Cargo Hub at March Debated

Riverside County officials debated late into the night Wednesday whether to approve a new commercial air cargo hub at March Air Reserve Base.

About 1,000 people, mostly opponents, jammed a public hearing held by the March Joint Powers Authority at Riverside Convention Center. Many were upset by the prospect of nighttime flights at the base, and others expressed concerns about the health effects of increased air pollution.

Don Edwards of Riverside said he was originally in favor of the plan but told the eight-member joint powers commission: “It now appears to be jammed down our throat.... Surely you’re going to give thousands of residents a mighty earful as the jets fly overhead.”

But the Riverside Chamber of Commerce, a number of elected officials and some longtime residents supported the project, saying it would add as many as 300 jobs to the job-poor Inland Empire, bolster the economy with greater demand for services and help keep the base open.

“Let’s not get confused with false detours that lead to a padlocked front gate at March Reserve Air Base,” Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Riverside) said in a videotaped statement. The tape was greeted with sustained boos and scattered applause.

Shipping firm DHL has said it is undecided whether to put a cargo operations hub at March, Ontario International Airport or San Bernardino International Airport. The company this year announced a $1.2-billion expansion across the United States.

But Penny Newman, a leading Inland Empire environmentalist, said, “Let’s be clear, this is not about jobs. [You] would no more hand a pack of cigarettes to a child than the man in the moon. But the pollution generated by that project would do exactly the same thing.”

The air cargo proposal would at first allow 20 commercial flights a day, including 11 at night.

In a statement to The Times, DHL spokesman Jonathan Baker declined to say whether the overnight flights would be needed at the facility or whether a favorable vote by the commission would lure the firm to the air base, which straddles the 215 Freeway between Riverside, Moreno Valley and Perris.

“At this point the only thing I could say ... is that we are currently looking to identify a permanent location for a new ground hub on the West Coast, which would include some air operations,” Baker said.

The former March Air Force Base was downsized to a reserve base in 1996. The commission’s decision is one of the final steps in a 10-year process seeking to bring commercial air cargo to the base.

Times staff writer Wendy Thermos contributed to this report.