Norfolk takes a hit in battle over carrier move

The city of Virginia beach in order to preserve their cash cow wants to plant an OLF in the middle of southside Virginia. Well guess what -turn about is fair play. The powers that be in Surry County, want to build a massive slobbering dirty coal fired power plant in Dendron which will tip the scales at 1500 megawatts.

We may not be able to hear your screams of anguish because of our deafness due to jet noise. With 600 foot high exhaust stacks guess where the pollution will end up. Basically they are guessing where it will end up because they are using computer modeling to figure where the exhaust will go.

We won't have any trouble finding you though because you will probably be glowing in the dark. You see Wikipedia says that a thousand megawatt powerplant could release as much as 5.2 tons/year of uranium(containing 74 pounds of uranium 235 and 12.8 tons of thorium. This plant will be a third larger than this at 1500 megawatts. Did I forget to mention there is also lead, arsenic, berrylium and mercury in the flyash.
Ask the people in chesapeake who had a golf course built next to them using flyash now all the local wells are showing eight times the normal levels of

I currently live in mayport within a stones throw of the base, my main concern and objections at this time are traffic related as well as a possible threat of a foreign flagged cruise ship called carnival with a foreign crew on board sitting next door to the base it self.Does not the
foreigners pose a threat to the security of a nuke carrier? mayport village is right on the edge of the base the back gate is only a two lane road traffic already backs up to wonderwood now envision 3 to 4000
cars coming from mayport cruise ship and on the same two lane road navy construction workers coming in the back gate you going to have a bottle neck, now lets talk about the front gate during lunch time you leave the
base and drive up another two lane road with mediuns you have 4 or 5 traffic lights this road is not wide enough to handle that kind of traffic it backs up now from levy road to the base and 45 minutes later you might make it to lunch. go ahead and google it look at it at lunch time we cant even get an emergency through, most of the fire fighters complain about their calls god forbid someone dies, not to mention no left turns its a problem can you image the navy crews not being abl

See what happens when local governments depend on one industry? My hometown of Detroit depended on the Big 3 for so long and resisted diversifying until it's probably too late. With a young educated work force, strategic location, abundant natural resources and (mostly) excellent weather, why does this area continue to be addicted to the
no- growth government jobs? Move the carrier and take the corresonding jets with it. The growth in SE VA has been in spite of the Navy, not due to it.

I was told that I am far to smart to waste my mind in the Navy and that I should consider joining the Air Force instead. I couldn't decide though so, now I work for the "Catholic Worker Movement" I'm kidding guys don't get your shorts all acockbill. Where are your sole bearers contractor? Arrrrg

Though his use of maritime venecular, I would hazard a guess that he has at least "pollywog" status, though I doubt he has ever "weathered the Lizard." Har Har har

All right Ric. I'll grant you that but, only if you will grant me that some crazy terrorists heck bent on blowing up a carrier could actually plow a tanker at full speed right into the back of the carrier at the end of the pier in Mayport as seen Google Maps. Or two tankers could completely block the entrance to THAT harbor just as easily. How is Mayport better than here from that standpoint? Blocking the harbor is a moot point. Anyway, then what? Is Venezuela going to attack us? It IS only political. That was my only point.

NOV 10 2008 "WASHINGTON - A senior Pentagon advisory group, in a series of bluntly worded briefings, is warning President-elect Barack Obama that the Defense Department's current budget is "not sustainable," and he must scale back or eliminate some of the military's most prized weapons programs."
And here he has an opportunity to not send CVN's to Mayport & save almost 1/2 billion. I dont think it is too far fetched to say this Mayport deal will be either cut....or shelved indefinately.

Republicans are pretty good at making military cuts as well. Perhaps you have heard of George Bush Sr. and his "peace dividend":

http://www.politifact.com/truth-o-meter/statements/309/

Democrats are no less patriotic and no less concerned about our national security than republicans. Only idiots would suggest otherwise.

I really dont see President Elect Obama passing up a chance to cut 1/2 a billion dollars in military spending by simply choosing not to send nuclear carriers to Mayport. I'm not saying all the nuclear carriers will stay here, but, I doubt Mayport will get any while a Democrat is at the Helm.

For some reason my post from yesterday is still pending. Recap:

Breal4real and JimJones must not have served in the Navy. I’ve piloted aircraft carriers through that channel. While the deep-draft channel is wide enough for 2 ships the size of carriers to pass each other, it’s the area OVER the tunnels that are choke points. While these particular areas are wide enough for two ships to pass each other, there is little additional room - the channel is only as wide as the level portion of the tunnel below. Sink one or two large tankers over the HRBT and you completely blockade the Navy’s deep-draft ships.

True, ships take on harbor pilots, but they don’t inspect the ships’ holds. Very easy to stow a WMD and sink the ship or explode near the carrier piers.

