Seacoast Needs to Plan for Loss of Navy Ship Yard

listen:

Every day, seven days a week, this sound is heard for miles around the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.

(Shipyard horn) :10

That horn alerts thousands of employees at the yard that there’s a shift change.

And it triggers a mass entrance and exodus to and from the gates of the over 200 year old shipyard.

John Joyal of Somersworth has spent his entire career, over 28 years, working here.

And he’s clearly proud of the work that he does.

(Joyal) :09

“This is about the security and the vitality of the United States government and our entire country. I mean our submarine forces depend on the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard.”

But Joyal's future and those of some 4600 other civilian and military workers at the yard is now in question.

The Department of Defense is preparing for another round of base downsizing and outright closures.

Joyal has lived through four of these already.

He watched as eight public navy yards were reduced to four.

The Portsmouth facility became one of just two left on the east coast.

What if, this time, the yard, and his job doesn’t survive?

(Joyal 2) :15

“Well, 25 years and my age, I will probably be offered some kind of early retirement program or something where I can collect some of my pension. I’m still really young, but I’ve got talents in other things I can do to move on.”

But he also concedes that others at the Yard won’t be so lucky.

They will have to find jobs elsewhere.

And while Joyal says that he’s optimistic about the yard’s future, a former Commander there, Captain William McDonough isn’t so sure.

McDonough has been an active supporter and lobbyist for the yard's future since he retired.

But for him, the future is bleak.

(McDonough 1) :21

“Despite the fact, the acknowledged fact that we are leading the pack in time, cost, performance and efficiency, the fact of the matter is that if the Secretary of Defense makes a decision that he’s going to reduce that Naval Shipyard component, of the Defense Department, he looks at the four shipyards.”

McDonough says that the other three surviving public yards seem less likely to be closed…

Pearl Harbor is attractive because it's in the middle of the Pacific and more Navy ships are being moved there.

Washington State's Puget Sound can handle nuclear vessels.

And Norfolk Virginia is the homeport of the massive Atlantic Fleet.

If the Portsmouth Navy Yard does close, McDonough says that the impact on the Seacoast Region will be substantial.

He predicts it will be far worse than the 1991 closing of Pease Air Force Base.

(McDonough 2) :26

“Its not like Pease. Pease was five thousand and some acres. There’s all kinds of space available. We have many of the features Pease has. We have a good infrastructure around here…Access to the yard and all that, by rail and by water, and all, but we only have 276 acres I think it is.”

And McDonough says that the highly skilled, highly paid civilian workers would find it difficult to get new jobs in the local economy.

McDonough 3) :10

“You wind up with a mature work force of people that have got several years invested in it. They’re a part of their communities, they have families here, and suddenly they’re out of work.”

At 3 thousand usable acres, the former air base does dwarf the area used by the Portsmouth Navy Yard.

And Pease Development Authority Executive Director George Bald says that he thinks some thought should be given to a possible future without the yard.

(Bald) :26

“It’s always generally a good idea to look at where you’re going and to anticipate some weaknesses and threats, and this is certainly a threat to the Navy Yard. So that for the communities, and when I say communities I mean Southern Maine and Southern New Hampshire, it is important to look at that issue. It doesn’t mean that you’re giving up on making that effort.”

In the case of Pease, there was no drawn out base closure and review process, it was simply and suddenly closed.

In fact it was the nation's first military installation to be shut down after the Cold War ended and hundreds of jobs were instantly lost.

(Bald 2) :08

“Once the announcement, then they started the planning process, getting a little bit of a jump on that would have been a real help.”

But Bald says the now Pease International Tradeport, has been able to replace many of the lost jobs through new manufacturing, educational and high tech businesses.

He adds that some kind of commission, like the body that eventually became the Pease Development Authority, could he useful if the Navy Yard is closed.

The State of Maine would have jurisdiction, however, since the base is legally in that state.

In Maine, Dennis Estes is another strong advocate of planning for the future.

He is a long time resident, former Town Council member, and a supporter of commercial development.

(Estes) :13

“I think the Town of Kittery, I think Southern Maine and I think the State as a whole has to be ready with an alternative plan based on the what-ifs, because we don’t know what’s happening in Washington.”

And Estes says that he thinks that the deep water port at the Yard could be attractive to any future ship building or related industry.

(Estes 2) :14

“We’ve got Bath Iron Works just up the road. This is a great facility. You’ve got things in place that a facility like the Bath Iron Works could utilize. We’ve got the expertise down there that are basically the same kind of people that they use up there.”

The Kittery Town Council has recently voted to apply for Federal funds to support any planning that needs to be done if the facility is closed.

Greater Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce members, meanwhile, are hoping that never happens.

But President Dick Ingram declines to characterize his business members as worried.

(Ingram) :18 (27)

“I wouldn’t use the term worried…We’re aware. We understand what the impact would be. We’re mobilizing to support . And when you are the best at what you do, which the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard is without dispute, the business that is the best gets more work, not less.”

That is, Unless, in the Secretary of Defense’s judgment, the work isn’t needed.

That decision, is expected by Mid May.

In the words of Shipyard supporter William McDonough, “If you’re on that closure list, you’re dead.”

For NHPR News, this is Roger Wood