Congressman: El Toro plan will not work

Paul Clinton

NEWPORT BEACH -- A local congressman’s denunciation of Orange County’s

airport plan for the closed El Toro Marine Corps Air Station stunned city

leaders on the eve of an expected approval by county supervisors.

Newport Beach Councilman Dennis O’Neil said he was surprised Rep.

Chris Cox described the county’s plan as unacceptable.

Cox made the comment after receiving additional data from the Federal

Aviation Administration, said Paul Wilkinson, the representative’s chief

of staff.

The new data shows each flight heading into John Wayne and Long Beach

airports would be delayed about 15 minutes to accommodate a single

departing jet from an El Toro airport.

“Fifteen minutes when you’re traveling is irrelevant,� O’Neil said.

“Delays in the range of 15 minutes are not unreasonable or unexpected.�

O’Neil said he hoped to discuss the matter with Cox, who could not be

reached Monday for comment.

At its meeting today, the Orange County Board of Supervisors is

expected to grant final approval to the airport project.

A majority of supervisors have endorsed an airport for the closed

base, including Newport-Mesa representative Jim Silva.

Historically, Cox has advocated the base be used for whatever the free

market dictates, even if that includes selling it off in parcels to

developers. He has not, up until now, given a thumbs up or thumbs down to

the county’s airport project.

“Cox has now officially come out against [an airport at] El Toro,�

said Dave Ellis, the spokesman for the Airport Working Group.

As the fifth-highest ranking member of the House, Cox could prove to

be a powerful adversary for airport boosters. But that crowd has a

powerful ally of its own in Congress.

In a Friday letter to Supervisor Cynthia Coad, Rep. John Mica

(R-Florida), the chairman of the House Aviation Subcommittee, praised the

airport as “ideal for meeting the future air transportation requirements

of your region and our nation.�

Mica also pledged to work with the FAA to redesign the airspace over

Southern California.

In an FAA report released Oct. 9, the agency concluded the county’s

airport for El Toro would be safe but not the most efficient use of

airspace.

After information in the 19-page report conflicted with supplemental

documents, Cox asked for further clarification and data.

The FAA provided Cox, on Saturday, with more in-depth analysis of the

delays that could be caused by an El Toro airport.

The data, eight pages of copies of briefing slides, provided

information on delays for five sizes of airports -- ranging from 2

million to 28.8 million passengers a year.

Delays range anywhere from 14 to 16.5 minutes for arrivals into John

Wayne and Long Beach airports, the data show.

South County spokeswoman Meg Waters said the new data show that an El

Toro airport would gridlock an already congested system.

Waters also said El Toro could not work in concert with John Wayne.

“Ultimately, you have to shut down John Wayne,� Waters said. “You

can’t operate these airports side by side.�

* Paul Clinton covers the environment and John Wayne Airport. He may

be reached at (949) 764-4330 or by e-mail ato7

[email protected] .