:28 AM
To: undisclosed-recipients:
Subject: Hard work has elevated the debate over closing shipyard

The questions asked and statements made by members of the Base Realignment and Closure Commission at public hearings in Washington, D.C., last week showed the congressional delegations, governors and citizens of the New Hampshire and southern Maine have been very effective in getting across their message that it would not be in the best interests of the nation to close Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

It appears the commission has fully accepted the argument that Portsmouth is the most efficient of the four public shipyards that do submarine repair, refueling and overhaul work. And it also appears to have accepted the argument that closing the base and losing approximately 4,800 jobs would be devastating to the economies of both states, although it seems that issue is carrying less weight with the commission, since all communities in which base closures have been recommended will feel economic pain.

Perhaps most importantly has been the ability of shipyard supporters to bring to question the assertions by the Navy and Pentagon that the existing infrastructure and personnel available to service submarines exceeds current needs. Bringing that issue up raises the specter of a country unable to meet the military threats of the future and that caught the commission’s attention.

In reality, it may be the submarine repair capacity that ultimately determines whether the Portsmouth yard, which has been threatened by so many previous BRAC rounds, finally closes or will remain open to fight again. Homeland security and the viability of our Navy to operate effectively anywhere in the world are at stake. Still, there is a lot of conflicting information the BRAC and its staff will have to sift through and decide in the approximately four weeks left before a decision is due.

And the BRAC staff was obviously disappointed when the commission voted not to add Pearl Harbor to its list for consideration simply because there will now be no opportunity to compare the impacts of closing Portsmouth with any other shipyard that handles submarine overhaul work. All of our senators and congressmen, as well as our governors and representatives of the Save Our Shipyard organization, remain far from confident the commission will remove the local yard from the list.

In past BRAC rounds, only 15 percent of the facilities initially listed for closure by the Pentagon have escaped that fate. However, it is clear that as a result of all the hard work done by the hundreds of people involved in the effort to keep the local shipyard open, the commission is viewing the Pentagon’s recommendation with a wary eye.

There is much work to still be done, but the debate over the proposed closure of Portsmouth Naval Shipyard has been elevated and at this point in the process that’s about the best we can hope for.

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Contributed,
YNCS Don Harribine, USN(ret)