|
Air Base Debates
If disposing of old lighthouses is relatively easy, not so when it comes to the hottest-ticket government properties: former military air bases in the coastal zone, where pollution, economic prospects and environmental vulnerabilities all run high. This summer politicians, commercial developers and environmentalists were squaring off in heated discussion about the future of many such places. Examples: Homestead Air Force Base in south Florida and the former Naval Air Station at Quonset Point, Rhode Island.
Sandwiched between the Everglades and the Biscayne Bay National Parks, not far from the badly stressed Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary, Homestead was once an anchor for the south Miami-Dade County economy. After Hurricane Andrew battered the base and its surroundings in 1992, federal authorities announced that its "fast-track" conversion to civilian control and redevelopment would serve as a national model.
In 1994 the Air Force, having cut back its own use of the base to a single reserve wing, completed the environmental impact statement (EIS) required for the transfer. But local environmentalists including Barbara Lange, now representing the Sierra Club Miami Group, noted that the EIS assumed a facility far smaller than that proposed by Homestead Air Base Developers, Inc. (HABDI), a private company selected by Miami-Dade County—without initiating a competitive bidding process—to plan and manage the redevelopment. It seeks to operate a full-fledged commercial airport on the premises. Soon came calls for a Supplementary Environmental Impact Statement (SEIS) to consider all issues relating to this larger project.
With frustration mounting on all sides and many politicians keen to deliver something to the hard-pressed citizens of the town of Homestead, federal authorities might have been tempted to let HABDI move forward despite the glaring discrepancy between White House support for Everglades restoration and the prospect of environmental harm from an expanded airport. After a six-month review of the original EIS, however, the Clinton Administration announced last December that the supplemental would be needed before the transfer could take place. A draft is expected by the end of this year or early in 1999.
In June Miami-Dade County commissioners responded, approving the HABDI blueprint by a 7-4 vote. A unanimous vote by the Florida Cabinet showed equal resolve to get Homestead moving. But environmentalists have already challenged these decisions under Florida law. Further litigation under the National Environmental Policy Act is also in prospect, warns attorney Sarah Chasis of the Natural Resources Defense Council, if the SEIS shows weaknesses or if the terms of the Air Force turnover fail to provide adequate protection for the surrounding parklands.
On the western shore of Narragansett Bay, Quonset Point has become a civilian airport managed by the state. Responsibility for the further development of the choice site, which also includes a former Seabee base at adjacent Davisville, lies in the hands of Rhode Island's Economic Development Corporation (EDC), which hired a private company to create the Quonset Davisville Port and Commerce Park. In 1996 state voters approved a $72 million bond issue to support infrastructure for the redevelopment, of which $22 million (plus a $25 million federal matching grant) was allocated toward creating a three-pier deepwater "megaport" for container ships and other large vessels. Building this facility, says the EDC Master Plan, would require filling in 515 acres of already congested Narragansett Bay and dredging 25 million cubic yards of sediment.
Environmentalists question the port project's likely effects on the Bay's marine resources, commercial and sport fishing, and vigorous tourism and recreation economy. Early this year wires burned. Citizen meetings were held. In May the state pulled back, announcing a collaborative, multi-disciplinary "stakeholder process " led by the attorney Michael Keating, a former president of Save the Bay and an experienced facilitator, to review the plans for the port. Monthly discussions involving some 60 "stakeholders" are expected to last at least until the end of the year. Stephanie Pollack, senior attorney at the Boston-based Conservation Law Foundation (CLF), which has formed a partnership with Save the Bay around the megaport issue, applauded the state's move. "CLF is not afraid of confrontation," she said. "But we prefer collaboration."
The formal public comment period on the scoping process for the Homestead SEIS has expired. Still, we are told it would do no harm for citizens to express views to M.J. Jadick, Homestead Supplemental Environmental Impact Statement, 1700 North Moore Street, Suite 2300, Arlington, VA 22209. Letters may also be sent to Kathleen McGinty, Chair, White House Council on Environmental Quality, 722 Jackson Place, NW, Washington, DC 20503. Opinions on the Quonset issue can be directed to Rhode Island Governor Lincoln Almond at 222 State House, Providence, RI 02903; to the Economic Development Commission's Executive Director John Swen at One West Exchange Street, Providence, RI 02903, or George Prete, general manager of EDC's Quonset-Davisville Division at 1330 Davisville Road, North Kingstown, RI 02852. |
