IMPERIAL — If there was a unifying message during the Joint Strike Fighter Coalition meeting Wednesday here, it was that home basing the Navy’s F35C Joint Strike Fighter Squadron in Imperial County is still an attainable objective.
“It ain’t over until it’s over,” said Lisa Gallinat, co-chairwoman of the coalition, before she urged the public to attend a public meeting from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at Southwest High School’s multipurpose room.
With this meeting the Navy hopes to educate and gather the public’s input on basing the F-35C Joint Strike Fighter at NAF El Centro.
NAF El Centro is one of two bases being considered to house these fighter planes.
The coalition says that basing the planes here would bring millions of dollars, create jobs and spark construction projects and ancillary business activity.
But Naval Air Station Lemoore in Kings County, the other base under review, was listed as the preferred location in draft environmental impact statement released last month.
Among other things, this DEIS finds that basing the squadron in El Centro could cost some $790 million; while basing the squadron in NAS Lemoore could cost around $242 million.
This last figure includes improvements at NAS Lemoore, as well as certain renovations at NAF El Centro, where the squadron would also train.
But coalition members expressed Wednesday that the DEIS figures and findings may not be as accurate as perceived.
“We think that the numbers that they put out there for infrastructure cost are wrong and slanted and inflated for the problems here at NAF El Centro,” said Marlene Best, coalition member and Imperial city manager.
“They did no analysis of the long-term operational costs. … We think that in a very short number of years they would make up the additional cost of infrastructure and actually save the taxpayers money over the 30-year life of this plane,” she said.
In part, saving would come as land for expansion is cheaper here, the coalition maintains, and in addition, bombing ranges are substantially closer, which would result in fuel savings.
Moreover, Imperial County and its sunny weather would allow maximizing training time while NAS Lemoore has cloudy weather nearly half of the year, according the coalition.
The coalition is expected to make comments on noise impact and the described impact of low-income children the DEIS notes — to name a few.
Meanwhile, the Navy is encouraging the public to attend to today’s meetings and comment on the matter.
“No final decision has yet been made, and at this state of the process, again we are soliciting the public’s input. All of the public comments will be addressed in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, which will be published later on this year,” said Ted Brown, Environmental Public Affairs Officers for U.S. Fleet Forces Command
Brown noted a decision would come after the final report.
The public input is “absolutely a vital part of the process. … The folks in El Centro and the folks in Lemoore are obviously very familiar with the areas in which they live, and they can tell us if there is anything that we might have missed in the document. So yes, we do take the public comments very seriously,” said Brown.
He added that there is no formal presentation today and that instead, the public will have an opportunity to have an informal discussion with experts who’ll be ready to answer questions on the document and the issue.
“They don’t have to show up at 5, they can show up at any time between 5 p.m. and 8 p.m.,” he said, noting comments on the DEIS can also be made also online at www.navyf35cwestcoasteis.com
The comment period ends April 22.
Staff Writer Alejandro Dávila can be reached at 760-337-3445 or adavila@ivpressonline.com
If you go
What — U.S. Navy F-32C West Coast Homebasing Open House
When — 5 p.m. to 8 p.m. today
Where — Southwest High School’s multipurpose room, 2001 Ocotillo Drive, El Centro
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