Navy finalizes plans for U.S. military buildup on Guam
SASEBO NAVAL BASE, Japan — The U.S. Navy firmed up plans Tuesday for a military buildup on Guam that could lead to a historic shift in military forces in the Pacific.
The Navy’s record of decision finalizes where facilities will be built for 8,600 Marines scheduled to move from Okinawa by 2014 and identifies the planned pace of the massive construction effort, according to a brief released by the Department of Defense Joint Guam Program Office.
But the Navy delayed decisions on controversial plans to build military training ranges on Guam’s ancestral land and to dredge coral in Guam’s main harbor for an aircraft carrier berth, according to the brief.
The full report on the buildup was not available immediately after it was signed by Assistant Secretary of the Navy Jackie Pfannenstiel early Tuesday. The joint program office said it would post the full document online by Wednesday.
The start of construction will depend on funding, upcoming decisions from a new military-civilian panel, and further reviews of ancestral land and harbor dredging proposals, said Gen. David Bice, executive director of the joint program office.
“We don’t anticipate any construction activity until the first of next year,” Bice said in a Tuesday phone interview from his office on Guam.
Utilities funding from the Japanese government is critical, he said.
The United States is in talks with Japan and the Japanese Bank of International Cooperation over the country’s $740 million contribution for wastewater, power and water upgrades on Guam.
Japan agreed in 2006 to fund the upgrades as part of the shift of Marines from Okinawa.
Improvements to Guam’s underdeveloped utilities are needed before construction crews and servicemembers can begin arriving on the island.
A piece of the Japan funding will pay to tap wells on military land and connect the supplies to Guam public water utilities, Bice said.
“We need to have the funding for the water,” he said. “We need that pretty quick, by next year.”
Before the end of the year, the government of Guam, the U.S. military and federal agencies will also form a coordinating council, which will help guide construction and solve concerns over the influx of workers on the island, he said.
The governor of Guam, who first proposed the idea, will appoint members to the council, Bice said.
Meanwhile, a federal historic preservation review will determine the fate of Guam’s Pagat land, an area with remnants of pre-colonial Chamorro culture.
The land is listed on the National Register of Historic Places but is a preferred site for Marine Corps training ranges.
Pfannenstiel delayed the decision on using Pagat for training until the end of a review required by the National Historic Preservation Act, Bice said.
The Navy will also study the health and quality of coral in Apra Harbor after public concern over planned dredging for the carrier berth, he said.
Plans call for aircraft carriers to make port stops, but there will be no carrier home-ported on Guam.
“We have agreed to defer a decision on a specific site, even though Polaris Point is the preferred site,” Bice said.
The civilian-military panel will help to ease concerns over the pace of the buildup but it is still likely the military will use the Pagat land for training ranges and dredge the harbor despite the delays, said Guam Sen. Judith Guthertz, chair of the legislature’s Committee on the Guam Military Buildup and Homeland Security.
“My approach now is to work with this and move forward and negotiate some things that benefit our community,” Guthertz said.
Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo issued a statement saying she is encouraged by the record of decision but concerns remain over “critical” issues such as the training range and dredging.
She again urged the military to locate the ranges on the nearby island of Tinian, an option that Bice said has been ruled out.
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