Officials Oppose Airport Siting Plan
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North County Times
Tuesday, September 30, 2003
Six members of Congress sign letter opposing airport siting plan
By: DAVE DOWNEY - Staff Writer
On the eve of a potentially significant milestone in San Diego County's search for a place to build a new international airport, six local members of Congress on Tuesday signed a letter calling for four military bases in San Diego and Riverside counties to be removed from consideration.
The letter, signed by Reps. Ken Calvert, R-Riverside, Randy "Duke" Cunningham, R-Escondido, Susan Davis, D-San Diego, Bob Filner, D-San Diego, and Darrell Issa, R-Vista, flatly rejects a proposed list of sites to be examined by a regional board.
"We ask you to immediately remove all the active military bases from your list of potential sites," the letter states. "Continuing to pursue active military bases as potential airport sites without consideration for national security is irresponsible and undermines the validity of your entire effort."
The San Diego County Regional Airport Authority board will consider Thursday which sites to carry forward for detailed review of their potential to replace Lindbergh Field or to work in tandem with the cramped airport on San Diego Bay in a two-airport system.
The authority staff and a public working group of diverse special interests recommended studying Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base near Oceanside, two locations on Miramar Marine Corps Air Station, the Naval Air Station North Island and March Air Reserve Base near Riverside. The staff also recommended looking at sites in the western Imperial County desert along Interstate 8 and expanding Tijuana Rodriguez International Airport in Mexico for use by U.S. residents. The staff is not recommending any nonmilitary sites within the county.
The airport board is scheduled to meet at 9 a.m. Thursday at Hilton Harbor Island in San Diego.
Besides opposing turning over bases for an airport, the San Diego County members of the congressional delegation believe none of the three bases targeted within the county would work as a joint-use facility ---- where the military and a commercial airport would share runways.
But Rebecca Rudman, press secretary for Calvert, said the Riverside County congressman is open to exploring joint use at March. That facility along Interstate 215 was converted during the 1990s from an active Air Force base into a reserve base. And regional planners are pursuing a plan to make March a major commercial cargo airport for the Inland Empire.
The members of Congress were highly critical of the lack of nonmilitary alternatives.
"We find it remarkable that so few of the sites on your list fall within the jurisdiction of your agency," the letter states, noting the authority does not possess power of eminent domain outside the county or on military bases.
The only private site is in Imperial County, well more than 100 miles away from downtown San Diego.
Hunter, in an interview, said the study seems to be going in the wrong direction.
"We need to start on the basis that Lindbergh is considered to be the most convenient big-city airport in the nation ---- probably in the world," Hunter said. "We should resist the temptation to build a big airport Denver-style, removed from the population center."
The letter asserts that local bases are unique and function as a coordinated unit.
"We have the complete complex," said Hunter, who chairs the powerful House Armed Services Committee.
Because each of the three San Diego County bases is vital for national security, all were passed over for closure in the 1990s ---- and are likely to be passed over again in the scheduled 2005 "BRAC" ---- base realignment and closure ---- study, the delegation said. Airport officials are operating under the assumption that, through the 2005 study, a local base may close and become available.
But the letter suggests that the loss of Miramar or Pendleton or North Island would deal a severe blow to the San Diego County economy. Saying that 108,300 active military personnel were stationed in the county last year, the delegation said the military contributes more than $750 million annually to the regional economy.
"San Diego County receives close to 2 percent of the entire national defense budget," Hunter said.
Contact staff writer Dave Downey at (760) 740-3529 or ddowney@nctimes.com.