I wish people would stop already with the nonsense about sinking ships in channel. Any large ship coming into the harbor takes on a local pilot and any ship that refused to would be meet by the coast guard and then by some very large tugs to "guide" her. Furthermore, the channel is soooo wide that it would take several sunken ships lined up end to end to actually block the channel. That ain't happnin. Does anyone realize how much time it takes just to turn one of them around. A plane could be used to crash into the base, sure but, and it would do a hell of a lot of damage. What would prevent a coordinated attack like last time. Say, one in FL and here? It wouldn't be the first time a jet crashed into a carrier, would it?

To Heck with National Security. We Need the PORK!
If you don't believe it, just ask our local "leaders" and "represenitives".

Hampton Roads has been hopeless hooked on the military as its sole support column for its economy. I've always said that we need to prepare for the day when the Navy says enough with these crappy roads, vunerable tunnels and encroaching container ships from China, and leaves for Florida. HR is a one-horse wonder, and our horse is beginning to die. We need to develop a private sector for high-end jobs, say cut off a little slice of the NOVA tech industry or Richmond's finance hub to give the region a sustainable future, or else this "Navy Town" will become just a dead mosquito infested backwater. We need job diversity soo bad and this incident is just bringing this uncomfortable fact to life. Oh yeah, VDOT want to put a bridge over the channel to expand the HRBT - that definitely will hasten the Navy's departure bigtime.

On this subject of moving a carrier to Fl. If you don't think that moving even one of those big things out of here affects the economy around here, try working at one of the fast food places on the base or in the NEX, or even drive a taxi out there, then try saying even missing one carrier doesn't affect the economy. And those are just a few places to feel the pinch should they move one to Mayport.
Also, in today's economy, when things are looking mighty bleak and many are loosing everything, don't you think that maybe, JUST MAYBE, that money needed to refurbish an old pier and roads around the base there, might be better served in helping out the homeless and hungry and the hard working? Someone mentioned the San Antonio and the New York. Come on, the navy can do better than that! Do you know how over budget they went on the San Antonio, and yeah, she's deployed now, but she's still having problems and still isn't right. So, even though they might estimate the millions of dollars now to get Mayport ready for a new carrier, add even more to it because come on, it never cost what they estimate!
And, as only a few of you pointed out, and I can say this since I spend six days a week

For Paul Fraim to suggest that it is Bush's decision to move an aircraft carrier to FL for his brother shows his stupidity. This is a military decision that will be reinforced by the Obama and the Democrats come 1/20//09 which will reward the democratic FL senator. So let's see what Bobby Scott and Little Glen Nye can do to reverse it. I am betting nothing. We got what we voted for.

VB, Norfolk and the whole surrounding area needs a reality check. You want the carriers and the air wings for your local economy but you have encroached on Oceana so bad that they can't fly there anymore then you expect to outsource all your noise and pollution to North Carolina by trying to jam a OLF site down our throats. Well WTFU you want the money suck it up and deal with the noise and pollution if you don't then let the Navy move to Mayport and take the Hornets to a newly rebuilt Cecil Field. Florida put millions of dollars into refurbishing the base so I believe it would be an outstanding move to send the carriers and planes south.

. ."BRAC likely will never happen again the way it happened in the past, and it's because BRAC overstepped its authority in 2005 concerning Oceana. BRAC is bound by its statuatory powers, which are isolated to whittling down a list provided by DoD. . ."

When the F35 comes online Oceana is done, as it will not be stationed there. They (Navy) got sued and lost already with FA-18s. Hampton Roads needs to invest in infrastructure and courting companies to locate here. We will lose more military here, and it's a good thing for many reasons.

Just take a ride down Hampton Blvd near the base. It's worn completely out and has pot holes that are two to five inches deep. I've had several ruined tires and more than a few bent rims thanks to Norfolk's failure to maintain the roads near the base. The funny part is, once you get up to NIT and the RR Depot the roads are well kept. Speaking of the Railroad, think of how many hours our people in uniform sit there while the train blocks the road. Then there's the light rail that will not go anywhere near the base. Then there's planning a third river crossing, but instead of making it from Crainey Island to Terminal Blvd to get the base traffic from Portsmouth away from downtown Norfolk and the congested roads near Ghent, they plan to put it right next to the exiting tunnel. While that will not add to the problem, it won't ease the bottleneck in the area near Norfolk General or get the traffic off Hampton Blvd from the tunnel to ODU. The Navy is doing right by moving a carrier out of Norfolk.

Breal4real must not have served in the Navy. I’ve piloted many an aircraft carrier through that channel. The deep channel is wide enough for two ships the size of carriers to pass each other, but at the choke points of the HRBT and Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, it’s a different story. While still wide enough for two ships to pass each other, there is little additional room - the channel is only as wide as the level portion of the tunnel below. Sink one or two large tankers over the HRBT and you have completely blockaded the Navy’s deep-draft ships.

its about time tidewater stops depending on the navy for the economy , year after year its the same old story , other places in america get by without the navy and so can tidewater , get some backbone and get out and find other resources to make tidewater grow or it will be the same old story year after year,