Kaine letter slams Navy's study to move warships to Mayport

The state has strongly criticized the Navy for a study to move warships and spend $500 million on improvements to Mayport Naval Station in Florida.

In a letter sent Tuesday to the Navy, Gov. Timothy M. Kaine wrote that the state "has significant concerns" about a study that could set the stage for moving ships, sailors and their families from Hampton Roads to the base in the Jacksonville area. Kaine requested more time for public comments and study.

"Given the importance of what is at stake, the potential for significant environmental impacts, and the millions of federal taxpayer dollars to be spent, the limited comment period will undercut the Navy's ability to make the most informed decision possible," Kaine wrote.

In a 24-page critique, the state said that the Navy's draft environmental impact statement is a narrow, flawed and incomplete study of the effects of moving warships to the Florida base.

Mayport last year lost its only flattop, the decommissioned John F. Kennedy, and is scheduled to lose its frigates by 2014 as the Navy phases out the warship class.

The Navy is considering 13 alternatives for Mayport. It could let the base slowly wind down operations or bolster its future by transferring surface ships and an aircraft carrier. The Navy estimates it would cost nearly $500 million to ready Mayport for a nuclear carrier. Ships could come from any homeport.

Travis Sharp, military policy analyst for the Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, said Florida's goal is to become the homeport for the new nuclear carrier George H.W. Bush. The Navy expects to receive the ship, being built at Northrop Grumman Corp.'s Newport News shipyard, late this year.

Sharp said the Florida delegation has been lobbying intensely for the ship. "Florida wants the Bush carrier so bad they can taste it."

The state's case is bolstered by re-establishment at May-port of the Fourth Fleet, which serves as headquarters for naval operations in an increasingly unstable Latin America region, Sharp said.

Virginia officials fear that ships, sailors and their families would be transferred from Hampton Roads.

"Our concern is to keep those assets in Virginia," said David Smith, deputy secretary of commerce and trade for the commonwealth. "We have the deep water; we have the infrastructure in place."

The Virginia comments said the Navy's study should be withdrawn or revised to consider the impacts on Hampton Roads and other ports that could lose ships.

The Navy failed to fully consider environmental impacts of moving thousands of sailors and their families, the Virginia report said. It also failed to explore the cumulative effects of a busier base on marine life and endangered species such as the manatee.

Sharp said the competition between states has become intense because the Navy has trouble building new ships on time and budget. Congress may be reluctant to pay for expensive new carriers and submarines, he said.

The states "are probably afraid that the money spigot is going to be turned off," he said.

Chief Petty Officer Lisa Mikoliczyk said the Navy received Virginia's comments and will address them in its final report. The Navy is scheduled to decide on an alternative in December.

Louis Hansen, (757) 446-2322, louis.hansen@pilotonline.com