Naval Station Pascagoula to officially close Nov. 15

Published 5:45 pm Wednesday, July 19, 2006

Naval Station Pascagoula will officially close Nov. 15, Navy officials confirmed Tuesday.

Naval Station officials said the Navy notified them Monday of the closure. The base was targeted for closure by the Base Realignment and Closure Commission.

“All Navy activities and personnel are scheduled to depart by this date, and the property will transfer to the state of Mississippi,” the Navy said in a statement.

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The facility has been located on Singing River Island for more than 13 years. The future of the site will be determined by an organization made up of various state and local leaders.

The original agreement that gave the base to the Navy in the late 1980s, would have required Mississippi to reimburse the Navy for improvements to the island if it were returned to the state. The total, local and state officials have estimated, would be about $100 million.

However, the reimbursement was waived under a provision in the 2006 Defense Authorization Bill, approved by Congress.

The U.S. Coast Guard shared the island with the Navy, putting its Pascagoula station and basing the cutter Decisive and three patrol cutters at the island.

Economic development officials said earlier this year that they were looking for civilian as well as military and national security agency development on the island.