Pentagon Targets Tustin Base, but Marines in El Toro Spared : Closure: Helicopter fliers and crews would be sent to Twentynine Palms east of San Bernardino. Seal Beach expansion would not be affected.

TUSTIN —  With little warning to local military and community leaders, Defense Secretary Dick Cheney recommended Friday that Tustin Marine Corps Air Station be shut down and the 3,500 Marines and 125 cargo helicopters stationed there be sent to Twentynine Palms, a sprawling desert base east of San Bernardino.

Across the United States, 30 other bases were proposed for closure by Cheney, who cited a shrinking military force and declining defense budgets.

Although the list touched off an expected storm of criticism from lawmakers elsewhere, the closure of the Tustin facility seemed to be accepted by officials here.

“I’m not sure if it’s catastrophic,” said Rep. Christopher Cox (R-Newport Beach), whose district includes the Tustin base. “Employment may or may not be affected. The surrounding communities may find themselves economically better off. Right now there’s an enormous dead-weight loss from this enormously valuable land.”

Irvine City Councilwoman Paula Werner added: “If it does close, I think it will be seen as positive for the residents who’ve endured the helicopter overflights over the years. But the larger question of disposition and use of that land must be dealt with.”

Cheney’s proposed list includes several other California installations, including Long Beach Naval Station, Ft. Ord in Monterey, Castle Air Force Base in Merced and the Navy’s Moffett Field in Mountain View.

In all, 11 California facilities would close, resulting in the net loss of nearly 27,000 military and civilian jobs and thousands of additional jobs in retail and service businesses in the affected communities, officials said.

Cheney stoutly defended his recommendations, saying that over the next five years the U.S. military would shrink by 25%--roughly 500,000 men and women--and that he could not justify keeping open all of the nation’s 495 major military posts.

If the current list is accepted, 47 major bases will be closed by 1997, nearly 10% of the nation’s total. The figure includes the 31 closings recommended by Cheney on Friday and 16 bases to be shuttered under legislation approved in 1989.

“Smaller forces need fewer bases. It’s as simple as that,” the secretary said at a Pentagon press conference.

“If we leave base closing up to the communities affected or to the members of Congress affected, there won’t be any bases closed,” he said. “I get paid to make these kinds of decisions.”

Although the timetable for the closures calls for a decision by this summer, it could take up to six years to close the Tustin facility and complete the move.

Nevertheless, officials indicated Friday that there was little likelihood that Tustin would remain open.

“They asked us what we would give up, and we told them,” a high-ranking Marine said in Washington. “It’s a done deal.”

The high commercial value and the declining military usefulness of the 1,600-acre base put it high on the list for extinction. The Tustin base and the larger one in El Toro, which is not on the closing list, together pump about $425 million a year into the county’s economy.

Tustin base officials said in a prepared statement: “We recognize that closing and realigning bases will have an impact on nearby communities. However, the national security as a whole will benefit from more efficient and economic operations.”

Cheney proposed closing 31 major bases and 12 minor facilities and reducing manpower at 28 others. The actions would involve substantial short-term costs for relocation and environmental restoration but would save the Pentagon about $850 million over the next five years and $1.7 billion a year after that.

The Pentagon has already begun to close 86 domestic installations and 198 foreign bases under previous consolidation efforts. A plan presented last year to close 55 more U.S. bases--including many of the same posts on Friday’s list--collapsed last fall in a hail of partisan recriminations. Congress then created an independent commission to review the Pentagon’s proposal and forward its recommendations to the White House and Congress.

California’s two senators questioned the rationale behind shuttering facilities in the state and vowed to challenge the recommendations before an eight-member panel created to review the Pentagon’s list.

While agreeing that some unnecessary bases should be closed, Democratic Sen. Alan Cranston expressed concern that the Bush Administration might be targeting bases in Democrat-controlled areas.

“I will be urging the newly formed base closure commission to review these recommendations thoroughly and without prejudice,” Cranston said in a statement.

California’s new GOP senator, John Seymour, formerly a state senator from Anaheim, said he will challenge the closing of Ft. Ord and urge the commission to conduct a public hearing in Monterey on the proposal.

The Army, citing the high cost of property and the limited training room in Monterey, plans to transfer the 7th Division to Ft. Lewis, Wash.

“Let me assure everyone that we’ve been extremely careful to make certain that there has been no political ‘spin,’ if you will, involved in this effort,” Cheney said about how sites were chosen. “The last time we came up with a list of potential bases for closure, there were some comments on Capitol Hill that somehow we’d done a political number on my friends on the other side of the aisle. That was not true then; it’s certainly not true today, either.”

He said affected California districts are represented by both Democrats and Republicans and noted that both Seymour and Gov. Pete Wilson are Republicans.

Among other major facilities recommended for closing are Ft. McClellan, Ala.; Ft. Chaffee, Ark.; Lowry Air Force Base, Colo.; the Naval Training Center at Orlando, Fla.; Moody Air Force Base, Ga.; Ft. Benjamin Harrison and Grissom Air Force Base, Ind.; England Air Force Base, La.; Loring Air Force Base, Me.; Ft. Devens, Mass.; Wurtsmith Air Force Base, Mich.; Philadelphia Naval Station, Pa.; Myrtle Beach Air Force Base, S.C.; Bergstrom and Carswell Air Force bases in Texas, and the Naval Air Station at Whidbey Island, Wash.

Rep. Les Aspin (D-Wis.), chairman of the House Armed Services Committee, predicted that Cheney’s current list would survive the process virtually unscathed.

“This one is not so bad,” Aspin said. “Nineteen bases are in Democratic districts, 14 are in Republican districts and one of them is a split district.”

