By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

GUAM is not likely to be chosen to homeport an aircraft carrier group, according to the outgoing commander of the U.S. Pacific Command.
In an interview with The Honolulu Advertiser, Adm. William J. Fallon said a new aircraft carrier group may not be deployed to Guam, or for that matter, to Hawaii.
Hawaii and Guam are both competing for the homeporting of a new carrier strike group which the U.S. plans to deploy to increase its presence in the increasingly volatile Asia-Pacific region.
There are still a lot of issues in Hawaii that need to be resolved, including jet noise pollution at Kalaeloa, a site being considered for the air wing, while the main obstacle to homeporting a carrier on Guam is the exorbitant cost and the poor state of the island’s infrastructure.
Although the Navy had been examining whether to base the carrier USS Carl Vinson in Puget Sound, Washington, Hawaii, or Guam after major renovation work is completed on the ship, the Advertiser said the expectation now is that the carrier will go to Puget Sound.
However, Fallon did say that Guam will be built up for aircraft carrier visits.
“This does not mean a home port. (We’re) not interested in that now. Don’t see a need for it now. But we do see a need for being able to keep a significant presence out there if something were to arise,” Fallon told the Advertiser.
But Sen. Jesse Lujan, R-Tamuning, who has long lobbied for the homeporting of a carrier on Guam, has argued that the cost of relocating to Guam should not be the overriding factor in denying the forward deployment of a carrier strike group on Guam.
“Given global terrorism and its threat to the United States, the security that U.S. citizens will enjoy through the forward deployment of a carrier strike group will far exceed any investment that the Department of Defense will make in Guam,” Lujan said.
He added that transit times from Hawaii and the West Coast substantially impact the availability of ships deploying along the Pacific Rim and that homeporting ships on Guam will allow ships to spend more time “on station” in the western Pacific.
“Guam, given its location with respect to the Far East and in the aftermath of Sept. 11, has shown that the homeporting of attack submarines here by the U.S. Navy has allowed these submarines to make shorter deployments more frequently, thereby increasing the number of mission days they can perform,” Lujan said.
He added that there are ample Navy family housing units on island and a generous overseas housing allowance for military personnel who choose to live off-base.