Fact: While a story in Saturday's Times-Union demonstrates how the City of Jacksonville has fumbled efforts to attract businesses like DaimlerChrysler, Boeing and EADS North America to Cecil Field, the return of the Navy Master Jet Base to Cecil Field would provide a genuine economic shot in the arm to Jacksonville and Northeast Florida - generating 31,000 new jobs, additional tax revenue and helping to provide Navy aviators with a base where they can receive the training necessary to better protect our nation against our enemies.
"With the return of the Navy Master Jet Base to Cecil Field, the cumulative impact to the region's gross product over the 11-year forecast window of Cecil Field spending is $21.6 billion (in 2005 dollars)."
"Economic Impact of Re-opening NAS Cecil Field," The University of West Florida's Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development, October 2005
"Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclinations, or the dictates of our passion, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence."
- John Adams, 'Argument in Defense of the Soldiers in the Boston Massacre Trials,' December 1770
Fact: The law is clear: If Florida and Jacksonville comply with the terms of the 2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment law approved by President George W. Bush, the Master Jet Base will return to Cecil Field. Under this law, Jacksonville now controls Cecil Field's fate and no one can change that - not the President, any Senator, the Dept. of Defense or the Navy.
"It shall be deemed that the actions prescribed to be taken by the State of Florida and the City of Jacksonville respectively by the end of 31 December 2006 have not been taken in their entirety unless the Department of Defense Inspector General so certifies in writing to the President and oversight committees of Congress by June 1, 2007. If the Commonwealth of Virginia and the municipal governments of Virginia Beach, VA, and Chesapeake, VA, fail to take all of the prescribed actions and the State of Florida meets the conditions established by this recommendation, the units and functions that shall relocate to Cecil Field will include but are not limited to all of the Navy F/A-18 strike fighter wings, aviation operations and support schools, maintenance support, training, and any other additional support activities the Navy deems necessary and appropriate to support the operations of the Master Jet Base."
2005 Defense Base Closure and Realignment Law, approved by President Bush on September 15, 2005.
http://www.brac.gov/docs/final/Chap1NavyFindingsandRecommendations.pdf
Fact: Cecil Field today operates as an active jet base and co-exists with the surrounding area. According to Federal Aviation Administration data current as of September 28, 2006, 64,255 flight operations have been conducted out of Cecil Field. Of those flight operations, the military was responsible for 46,783 (73 percent) of the operations - that's an average of 128 military operations a day out of Cecil Field for the first nine months of 2006.
Source: Federal Aviation Administration
http://www.faa.gov/data_statistics/aviation_data_statistics/
Fact: Reactivating the Navy Master Jet Base at Cecil Field would provide a top-notch training center for Navy aviators to prepare to fight and win battles at a time when the nation is at war.
"Analysis shows that Cecil Field presents a unique opportunity for the Navy to acquire an Atlantic Fleet master jet base, a base where all the F-18 Super Hornet squadrons can be collocated to reduce overhead costs and maintenance and administration, a base where the fleet aviators could effectively train as they fight in all mission areas, including the most demanding at-sea landing profiles."
Bill Fetzer, BRAC Commission Analyst, Presentation to BRAC Commission, August 24, 2005
http://www.brac.gov/docs/CertifiedTranscript_24AugPM.pdf
One year ago today, in a fax to BRAC Commission Chair Anthony Principi, Jacksonville Mayor John Peyton indicated the city could return Cecil Field to the Navy.
"We look forward to the work to be done over the coming months in Jacksonville and in Virginia so that, should the Department of Defense's Inspector General determine it, the City of Jacksonville can return aviation assets to the Department of the Navy that it needs to re-establish a master jet base at Cecil Field."
Mayor John Peyton, fax to Anthony Principi, BRAC Commission chair, October 3, 2005
Fact: Cecil Field consists of more than 17,000 acres which are all owned by our government - except for one single acre owned by Vystar Credit Union - so, transferring the property from one governmental entity to another is primarily a paperwork exercise.
