Shipyard may
get $202 million

The funds are part of an
appropriations bill approved
by Congress yesterday

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard workers today welcomed the news that they will continue to refuel and modernize aging nuclear submarines under a $202 million appropriation approved yesterday by Congress.

The money, if approved by President George W. Bush, would protect 500 civilian jobs for four more years at the shipyard.

"This is good news for all levels of shipyard workers from blue collars to engineers and supervisors," said Ben Toyama, vice president of the International Federation of Professional and Technical Engineers.

Toyama said the money will help provide jobs until 2006. The funding is slated to pay for the upgrading of the USS Bremerton, a San Diego-based submarine.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye, chairman of the Senate's defense appropriations subcommittee, said the $202 million is part of $683.6 million in Hawaii military projects contained in the defense spending bill that was passed by the Senate 93-1 yesterday.

The House has already adopted the defense spending bill, which now goes to the president for consideration.

Toyama said 500 of the 3,700 civilian workers at the shipyard now are upgrading the USS Buffalo, which was commissioned in 1983, and the work is supposed to be completed next year.

"We were concerned that we faced a potential downsizing, if we could not continue to do the same type of work," Toyama said.

"Last year we sent out more than 2,000 letters to members of Congress and others and that may have led to the reversal by the Navy to send the USS Bremerton here instead of Puget Sound."

The Bremerton will be based in Hawaii during the overhaul. Inouye said the modernization program will extend the life of the Bremerton, which was commissioned in 1981, for 10 more years.

Two years ago, then-Rear Adm. Albert H. Konetzni, commander of the Pacific Fleet's Submarine Force, said that because submarine production had fallen behind projected needs, the short-term solution was to take seven Los Angeles-class nuclear attack submarines, such as the Buffalo and Bremerton, and refuel and modernize them before they reach the end of their 33-year ship's life.

Hawaii's portion of the defense bill is nearly 54 percent more than the $444 million Congress approved last year for Hawaii's military programs.

The $355.4 billion defense bill boosts spending by $34.4 billion over last year, reflecting the increased needs of the war on terrorism and a possible conflict with Iraq. It was the largest real growth in the defense budget since the Reagan administration.

Other projects funded by the defense bill:

>> Pearl Harbor also will get an additional $230 million for ongoing programs.

>> The defense appropriations bill includes $75 million for the final year of the restoration of Kahoolawe. Last year, $67.5 million was set aside for this year's cleanup.

>> The Pacific Missile Range Facility at Kauai's Barking Sands continued to draw heavy support from Congress with $63.7 million approved, compared with $49.3 million last year.

>> The Maui Space Surveillance System got $27 million. It received $22.8 million last year.

>> Other Maui projects amounted to nearly $59 million.