HONOLULU -- A commision wants to add the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and other bases to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's list of proposed closures.

BASE CLOSURES Web Site: Defense Base Closure and Realignment Commission Fact Sheet: More On Base Closings Article: Rumsfeld Announces Base Closures

Base Realignment and Closure Commission Chairman Anthony Principi sent a letter to the Pentagon identifying the Hawaii shipyard and other 11 other bases the commission may recommend closing. The letter asks Rumsfeld for explanations for why it was decided those facilities should remain open.

Hawaii Sen. Daniel Inouye said he's disappointed with the commission's request and notes that much of the nation's security concerns are focused on the Asia-Pacific region.

"It is critically important that we do not send a message to potential adversaries in the region that we are lessening out commitment to the Asia Pacific area," Inouye said in a news release.

Pearl Harbor's shipyard employs about 4,500 people full-time. The jobs include clerks to trades workers to nuclear engineers. Pay scales range from $30,000 to more than $100,000 a year.

The Metal Trades Council represents all 15 unions there.

"The entire shipyard community is concerned. We're in an unknown right now," Metal Trades Council President Matt Hamilton said.

They're worried because the head of a base closure commission has asked the defense secretary why Pearl Harbor's shipyard should not be closed.

"I will do whatever I can to convince the commission that considering Pearl Harbor is a mistake," Inouye said.

"(The Navy) can't afford to send ships back to the East Coast every time they need repair or maintenance. With strategic focus shifting toward Asia and the Pacific, the Navy needs a shipyard in this hemisphere to keep its vessels fit to fight," U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie said in a news release.

Inouye said as the Navy increases its forces in the Pacific that Pearl Harbor's role will continue to grow. Inouye has been lobbying the Pentagon to base one of the Navy's aircraft carriers in Hawaii.

"No base is more important to supporting our forces in the region than the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard," Inouye said.

The Pentagon said it no longer needs four bases where ships are repaired and refueled, and chose to shutter Portsmouth Naval Shipyard in Kittery, Maine. Defense officials say closing Portsmouth will save $21 million initially, then $129 million a year by shifting work to yards at Pearl Harbor, Norfolk, Va., and Bremerton, Wash.

The commission's chair said, "Pearl Harbor has low military value compared to other shipyards."

"If you look at our geographical location, I don't see how we could be a low military value," Hamilton said.

"Everybody's recognized that the Pacific-Asia region is becoming a more and more important part of the world for our safety. It's home to the sixth largest armies in the world in the Pacific command region,"

The commission chairman wrote that "Pearl Harbor is less efficient than Naval Shipyard Portsmouth."

Hawaii officials admit that shipping costs for goods and equipment to Pearl Harbor's shipyard are more expensive than mainland shipyards. However, they point out that Hawaii's shipyard serves ships home-ported there, unlike the one in Maine. That's a strategic plus that's difficult to measure in dollars, officials said.