Pearl Harbor group to make case in D.C. Delegation formed after BRAC inquiry

HONOLULU – A team of military leaders and experts assembled last week by the Hawaii of Chamber of Commerce won’t appear before a base closure panel to testify on the importance of Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard, officials said.

The group, formed last Wednesday, did not have enough time to prepare for Thursday’s hearing in Los Angeles before the Base Realignment and Closure commission, said Jim Tollefson, the chamber’s president and chief executive.

The chamber will now focus on working with congressional leaders, Gov. Linda Lingle and Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann to prepare for a meeting with commissioners in Washington, D.C., next week.

Tollefson said Lingle and Hannemann were going to be in Washington for the Senate discussions on a bill that would grant federal recognition to Native Hawaiians.

The chamber’s military affairs council last week formed a subcommittee to put together Pearl Harbor’s presentation. The members include Maj. Gen. Robert Lee, the state’s adjutant general; retired Adm. Thomas Fargo, a former head of both the U.S. Pacific Command and the U.S. Pacific Fleet at Pearl Harbor; retired Adm. Ron Hays, also a former commander of the Pacific Command; and retired Adm. R.J. Zlatoper, a former commander of the Pacific Fleet.

The business group also hired Defense Conversion Resources, headed by William J. Cassidy Jr., who served as deputy assistant secretary of the Navy for conversion and redevelopment from 1994 to 2001, Tollefson said.

Cassidy handled issues for the Navy arising out of the closing of Navy and Marine Corps bases in four previous rounds of closures.

“He is very familiar with Hawaii,” Tollefson said. “He is very well known and very well regarded in these matters and very experienced.”

Hawaii’s group was formed just days after the head of the commission asked Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld in a July 1 letter to explain why the Pentagon left the Pearl Harbor shipyard off the list released in May, instead recommending the closure of the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine.

The base closure commission will hold a hearing on July 19 in Washington to decide whether bases including Pearl Harbor should be added to the hit list. Seven of the nine commissioners would have to vote to add a base, and public hearings and base visits would follow.

The panel has until Sept. 8 to prepare a final list of base closings for President Bush to review.