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Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the Feb. 27, 1997
issue of Workers World newspaper
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Navy eyes Pearl Harbor berth for giant carriers

By Andre Hall in Honolulu

The U.S. Navy is pushing a plan to homeport three nuclear-powered Nimitz-class aircraft carriers at Pearl Harbor on the island of O`ahu. Not since World War II has an aircraft carrier been permanently berthed in Hawai`i.

The Department of the Navy, in accordance with the National Environmental Policy Act, has contracted the Science Application International Corp. to draft an Environmental Impact Statement. The EIS will determine whether or not it is "environmentally and logistically feasible" to berth the carriers here.

Each carrier is capable of carrying 70 aircraft and a crew of 3,500 military personnel. In addition, about 4,000 to 7,000 dependents of the crew would need housing, which is in short supply at Pearl Harbor.

Opponents of a continued U.S. military presence here also question the environmental impact that two or three carriers would have on the already polluted bay of Pearl Harbor.

The Pacific Fleet today consists of three such carriers- the USS Nimitz, USS Carl Vinson and USS Abraham Lincoln. It is proposed that Pearl Harbor be the homeport for the Nimitz, the Lincoln, and the USS Ronald Reagan, now under construction. They would be deployed here in 2001.

Pearl Harbor can accommodate deep-draft ships. There are also strategic and economic reasons-having to do with the expansion of U.S. military hegemony-why this harbor is preferred. Ships based in Hawai`i rather than the mainland can shorten their travel time to the Asian mainland by at least three days.

U.S. occupation forces control the air, sea and land base of nations such as Hawai`i, Guam, Japan, Okinawa and south Korea. In south Korea, for example, 40,000 U.S. troops poised against north Korea have been under the U.S. General Command since 1945. The Pentagon is able to dictate its will by direct and/or indirect means.

One-third of U.S. foreign trade is now in the Asia-Pacific region. The World Bank and International Monetary Fund, dominated by U.S. financial interests, shape lending and development to suit their goals.

The U.S. military is the second-biggest employer in Hawai`i, after tourism. More than 55,000 active-duty military personnel are stationed here.

The military nerve center is the U.S. Pacific Command, located at Camp H.M. Smith near Pearl Harbor. The senior U.S. military officer in the Pacific, Adm. Joseph W. Prueher, is responsible for military operations covering 100 million square miles-roughly half the Earth's surface.

Opposition mounts

The Hawaiian community is deeply concerned about the military presence. But a public meeting on Feb. 6 at Leeward Community College to question the homeport plan was small. There had been little publicity.

It seemed the military, which sent Capt. Tad Chamberlain of the Pacific Fleet Naval Air Force to present its case, meant it to be sparsely attended.

Of the 47 people who showed up, 11 spoke out against the carriers and the continued military occupation of Hawai`i. Four spoke in favor.

Kyle Kajihiro of the American Friends Service Committee said Hawai`i residents oppose nuclear power and its expansion, especially into populated areas like Pearl Harbor. Marlon Kelly, a cultural anthropologist at the University of Hawai`i, said the harbor is one of the most polluted bay areas in the world.

He asked if the Navy is refueling nuclear submarines here.

Chamberlain refused to respond.

Kelly said nuclear fuel is in fact stored at various locations on O`ahu for nuclear submarine use and the Navy continues to unload nuclear materials, even though it won't confirm or deny it.

The draft of the environmental impact statement will be available for public review and response for 45 days in the fall of 1997. Then the Naval Facilities Engineering Command in San Diego, Calif., will finalize the EIS for public comment in early 1998. The EIS will be sent to the secretary of the Navy for review. A final decision will be made in the spring of 1998.

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