Base closings could add 760 jobs to Washington state

There are two reasons Washington is one of 20 states to gain military jobs in the latest round of base closures proposed by the Pentagon yesterday.

One is location, which makes it easier to launch strikes to potential hot spots in Asia, lawmakers from the state said.

The other is the $2.2 billion lawmakers steered to local bases over two decades.

But while the state's political leaders took a victory lap yesterday to celebrate the possible addition of 760 defense jobs, representatives in other parts of the country vowed to fight the proposed changes.

Yesterday, the Pentagon said it wants to shutter five reserve centers in Washington state, including historic Fort Lawton in Seattle's Magnolia neighborhood.

Fort Lewis, south of Tacoma, the largest Army base on the West Coast, will be merged with nearby McChord Air Force Base and renamed Joint Base Lewis-McChord under the command of an Army general. The realignment is expected to cost 567 military and civilian jobs.

The Pentagon opted to close Ellsworth Air Force Base in Rapid City, S.D., sparing Spokane's Fairchild Air Force Base, which houses refueling planes.

Naval Station Everett, homeport of the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln, withstood a concerted lobbying effort by Hawaiian political and business leaders to bring a carrier to Pearl Harbor. Everett was one of the bases that could have lost that carrier.

By far the biggest winner in the state is the Puget Sound Naval Shipyard in Bremerton, which would gain 1,401 civilian jobs, mostly in submarine maintenance.

The Pentagon said it wanted to close one of the nation's four shipyards and selected Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. More than 4,510 jobs will disappear there.

Defense planners noted Portsmouth had "low military value."

Some shipyard workers there would be offered transfers to Bremerton. But Bremerton officials said that even if no jobs go to locals, the heftier military payroll would have a positive impact on the city's real-estate development and local businesses.

"This will be a big boost to our economy," said Daren Nygren, president of the Bremerton City Council.

News of the potential closure at Portsmouth hit New England hard.

The New Hampshire Union Leader newspaper in Manchester referred to yesterday as "Black Friday."

New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch told the newspaper he spoke with Maine officials after the announcement.

"Make no mistake," Lynch said. "We are united in our determination to fight to keep the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard open."

That kind of language stood in sharp contrast to the happy talk from Washington state lawmakers.

"We've put a lot of miles into ensuring [the base remains open]," Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson said. "We understand the value of the base, and we clearly communicated that message."

Washington's congressional delegation and local officials traveled to the Pentagon in recent months to tout Naval Station Everett and other bases.

DEAN RUTZ / THE SEATTLE TIMES With the news yesterday that Naval Station Everett had been spared from closure, smiles broke out on the faces of Marysville Mayor Dennis Kendall, left, Deputy Snohomish County Executive Gary Weikel, Gov. Christine Gregoire and Everett Mayor Ray Stephanson, right.

With more than 6,700 workers, Naval Station Everett is the second-largest employer in Snohomish County, contributing more than $431 million to the county's economy. Many families linked to the base live in Everett, Marysville and surrounding areas.

There may be some changes by the time commissioners refer the list to the White House, but Rep. Norm Dicks, D-Bremerton, said yesterday's announcement should give Washingtonians confidence about the military's long-term plans.

Dicks, a defense expert first elected in 1976, said the geopolitical importance of Asia was key.

"In my discussions with the top people [at the Pentagon], all they talk about is the Pacific, Pacific, Pacific," Dicks said. "They are worried about North Korea and an emerging China."

Dicks, a member of the military-construction-spending subcommittee, has a long history of advocating for Washington bases.

In the past two decades, billions of dollars were spent on new hangars and runways at McChord Air Force Base, equipment at Fort Lewis and retrofitting Trident submarines with conventional instead of nuclear warheads at Naval Submarine Base Bangor.

In last year's spending bill, for example, Dicks helped secure $34 million for bachelor enlisted quarters at Everett and $35 million for a new storage complex at Bangor.

As for a possible confrontation with Maine and New Hampshire over the fate of 1,400 shipyard jobs, Sen. Maria Cantwell's spokeswoman Charla Neuman said the hot rhetoric was part of the process. "Talk like that is only to be expected," she said. "If roles were reversed, we'd be saying the same thing. We'll see how successful they are, but our biggest concern is making sure our bases stay off the list."

Seattle Times staff reporter Christopher Schwarzen contributed to this report.

Alex Fryer: 206-464-8124 or afryer@seattletimes.com