N.H. mayor seeks help for shipyard

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. – Mayor Evelyn Sirrell is asking 49 New Hampshire and Maine communities to support the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard, saying she worries her city will collapse if the yard is closed.

Sirrell said she remembers boarded-up windows in Portsmouth’s downtown when Pease Air Force Base closed. She said she fears devastation would overrun Portsmouth and surrounding communities if the shipyard closes, putting 4,597 people out of work.

She sent letters to the 49 cities and towns, asking them to help keep the yard open during the next round of base closures, and has received responses from some supporting the yard verbally, but not financially.

“I can see [where] they are coming from,” Sirrell said. “A lot of smaller towns are on a fixed budget this year and couldn’t give anything at this time.”

Maine donated $50,000 to the Seacoast Shipyard Association, the lobbying group formed to fight for the yard. Gov. Craig Benson pledged to ask New Hampshire’s Executive Council to match Maine’s contribution, but the item has yet to appear on the council agenda.

The Town Council in Kittery, Maine, has pledged its annual $1,500 to the association. Greenland has sent a check and other communities have begun discussing financial support through their budget process.

Sirrell said she worries many are unaware of the shipyard’s impact in the region.

According to the association, the lobbying group formed to support the yard, the region benefited from $283.8 million in civilian salaries in 2003.

Dale Gerry, a former deputy assistant secretary of the Navy, now lobbies for the yard in Washington, D.C. He said the association has $77,932 on hand.

“If we are placed on the review list, the money will come out of the woodwork,” she said. “But at that point, it’s fatal.”