Project '99 Newsletter, February 1998
A Note from Larry Agran Chair of Project ’99
Dear Neighbor,
Once in a while, it’s useful to look at the “big picture.” Since 1994, tens of thousands of Orange County citizens have been working to defeat the County’s plan to build a huge international airport at the El Toro Marine Corps Base. This work — which continues without let-up — is “Phase I” of our struggle. It’s what we at Project 99 now call “Exposing the Madness,” and it involves a relentless effort to reveal and publicize the truth about El Toro International Airport, in-cluding the economic and environmental devastation it would bring to all of Orange County.
While our Phase I work continues, our Phase II work — we call it “Creating a Choice” — shifts into high gear. This involves the hard work of organizing citizens to help produce a credible non-aviation reuse plan for El Toro — a plan that is environmentally and economically superior to the County’s pro-airport plan. (See the adjacent story about publication of our Project 99 study, A Real Choice for a Better Future.)
Phase III — a plan for “Making a Choice” — will take shape in 1999 and 2000. This involves the complicated business of finding the means to revisit the ballot box in the next 18 to 30 months. But this time voters need to have a real choice — a serious side-by-side choice between the County’s international airport plan and a genuine citizens’ non-aviation reuse plan that reflects our dreams for the future.
Phase I...Phase II...Phase III. We can’t say the road ahead will be easy. But at least we know where it’s going. And we’re traveling on it together. Thanks for your continuing support!
Project 99 Reuse Study Unveiled
After 10 months of work — including surveys, focus groups, and citizen workshops — Project 99’s historic study on the non-aviation reuse of El Toro is now complete and ready for widespread distribution.
Entitled A Real Choice for a Better Future, Project 99 is submitting the study to the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority (ETRPA) — the seven-city South County public agency that is charged with developing an official non-aviation reuse plan by this April. The study will also be submitted to the Department of the Navy, the federal agency responsible for disposing of the base in 1999, when the Marine Corps is scheduled to leave El Toro. Project 99 is distributing A Real Choice for a Better Future to thousands of households throughout Orange County. Click here for executive summary of the report.
“We did what we set out to do,” said Karen Byers, Project 99’s Director of Communications. “We produced a non-aviation reuse study that is both visionary and practical — just like the nearly 2000 Orange County citizens who’ve been involved in this historic effort from the beginning.”
Supervisors Support Early Air Cargo Operations at El Toro
Pro-airport forces, backed by a 3-to-2 majority of the County Board of Supervisors, are pushing for the early introduction of air cargo operations at El Toro. The County’s aim, apparently, is to establish a precedent-setting commercial aviation use at the Marine Corps Base — perhaps even before the military leaves the facility in mid-1999.
Late last year, support for air cargo operations at El Toro was announced by two leading pro-airport groups: the El Toro Airport Citizens’ Advisory Commission (which includes wealthy Newport Beach businessman George Argyros and Newport Beach Mayor Tom Edwards) and the powerful Orange County Business Council. By mid-December, County staff and Supervisor Chuck Smith seemed to take over as official cheerleaders for the plan. They made the preposterous claim that air cargo operations at El Toro would bring $4.9 billion in annual revenues to Orange County — a ridiculous figure that amounts to $1750 in yearly revenue for every man, woman and child in the County.
So far, among all air cargo carriers, only Federal Express has indicated a possible interest in operations at El Toro. Interestingly, FedEx estimates commercial air cargo at El Toro would generate less than $40 million per year — or less than 1% of the wildly inflated $4.9 billion projected by Supervisor Smith and others.
On December 17, over the objections of Supervisors Tom Wilson and Todd Spitzer, the Board of Supervisors decided to “study” the air cargo option. As the County “study” goes forward, the obstacles to the plan are sure to come into sharper focus.
Federal law. In 1990, then-freshman Orange County Congress-man Chris Cox won passage of federal legislation (Public Law 101-189), which expressly prohibits any commercial aviation use of El Toro while the Marine Corps is still at the base. Although County officials are now shopping for a legal opinion to “interpret” the law in a way that permits the immediate introduction of air cargo, South County city officials appear ready to sue, if necessary, to enforce the federal law.
Environmental Review. Any attempt to introduce commercial air cargo operations at El Toro would require extensive state and federal review of adverse environmental impacts such as noise, air pollution, and threats to public health and safety.
Business and Economics. Not at all a “turnkey” facility, El Toro lacks the airplane hangars, warehouse facilities, fuel capacity and runways to support the fully loaded wide-body jets that make commercial air cargo operations profitable. Business leaders, including Irvine Company representatives and Western Digital spokesman Michael Cornelius, have questioned the whole idea of air cargo at El Toro. They note that in the burgeoning high-tech Irvine Spectrum, next to El Toro, there is simply no demand for additional air cargo capacity. Moreover, they recognize that air cargo operations at El Toro would damage the quality of life and the business environment in Orange County.
Critics of the air cargo proposal have been quick to point out that if there were any real need for added air cargo capacity in Orange County, it could easily be met at John Wayne Airport.
Project 99 Outreach Director Ed Pope summed up the battle this way: “The County’s air cargo proposal isn’t really about air cargo at all. It’s about trying to get a foot in the door at El Toro — to be followed by an around-the-clock monster called El Toro International Airport.”
The Great American Write-In
Mark your calendar for Saturday, March 7th, from 9:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. That’s when Women For: Orange County will be welcoming hundreds of citizens to the Twelth Annual Great American Write-In at The University Club on the UCI campus. The Write-In is an opportunity to learn more about important public issues and write letters to public officials expressing your concerns. Representatives from more than 40 organizations will be available to discuss issues ranging from health and education to peace and national security. Of course, Project 99 will participate and encourage citizens to write officials regarding the El Toro Airport controversy. For more information — and to receive a flyer — call Project 99 at 544-5410.
Project ’99 is a special project of the Tides Center, a duly registered public charity. Donations to Project ’99/Tides Center are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law.
Project ’99 Newsletter Director of Communications, Karen Byers Director of Media, Alan Ellstrand
Project ’99 • PO Box 252 • Irvine CA 92650 • Phone (714) 559-5423