"Through the advantages of consolidated government, the owners of Cecil Field, the City of Jacksonville and Jacksonville Airport Authority are able to resolve the necessary property Issues to permit turnover of the property interests in Cecil Field to the Department of Defense."
Mayor John Peyton Letter to BRAC Chairman Anthony Principi, July 29, 2005
Jacksonville_Mayor_on_Cecil_Field.pdf
Fact: With the return of the Navy Master Jet Base to Cecil Field, investment spending on new construction and capital equipment is expected to reach $401.3 million in fiscal year 2011. The cumulative value over the period FY2007-FY2017 is expected to total $4.03 billion.
- "Economic Impact of Re-opening NAS Cecil Field," The University of West Florida's Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development, October 2005
Fact: Reactivating Cecil Field as a Master Jet Base would provide Navy pilots with a better location to train like they fight. This is critical for their survival in combat, our national defense and our success in this time when the United States of America is at war.
"Naval aviators landing high performance aircraft on a carrier deck should be able to practice that maneuver realistically before they face the unforgiving environment of a career at sea. If conditions at a naval air station compromise the quality of training operations, then continued operation at that base compromises military values."
Anthony J. Principi, BRAC Commission Chair, August 20, 2005
http://www.brac.gov/docs/CertifiedTranscript_20AugPM.pdf
Fact: The encroachment problems threatening the Master Jet Base at Oceana would not be an issue should the base return to Cecil Field.
"Encroachment is and will not be a problem at Cecil Field. There are no, I repeat no, improper uses of the accident probability zone -- no schools, no churches, no shopping areas. You will never have the same encroachment problems at Cecil that are currently existing at Oceana."
- Mayor John Peyton, BRAC Testimony, August 20, 2005
Fact: Returning the Navy Master Jet Base to Cecil Field would be a boon to homebuilding in Northeast Florida.
The influx of nearly 12,000 personnel assigned to Cecil Field will create spending on new residential construction in the amount of $232.6 million in the region in FY 2011 alone. Over the eleven-year period (FY 2007 to FY 2017) new residential construction is expected to total $2,009.7 million.- "Economic Impact of Re-opening NAS Cecil Field," The University of West Florida's Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development, October 2005
Fact: Residential encroachment at NAS Oceana threatens Navy aviator training and readiness during a time the nation is at war.
"NAS Oceana has well over 40 times the level of encroachment as Cecil Field in the highest risk zones. If the Navy's East Coast Master Jet Base remains at NAS Oceana, and Virginia Beach fails to take the strong, proactive measures necessary to cure the negative effects of encroachment, the men and women of Atlantic Fleet Strike Fighter Wings will continue to experience degraded operational training and readiness, and the local civilian population would suffer continued exposure to unnecessary risks."
- OpEd by BRAC Commission Chairman Anthony J. Principi, October 18, 2005, http://www.brac.gov/docs/Cecil-Oceana_OpEd_FINAL_18Oct2005.pdf
Fact: Salaries and wages generated by a return of the Navy Master Jet Base to Cecil Field are expected to total $1.576 billion producing an overall average wage of $50,095 -- which is well above the prevailing average wage in the region and higher than Florida's average wage.
- "Economic Impact of Re-opening NAS Cecil Field," The University of West Florida's Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development, October 2005
Fact: Estimates of the cost of reestablishing Cecil Field as a Master Jet Base are too high.
"We believe the cost to re-establish Cecil Field as a master jet base is one-quarter of the amount estimated by the Navy. This large cost discrepancy results from the failure of the Navy to account for the existing infrastructure currently in place at Cecil."
- Mayor John Peyton, BRAC Testimony, August 20, 2005
Fact: Reestablishing Cecil Field as a Navy Master Jet Base will generate $2.6 billion in gross regional product, for Northeast Florida.
- "Economic Impact of Re-opening NAS Cecil Field," The University of West Florida's Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development, October 2005
Fact: With the return of the Navy Master Jet Base to Cecil Field, in fiscal year 2011, Cecil Field spending will account for a total of 31,460 new jobs for Northeast Florida.
- Source: "Economic Impact of Re-opening NAS Cecil Field," The University of West Florida's Haas Center for Business Research and Economic Development, October 2005
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