Virginia lashes out at Mayport carrier bid

[unhappycamper]

Virginia lashes out at Mayport carrier bid
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Saturday May 31, 2008 8:05:17 EDT

Virginia Gov. Tim Kaine, striking back on behalf of the aircraft carriers based in his state, sent the Navy an incisive letter Tuesday aimed at knocking down the notion of moving a Hampton Roads flattop to Naval Station Mayport, Fla.

The Navy’s March 28 environmental impact statement, or EIS, used the wrong information, had too narrow a scope and came to the wrong conclusions about the true consequences of bringing a carrier to Mayport, Kaine wrote.

“The purpose of an (EIS) ... is to ensure that the agency decision-maker(s) have properly accounted for environmental impacts in making a final decision on a proposed action,” Kaine wrote. “This (EIS) is flawed to a degree that the Navy cannot make an informed homeporting decision.”

Virginia Commerce and Trade Secretary Patrick Gottschalk wrote in the letter that the EIS didn’t take into account the effect a new Mayport carrier would have on other military bases, and he also criticized the Navy for setting aside too little time for public comment.

North Florida lawmakers have been pressuring the Navy to move a nuclear carrier to Mayport since before the 2007 decommissioning of the conventionally powered John F. Kennedy, now in mothballs in Philadelphia. If the Navy sends Mayport no more ships — carriers or otherwise — the base would lose half its warships and almost 4,000 people by 2014, according to the EIS. The report included 13 scenarios, including doing nothing, but didn’t endorse any of them.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/05/navy_mayport_letter_053008w/