Japan official says Marines transfer must push ahead as planned
THE U.S. Department of Defense has acknowledged that Guam is not ready to accommodate the 8,000 Marines who will be relocated from Okinawa, but Tokyo is not inclined to put off the transfer plan beyond 2014.
“I have not confirmed that debate. We think we want to go ahead firmly as promised,” the AFP quoted Japan's Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshito Sengoku as saying.
The defense department has given up on its goal to complete the Marines’ relocation by 2014, recognizing the scarcity of infrastructure on Guam that would inhibit the island’s ability to accommodate a population surge.
According to the AFP report, assistant secretary of the Navy Jackalyne Pfannenstiel informed Congress on Tuesday of a possible delay in the relocation plan.
The final environmental impact statement released this week discusses the defense department’s plan to use “adaptive program management techniques” which will adjust the pace of military construction and calculate the flow of Marines’ movement to stay within the limitations of Guam’s infrastructure.
According to the final impact statement’s summary handout, the use of force flow reduction as a mitigation measure “will slow the arrival of Marine Corps forces until requisite facilities are built.”
The U.S. Navy has also deferred action on the berthing site for a transient nuclear-powered aircraft carrier in Apra Harbor pending survey on marine resources in Polaris Point, one of the two alternative site locations.
Federal officials who visited Guam last week said the defense department had adjusted the population growth projection from 80,000 to 41,000 to reflect a “more realistic figure” during the military buildup peak in 2014.
A review of the final impact statement, however, revealed that the original population projection has not changed.
The Marines’ transfer plan is a component of the 2006 agreement between Tokyo and Washington aimed at reducing the heavy U.S. military presence on Okinawa.
The base issue has angered islanders as the center-left Democratic Party of Japan pledged to move it outside Okinawa when it came to power last year, but later reneged on the promise.