Aspin predicted that Congress, after a suitable interval of hand-wringing, would buy the new list.

“The odds are that the vote will be yes,” because the number of lawmakers unhappy with the list will be offset by those who are relieved that their bases did not get axed and who recognize the need to cut defense spending, he said.

Opened as a blimp base in 1942, the Tustin base was decommissioned on June 5, 1949, but reactivated on May 1, 1951, with the outbreak of the Korean War. It then became home for squadrons of helicopters.

Two hangars there left over from the days of blimps are considered the largest unsupported wooden structures in the world and are designated national landmarks. The Marines recently spent $11 million to put new roofs on the hangars. One official said the hangars cost millions of dollars to maintain.

Military officials said Tustin’s housing and other facilities--such as bowling alleys, a chapel and a military exchange--will not be razed but will be used by troops stationed at the nearby El Toro base.

Many of the helicopters stationed at the Tustin base were deployed to the Mideast during the Gulf War and remain there waiting to be shipped back to the United States. The pilots and crews of the CH-53E Super Stallions, CH-53D Sea Stallions and the CH-46 Sea Knights were praised by Marine Maj. Gen. Royal N. Moore Jr., the commanding general of the 3rd Air Wing, for the job they did during the conflict.

The helicopters were responsible for moving men and equipment into the front lines and were there when Marine infantrymen battled their way into Kuwait on their way to Kuwait city.

Rep. Robert K. Dornan (R-Garden Grove) said bluntly: “I’m not going to quarrel with the Marine Corps. If they’re ready to give up the Tustin facility, who am I to tell them you ought to keep it?”

But Christine Shingleton, assistant city manager of Tustin, lamented that the base could close.

“We have a very positive relationship with the base,” she said. “Some months ago, we formally endorsed the existence of the base in a letter we sent to the secretary of defense. We said we supported it as long as the Marines wanted to operate it.”

If vacated, the air base would become the largest parcel of open space in the central, urbanized part of the county.

Safety and noise issues have long plagued the base. In the middle and late 1980s, a series of helicopter accidents prompted officials of surrounding cities to try to prohibit overflights of the Super Stallion, a copter capable of lifting 16 tons.

Although no helicopter has ever crashed into a county home, a CH-53 and a CH-46 collided and burned over the base in 1982, killing six Marines and seriously injuring a seventh.

Besides the safety issue, residents of Irvine, Newport Beach and other coastal cities have long complained about the “whopping” sounds of the big helicopters as they fly between Tustin and Camp Pendleton.

There was confusion Friday about whether some helicopters from Tustin might end up at Camp Pendleton. One Marine release said they would be part of “composite squadrons,” mixing the bigger helicopters from Tustin with smaller copters from Camp Pendleton.

A Pentagon report on Tustin said the “anticipated land value” of the base is $500 million, with an estimated cost of $600 million for the relocation of the Marines to Twentynine Palms.

“It has been a very viable base, very active and very busy,” Tustin Mayor Richard B. Edgar said. “I would expect that with the terrific investment in housing that the military has there, that they will not sell the housing.”

Tustin Councilman Earl J. Prescott said personnel from the base “are a very integral part of our economy here, and if the place were to close down completely, it would have a definite impact on the city. They spend millions and millions of dollars here. They are the city’s largest employer, and they have the city’s largest payroll, and all that money is recycled here.”

But Irvine City Manager Paul O. Brady Jr. said his city has asked for years that the base be closed. He said because of the flight corridors used by the helicopters, Irvine is affected by their noise more than Tustin. He said residents also have concerns about safety.

A planned $200-million expansion of the Navy weapons depot in Seal Beach will not be affected by Friday’s announcement of recommended closures and cutbacks, officials said.

Frank reported from Tustin and Broder from Washington. Times staff writers Robert W. Stewart, in Washington and Tammerlin Drummond, Nancy Wride and Danny Sullivan and correspondent Shannon Sands in Orange County contributed to this report.

Targeted Closures in California

Defense Secretary Dick Cheney has proposed shutting 31 major military bases nationally. Here is a look at the 11 California facilities that may be closed. Hunters Point Annex Area: 515 acres Function: Dry docks for ship building and repair Personnel: 6 active duty and 18 civilians Commissioned: 1941, annexed to Treasure Island in 1987 Moffett Field Naval Air Station Area: 2,000 acres Function: Headquarters of the Commander Patrol Wings Pacific Fleet Personnel: 5,500 active duty and 2,500 dependents and 1,400 civilians employees Commissioned: 1933 Fort Ord Area: 28,057 acres Based here: 7th Infantry Division Personnel: 15,000 active duty and 7,000 civilian employees Commissioned: 1940 Sacramento Army Depot Area: 485 acres Function: Electronics repair facility Personnel: 500 active duty and 3,200 civilian employees Commissioned: 1946 Castle Air Force Base Area: 3,257 acres Based here: 93rd Bombardment Wing Personnel: 5,000 active duty with 13,000 dependents and 1,261 civilian employees Commissioned: 1941 Long Beach Naval Station

Area: 263 acres Based here: 38 ships Personnel: 16,000 active duty and 936 civilian employees Commissioned: 1942 Tustin Marine Corps Air Station Area: 1,600 acres Based here: Marine Aircraft Group (MAG)-16 Personnel: 3,500 active duty and 150 civilian employees Commissioned: 1943 Minor Facilities: Naval Space Systems Activity, Los Angeles. Naval Electronic Systems Engineering Center, Vallejo Integrated Combat Systems Test Facility, San Diego Naval Electronic Systems Engineering Center, San Diego

Source: Department of Defense and military installations.

Compiled by Times editorial researcher Michael Meyers