I am an enormous advocate for having a backup system for GPS (due to a variety of reasons which I won't go into... bringing back University nightmares!) but the simple fact is that LORAN-C, the one being shut down, is not a backup, and is next to useless in this day and age. It is impractical for use in aviation (accuracy is not sufficient to beat IRS/INS nav and ground update anyway), and doesn't solve the timing issues which are the real GPS vulnerability.
eLORAN is certainly a potential candidate for many of the reasons stated in the article, but note that it is an entirely new architecture that would be required... keeping the outdated LORAN-C on the air isn't helping many people, and isn't a part of an eLORAN solution.
Hopefully now they'll remove LORAN-C from the ATPL navigation exams!
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