[ Environmental Study to be Conducted for ...]

Environmental Study to be Conducted for
Combined Long Beach Naval Properties

In the next 10 months, the Port of Long Beach and the U.S. Navy will p
repare a joint federal and state document to complete the environmenta
l review process for both the Long Beach Naval Station and the Naval S
hipyard. The 1995 and 1996 reuse recommendations of the Long Beach Ci
ty Coucil, the Navy’s Local Redevelopment Authority, will be the basi
s for the new document. However, the document will include an expande
d assessment of historical structures on the station, to be conducted
by the Navy with assistance from qualifed experts.
This development comes in response to a June 5 letter to President Cli
nton from Long Beach Mayor Beverly O’Neill and Harbor Commissioner Ge
orge Murchison requesting urgent attention to the languishing federal
process. A July 9 letter from the the Department of Defence provides
a detailed plan for completing the evironmental process and a commitme
nt of decisive federal action.
“The Navy is committed to moving forward with the transfer of the Nav
al Complex for productive reuse, and it possesses the manpower and the
tools necessary to make that happen as expeditiously as possible and
in full comliance with all environmental laws,”the letter indicates.
“The Department of Defense is likewise committed to these objectives
, and it will ensure that the commitment of the Navy and of DoD is put
into action and achieves results.”
The federal government announced the closure of the station in 1991 an
d the closure of the shipyard in 1995. Because the station closure wa
s announced long before the decision to close the shipyard, the statio
n was the primary focus of the initial state and federal environmental
analysis. The state environmental document for the station has been
found by the State Superior Court to be adequate in all respects.
The station closed in 1994, and the shipyard will close in September.
“Now that both the station and the shipyard will soon be vacant, it
makes sense to complete the process with one joint environmental docum
ent,” stated Harbor Commissioner President Carmen O. Perez. Later th
is month, a notice will be published requesting public input on the co
mbined study.
Mayor O’Neill indicated that she remained frustrated about delays on
the station property. “Although I am pleased that the federal proces
s is moving again, I am frustrated by the delays we have had to endure
,”she said. The Navy had previously planned to complete its environm
ental review of the station in 1996.
The Port will no longer purse the federal memorandum of agreement(MOA)
negotiated in 1996 but never fully signed. The MOA was designed to m
itigate the loss of historical structures at the station proposed for
demolition. In the MOA, the Port had offered to set up a $4.5 million
historic preservation fund to restore other historically significant
buildings in the Long Beach area, and to implement several other measu
res to commemorate the base and its role in Long Beach history. The c
ontents of any subsequent MOA will depend upon the outcome of the curr
ent analysis, but it is unlikely to include any funding for restoratio
n of building outside the Naval Station.