Is It Anchors ‘Away’ for the County?

A two-year effort to keep Naval Base Ventura County off the Pentagon’s closure list comes down to an announcement today, and for better or worse, local officials said, they are ready.

Base commander Capt. Paul Grossgold said he will meet with leadership from the Port Hueneme and Point Mugu installations this morning to review Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld’s recommended base closures.

Civic boosters who have lobbied hard to save the base have arranged to spread the news quickly through a telephone and e-mail chain. Monday meetings are already scheduled to address Rumsfeld’s announcement.

If things go the base supporters’ way, champagne is on ice for a late-afternoon celebration, they said.

“We’re going to have a party or we’re going to have a wake,” said Tom Nielsen, spokesman for a regional task force that has spent months stressing Ventura County’s strategic military importance.

Release of the Pentagon’s list will start a base-by-base review by a presidential commission that will forward its conclusions to President Bush and Congress for a final decision later this year. Historically, nearly 85% of bases listed by the Pentagon are closed or downsized.

In four previous rounds of base closures, word on the Pentagon’s decisions leaked out early, Nielsen said. Not so this time, he and other officials said.

With 18,000 jobs and nearly $2 billion in local revenue at the Ventura County base at stake, base commander Grossgold said he is confident the closure recommendations will be fair.

“There’s really no way to tell which way they are going to go,” he said. “We’ve done our part in letting our superiors know what we have and what our missions are.”

Boosters have stressed the natural and strategic advantages of Naval Base Ventura County. Its Port Hueneme facilities include the Navy’s only deep-water port between San Diego and Washington state, and the Point Mugu weapons testing programs have access to a 36,000-square-mile sea testing range and restricted airspace.

Both installations, combined into a single command in 2000, have made a home in Ventura County for more than 50 years. But, even if the facilities remain open, it’s possible that some of the more than 70 defense programs based there could be eliminated or shifted, Grossgold said.

While the effect wouldn’t be as severe as with a full closure, realignment of functions could translate into job losses, said Gene Fisher, co-chairman of the Regional Defense Partnership, an alliance of military, civic and booster groups.

“We might not know if there is an economic impact for some time,” Fisher said. “Some jobs might come here and some might go elsewhere.”

In contrast to earlier base closures, military value is a top consideration, Fisher said. That could bode well for Port Hueneme because it is the West Coast home of the Seabees, the Navy’s construction brigades.