New carrier berth part of Guam expansion - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

New carrier berth part of Guam expansion

SAN DIEGO — Navy officials want to build a deep-draft wharf in Guam’s main harbor that would better accommodate nuclear-powered aircraft carriers when they visit.

The new berth at Polaris Point, on the eastern side of Apra Harbor, is part of the military’s plan to expand naval waterfront facilities, build expeditionary training ranges on the nearby island of Tinian and house a large military force, including 8,600 Marines who will shift to Guam from Okinawa.

Navy officials outlined the plans in a draft environmental impact statement that analyzes the environmental effects of the planned military buildup in the island archipelago. Officials studied 16 sites around Apra, Guam’s seaport along the central-western coast.

The final EIS will be completed by summer after a series of public hearings in the Mariana Islands in January.

The berth, plus associated pierside support, would allow a carrier to spend more days in port in Guam, where the military is bolstering its forces in the western Pacific region. The Navy wants to support a carrier as many as 63 “visit days” each year, a jump from the average of 16 days at the existing Kilo Wharf. The existing pier can support carriers, but not for extended periods.

Officials chose Polaris Point to be the carrier wharf, with the nearby former ship repair facility as the main alternate site. The 1,325-foot wharf would be built of steel or concrete pile.

The Navy’s plans don’t include a carrier maintenance facility, and no refueling of the ship’s nuclear reactors would be done in the harbor.

“Aircraft carrier maintenance and repairs would not be done on Guam,” the report states. However, repair teams would travel to Guam for unscheduled, emergent repairs or emergency maintenance when needed.

The plans are part of a broader expansion of military forces in the Mariana Islands, including:

• The shift of 8,600 Marines with III Marine Expeditionary Force and 9,000 family members from Okinawa, along with the addition of 1,800 Defense Department civilian workers.

• The construction of expeditionary training ranges on Tinian, a sparsely populated small island 100 miles north of Guam.

• The establishment of an Army Air and Missile Defense Task Force, including 600 soldiers and 900 family members, and construction of munitions storage and other facilities.

The moves are expected to cost $13 billion by the time they are completed in 2020, with the government of Japan providing up to $6 billion under an existing cost-sharing arrangement.

The plan would more than double the military presence on Guam, whose population of 178,000 includes an existing military population that would grow from 15,000 to 39,000 by 2020, according to Government Accountability Office estimates.

Have your say

Military officials have scheduled six public hearings in January on the planned changes, but you’ll have to travel to Guam, Tinian or Saipan to attend those sessions. Comments on the proposal also can be submitted online at www.guambuildupeis.us until Feb. 17.