Posted on 03/12/2003 4:13:40 PM PST by 4Freedom
Three engineers who work for the Navy predicted Tuesday that the Naval Station Roosevelt Roads in Ceiba will be shut down entirely.
Three instrumentation engineers - Juan Lugo, Angel Ramos and Miguel Sierra - disagreed with Vieques Commissioner Juan Fernandez and Ceiba Mayor Antonio Cruz, who maintained the base will not be shut down because the Navy is investing money to restore and purchase equipment for the facility.
The three who work with the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility, a Navy division whose main function is to provide Navy training, were notified that as of Sept. 30, they will no longer have jobs when the AFWTF shuts down. The dismantling of operations began Monday.
The shutdown of AFWTF, which has long been known, stems from the closing of the target range in Vieques. The engineers said the AFWTF comprises only 20 percent of the operations at the base.
The closing of those functions has led to conflicting information about whether the base as a whole will shutdown. After certifying the Navy will officially leave the Vieques range in May, Adm. Robert Natter, chief of the Atlantic Fleet, recommended Roosevelt Roads be shut down entirely. Nevertheless, the shutdown won't be contemplated at least until Congress takes up a new round of base closings in 2005.
Navy officials at Roosevelt Roads could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Testifying before the House Labor Committee, Ramos pointed out Tuesday the other operations that could still go on at the base, noting the base has a training facility in St. Croix which has underwater microphones which would be difficult to move.
It also has over 200,000 square feet in sea and air space for training that supports maneuvers.
"These are geographic installations that are here...Right now they are conducting studies to find out how they can do these maneuvers in the East Coast of the United States and are having a difficult time," he said.
He said that along the East Coast, ships must either go too close to the coast, which would pose safety hazards, or go out to the sea where they don't have the instrumentation system to detect.
The three engineers told lawmakers Tuesday that the closing of the base has occurred rapidly.
Lugo said that Natter began the first phase of the closing Sunday, which entails the dismantling of equipment to operate AFWTF.
By Sept. 30, two main base commands - one that trains the Atlantic Fleet and the VC-8, which provides support - will be eliminated. He said federal employees have already been told they would be laid off as of Sept. 30. Another agency, the Naval Southern Command, has begun to move operations to the United States, they said.
They estimated that as of Sept. 30, 350 civilian and 470 military jobs will be lost.
The second stage of the shutdown entails notifying 22 federal and state agencies to move to other facilities by 2005. That will lead to phase 3, which consists of the shutdown of base schools, a hospital and the PX, they said.
At the end of the shutdown, around 4,000 jobs will be lost in Puerto Rico, Lugo said. The U.S. Virgin Islands also faces losses in contracts.
In addition, Lugo said, the Navy will likely place the base under a caretaker status instead of handing over the land and facilities to Puerto Rico.
"That means the Navy will keep a minimum of facilities and operations just in case it decides to reopen the base," he said.
Ana Angelet Frau, head of the American Federation of Government Workers, agreed with Lugo's statements. She said the possible closure could also result in the dismantling of operations at other Caribbean facilities, and will cost $400 million in taxpayer money.
Frau said the government will also face the loss of an airline radar located at Pico del Este.
"This radar is used to guide air traffic 60 miles away from Puerto Rico, a distance that cannot be covered by the control tower in Isla Verde," she said, adding that "the virtual destruction of this radar will be a blow to airline travel and cause delays."
The Puerto Ricans have all kinds of fancy plans for that property, if they can get it.
That's a big 'if'. The Navy and the Congress don't want to give it to them and they can't just take it.
Puerto Rico: Turnover of Roosevelt Roads would be boon for island, investor says
They even want the U.S. Taxpayers to pay for a $550 million dollar bridge between Vieques and Ceiba.
They're nuts.
There always seems to a lot of construction right before bases close. Go figure.
They could care less about the needs of our servicemen and women.
Oh no, of course it's not.
The Army will save $150 million in construction costs at Fort Buchanan, PR.
You lose again Puerto Rico! The Army will spend that money in Texas!
Es Stupido!
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