Six residents trickled into the Coronado Public Library Jan. 31 to gain a better understanding of the U.S. Navy’s plans for the Southern California Range Complex, an offshore area that extends close to 700 miles southwest into the Pacific Ocean.
The Navy used the open house session to gather public comment about a project that will ensure levels of military readiness through extensive training exercises in the region with advanced-technology equipment and weaponry. An environmental impact statement (EIS) will then be issued under the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA).
“The Navy is doing a comprehensive analysis of its offshore training for the first time,” said Alex Stone, a Navy projects manager, explaining the Navy has used the region for training for the last 70 years. “Most of what we are trying to analyze is the ongoing activities, but we will also be looking at some new changes. Technology is always evolving.”
A draft EIS is scheduled to be released for public review by late 2007 and will address both environmental and safety aspects of the Navy’s operations in the 180,000-square-mile region.
An array of plants, marine and land mammals and cultural resources such as Indian artifacts exist within the boundaries of the Southern California complex, which includes San Clemente Island.
The Navy trains its personnel to preserve nature during all operations and makes an effort to coexist with the 35 species that are found in the area, according to Stone.
Navy wildlife biologist Kelly Brock provided information at the open house on 11 types of endangered species that exist on San Clemente Island and stressed the importance for Navy officials to comply with the Marine Mammal Protection Act and the Endangered Species Act.
“We work very closely with the National Fish and Wildlife Service, and all programs are developed according to the conditions of the area,” she said.
Another concern with operations around San Clemente Island is the safety of civilians who use the area for recreational purposes such as boating, scuba diving and snorkeling.
Many of the Navy’s dangerous exercises, such as bombing, are executed near the more desolate southern tip of the island, according to Robert Tahimic, the Navy’s Southern California island operations manager.
Policy requires the Navy to immediately alert the public of any exercises that pose potential threats to the safety of civilians and post land or water closures on a Web site.
“We try to minimize the area and time used and are sensitive to the public usage, for example, trying to keep weekend closures to a minimum,” Tahimic said. “Certain areas are closed almost daily and certain places are almost always never closed to the public.”
Underwater instrumentation, a special kind of radar used to track submarine and underwater watercraft, will be expanded to shallow areas of the ocean surrounding San Clemente Island, Tahimic said.
A 1,000-pound precision-guided glide bomb, called a joint standoff weapon, is an example of new equipment that is now being used in the region and will be analyzed in the EIS.
A high-speed self-deploying expeditionary fighting vehicle, used to transport Marines from ships to the mainland, will be tested at Camp Pendleton and accessed for training in 2010.
Navy training in the region includes a combination of old and new equipment and also combines expeditionary and carrier strike groups from Hawaii and the Pacific Northwest as well as Southern California, according to Stone.
The overall analysis of the Southern California complex is part of a larger analysis of all Navy training areas, including areas of the Atlantic.
Residents can offer comments on the EIS at three additional meetings, which will be held after the draft and final EIS are released, according to Diore Kreske, a U.S. Navy senior environmental planner and EIS manager.
Public outreach is an important part of the process to the Navy because it wants residents to understand what is happening in its training areas, Kreske said.
“Technology changes and the types of threats evolve and change, and we have to respond,” she said. “We are making changes in the training tempo. It could be a major operation that lasts days or a minor one that lasts hours. But the public has the right to know.”
For more information about Navy projects or the EIS process, visit www.socalrangecomplexeis. com.