Long Beach Joins Bases Facing Possible Closure : Military: 10 state facilities are added to list. Commission head says it’s not trying to scare communities needlessly.

WASHINGTON —  A presidential base-closing panel voted Friday to add Long Beach Naval Shipyard, Miramar Naval Air Station in San Diego County, and eight other California bases to the list of 10 major California installations already facing possible extinction.

The Long Beach shipyard was added to provide an alternative to closing Mare Island Shipyard in the San Francisco Bay Area, which was on the Defense Department’s initial closure list released in March.

The Marine Corps Air Station in Tustin, closed two years ago by the Defense Base Closing and Realignment Commission, was also added to the review list--ironically, with an eye to keeping it open. The addition of Miramar to the list raises the possibility of a complicated reshuffling of Marines and aircraft in Southern California that could save Tustin and/or the Marine Corps Air Station in El Toro at the expense of Miramar.

Near midnight, the commission added the following California bases: Seal Beach Navy Weapons Station; Naval Depot, San Diego; Defense Distribution Depot, San Diego; Marine Corps Logistics Base, Barstow; Defense Distribution Depot at McClellan Air Force Base; North Island Naval Aviation Depot, San Diego, and Defense Distribution Depot, Barstow.

Overall, the commission added more than three dozen Army, Navy and Air Force bases nationwide during a marathon hearing that began at 9 a.m. and was considering still others as midnight approached.

Most bases were added to give the commission the ability to make broader comparisons between similar bases and to independently analyze the Defense Department’s closure recommendations.

While the additions may be alarming to communities where those bases are located, the changes do not necessarily mean that those bases will close. Two years ago, the commission added 35 bases to its review list, but none were closed.

California received some good news when the commission voted to consider the Naval Station in Everett, Wash. as a possible closure candidate.

Supporters of the Alameda Naval Air Station, which appeared on the Pentagon’s original hit list, had pleaded with the commission to include Everett in its deliberations, arguing that in a head-to-head comparison, the Bay Area facility would emerge the victor.

Likewise, the Sacramento community surrounding McClellan Air Force Base got a dash of hope when three similar air logistics centers in Oklahoma, Georgia and Texas were added to the list of possible closures.

“I want to make it clear that our job is not to terrorize communities that may have breathed a sigh of relief in March when their installations did not appear on (Defense) Secretary Les Aspin’s list,” said commission Chairman James Courter in his opening remarks. “We are acutely aware of the pain and the dislocation that communities fear when they face the closure of a military installation that is deeply rooted in their local economy.”

The news about Long Beach shipyard provoked immediate--and varied--reaction from Southern California representatives in Congress. Rep. Steve Horn (R-Long Beach) was “extremely saddened” by the action, and Rep. Jane Harman (D-Marina del Rey) was “very disappointed.”

Yet, Rep. Randy (Duke) Cunningham (R-San Diego), who wants more ship repair work for private shipyards in his city, said the Long Beach decision “makes sense.”

In March, shipyard workers celebrated when the facility was not included on a preliminary hit list. At the time, Gov. Pete Wilson and others vowed to fight to keep the base open.

Orange County officials were happy at the prospects of keeping Tustin and El Toro. But San Diego officials said the closing of Miramar would be an economic disaster for the county.

“It seems to me that we may well be getting our clocks cleaned by Orange County and their stronger representation in Congress,” said San Diego Deputy Mayor Tom Behr. “It’s all a matter of advocacy in Washington, and Orange County seems to be way ahead of us.”

But Cunningham and others expressed confidence that they could make a strong case for Miramar.

The lone Californian on the commission, Rebecca G. Cox, cast the only vote against adding Long Beach to the list. Because she is married to Newport Beach Rep. Christopher Cox, she excused herself from the votes on the Tustin and Miramar bases.

Early in the day, the commission clarified the action it took in late March when it added the Defense Language Institute at the Army Presidio in Monterey to the Pentagon list. On a 7-0 vote the commission reaffirmed that decision and added the nearby Presidio Annex to its review list.

Officials in Charleston, S.C., had protested that Aspin unfairly singled out their naval shipyard for closure even though it is has greater usefulness to the Navy than other shipyards. In response, the commission added the other East Coast naval shipyards to the list, in Portsmouth, N.H., and Norfolk, Va.

The newly added sites will get a chance to defend themselves as commissioners fan out to hold a new round of regional hearings and base visits before making final decisions in the next few weeks.

There will also be more hearings in Washington to give Congress senators and congressmen a last opportunity to testify.

The commission will make its final choices in late June and pass along its list to the White House by July 1.

Other bases voted onto the commission’s review list were: Ft. Lee and Ft. Monroe, both in Virginia; Marcus Hook (Pa.) Army Reserve Center; Fort Gillem, Ga.; Fort McPherson, Ga.; Oceana Naval Air Station, Va.; Beaufort Marine Corps Air Station and the Naval Hospital, S.C.; Corpus Christi Naval Air Station and the Naval Hospital, Tex.; Ingleside Naval Station, Tex.; Pascagoula Naval Station, Miss.; Naval Hospital at Great Lakes, Ill.; Ship Parts Control Center, Mechanicsburg, Pa., and the Naval Electronics Center, Portsmouth, Va..

Also: Martinsburg (W. Va.) Naval Air Facility; Johnstown (Pa.) Naval Air Facility; Naval Reserve Center, Chicopee, Mass.; Naval Reserve Center, Quincy, Mass.; Naval and Marine Corps Reserve Center, Lawrence, Mass.; Naval Ordnance Station, Louisville, Ky.; Naval Air Station, Memphis; Naval Hospital, Millington, Tenn; Cherry Point (N.C.) Naval Aviation Depot; Jacksonville (Fla.) Naval Aviation Depot; Plattsburgh (N.Y.) Air Force Base; Fairchild Air Force Base, N.Y.; Grand Forks Air Force Base, N.D.; Tinker Air Force Base, Okla.; Warner-Robins Air Force Base, Ga., and Kelly Air Force Base, Tex.

(Southland Edition) NEXT STEP

Between now and mid-June, members of the Defense Base Closing and Realignment Commission will visit military installations added to the review list Friday. Regional hearings will be scheduled in early June to give local community members a chance to testify. The commission will begin its last round of public deliberations in mid-June and vote June 25 or 26 on which bases to close. By law the recommendations must go to President Clinton by July 1. He can approve the recommendations and forward them to Congress or return them to the commission with his reasons for disapproval. Congress, which cannot alter the list, has 45 legislative days to pass a motion of disapproval in both houses or the commission’s report becomes law.