DATE: Thursday, March 13, 1997              TAG: 9703130361

SECTION: LOCAL                   PAGE: B1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY DALE EISMAN, STAFF WRITER 

DATELINE: WASHINGTON                        LENGTH:   75 lines

PICKETT TO NAVY: MOVE ON OCEANA HE SAYS FAMILIES WILL SUFFER IF IMPACT REPORT IS DELAYED.

Navy delays in preparing a critical environmental report threaten to soil the welcome mat Virginia Beach has prepared for thousands of service families due to transfer to Oceana Naval Air Station next year, the city's congressman warned Wednesday.

U.S. Rep. Owen B. Pickett said that unless an Environmental Impact Statement has received final approval by October, a timetable set by the Navy, F/A-18 Hornet crews now based in Florida will deploy to the Mediterranean this fall unsure about where their families will be living when they return.

Pickett, whose 2nd District includes Virginia Beach and most of Norfolk, used a Congressional hearing to press Navy Secretary John H. Dalton to see that the review is done on time.

The report is to cover environmental issues, including increased jet noise, water and air pollution, raised by the transfer of 10 Hornet squadrons - some 175 planes and their crews - to Oceana from Cecil Field near Jacksonville.

But until an Environmental Impact Statement is approved by the EPA, the Navy cannot carry out its transfers. Eventual approval is expected.

But Dalton refused to be pinned down on the report's timing, saying Adm. J. Paul Reason, head of the Navy's Atlantic Fleet, asked for additional work on the statement after taking command late last year.

``The thing I know he's concerned about is that it's done right,'' Dalton said, however long that takes.

``There's no reason it can't be done,'' an irritated Pickett shot back.

The city and state governments have prepared detailed plans on steps they will take to minimize damage to local air quality from the added activity at Oceana, he said, and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency signed off on the state's report in January, weeks ahead of schedule.

All that remains is for the Navy to complete work on the impact statement and submit it to the EPA, Pickett said.

``A lot of families will be disrupted'' if the Navy can't meet its schedule, he told Dalton.

EPA reviews typically take several months, so the report must be submitted soon if the October timetable is to be met, a Pickett staffer said.

An Atlantic Fleet spokesman said later that the Navy ``is actively engaged in preparing the draft Environmental Impact Statement'' and is ``about where we expected to be'' on progress toward completing the work. ``We are required to take a thorough look'' at all environmental questions arising from the transfers, the spokesman added.

Two Hornet squadrons with about 20 planes are to deploy from Cecil Field late this year for a six-month Mediterranean cruise aboard the carrier John F. Kennedy, based in Mayport, Fla. They will return - Pickett hopes to Oceana - by early May.

A Pickett staffer said that before the Kennedy departs, the congressman wants the aviators, support crews and families involved to know when they'll be moving to Virginia.

``We don't want these families to be left in the lurch,'' she said; Pickett believes the airmen shouldn't have the stress of a deployment compounded by uncertainty about their families' future.

The squadrons' move from Cecil Field to Oceana already has been pushed back from January 1998 to May or June, the aide added.

The Hornets deploying aboard the Kennedy are the first scheduled to be relocated to Oceana as the Navy proceeds with plans to close Cecil Field. The 10 squadrons of F/A-18s, plus five F-14 Tomcat squadrons transferring from California, will make Oceana the Navy's largest fighter base.

When all transfers are complete, the Virginia Beach base will be home to 374 planes and 13,000 personnel, the most in its history. ILLUSTRATION: [Color photos]

U.S. Rep. Owen B. Pickett says that the Navy must soon submit an

Environmental Impact Statement to allow for the relocation of 10

F/A-18 Hornet squadrons to Oceana Naval Air Station.

Navy Secretary John H. Dalton says Adm. J. Paul Reason asked for

more work on the statement, which is targeted for EPA approval by

October, after taking charge of the Atlantic Fleet last year.

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