Sites for Guam carrier wharf reconsidered - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Sites for Guam carrier wharf reconsidered

SAN DIEGO — On the eve of releasing a final report on the Navy and Marine Corps’ buildup in Guam, Navy officials delayed the selection site for a deep-draft wharf for transiting aircraft carriers but will reconsider other sites they had ruled out last year.

The decision was announced by Guam leaders following a briefing Thursday by a team of federal officials, including Jackalyne Pfannenstiel, assistant Navy secretary for energy, installations and environment, on the Navy’s final environmental impact statement, which is scheduled for public release July 30.

The final report will outline the military’s three major projects in the buildup of Guam and the Mariana Islands: berthing for transiting carriers; relocation of nearly 8,000 Marines from Okinawa, Japan; and basing of an Army air and missile defense task force.

The Navy “will continue to consider the general decision to locate a berth within Apra Harbor, but will defer a decision on the specific site,” the Joint Guam Program Office said in a statement Thursday, the Pacific Daily News reported. “The Navy will voluntarily collect additional data on marine resources at the alternative sites still under consideration and make a decision regarding the specific site at a later date.”

In its draft EIS issued in November, the Navy chose as its preferred site for a carrier berth at Polaris Point, in Apra Harbor. The site would require some extensive dredging of sand and coral to accommodate the 1,325-foot wharf, designed for the larger Nimitz-class carriers, a “turning basin” in the harbor and a widened ship channel. Polaris Point was chosen as the preferred site over the former ship repair facility, which sits across from Polaris Point along the channel leading to the inner harbor.

The draft EIS noted that either location for the wharf, among 16 sites studies overall, would be the least damaging to coral reefs. The report estimated that the wharf and other planned waterfront projects to support ramps for Navy landing craft and Marine Corps amphibious vehicles would require the dredging of about 1 million cubic yards in Apra’s inner and outer harbor. Dredging alone at Polaris Point would remove about 25 acres of coral and about 24 acres of coral removed if the wharf is sited at the former ship repair facility, and with planned buffer zones, either site would impact as much as 71 acres of coral, according to the draft EIS.

The Environmental Protection Agency, in Feb. 17 comments on the draft EIS, called “unacceptable” the potential impact on 71 acres of “high quality” coral reef ecosystem.

The EPA, which warned about sufficient capacity in Guam’s water and sewage systems to handle the buildup, also criticized the Defense Department and the Navy for underestimating the full impacts of the carrier berth on coral reef habitat in the harbor.

That response drew support from residents and grassroots groups including “We are Guahan” concerned that the dredging and ship operations would destroy coral in the reefs and shoals that line the inner harbor and channel.

The Navy’s decision to hold off a final site selection was applauded by Rep. Madeleine Bordallo, D-Guam.

“While the Navy has decided that a transient carrier presence on Guam is necessary, I would urge them to seriously consider the alternatives that myself and our local leaders urged them in our comments on the draft EIS relative to the carrier berthing location,” Bordallo said in a July 22 statement following a briefing by federal officials on the final EIS. “I agree that further study is necessary on the carrier berthing location.”

Bordallo said she is “encouraged” that the Defense Department is considering her request to have experts at the University of Guam join in the new research into carrier berthing.

The wharf is expected to handle as many as 63 “visit days” by carriers each year, a jump from the current average of 16 days at existing Kilo Wharf. Most carrier visits would be three weeks, or less, according to Pacific Fleet estimates.