Port Accused of Pushing for Naval Base’s Closure

Jockeying over jobs-rich Naval Base Ventura County reached a fever pitch Tuesday, with the Board of Supervisors condemning what it says are behind-the-scenes efforts to have the base added to the Pentagon’s closure list, while operators of an adjacent port say they are simply exploring expansion opportunities.

Ventura County supervisors voted unanimously to ask port commissioners to “cease and desist” efforts to expand business at the Port of Hueneme, saying their efforts make it harder to keep the base off a list of military installations that the Pentagon is considering shutting down.

The Pentagon is expected to make recommendations on the closures in mid-May.

One supervisor accused port commissioners of trying to get the base on the list so they can acquire wharves and land needed to expand a small but growing enterprise on the only deep-water port between Los Angeles and San Francisco.

“They are trying to deep-six our base and all of our efforts to protect it,” Supervisor Judy Mikels said.

Commissioner Raymond Fosse said the Oxnard Harbor District, which operates the port, does not want to see the base closed and has taken no actions to that end. However, for the last year, the port has been seeking Pentagon approval of a proposal to share the use of three wharves now controlled by the military, as well as land at the base that Fosse says is vacant.

Business at the port has boomed over the last decade as commissioners marketed it to auto manufacturers and fruit suppliers.

Flush with cash, the harbor district would pay to upgrade the aging wharves and use them for commercial trade when they were not needed for military operations, Fosse said.

If the proposal is approved by the Pentagon, port commissioners would gain control of about 650 acres of land on the Navy-operated portion of the harbor.