Benefit claims around transfer of marines to Guam questioned

Transcript

A group in Guam is urging people to weigh up the environmental, social, and cultural impacts of the transfer of thousands of marines to the territory from Japan, against economic promises.

A group in Guam is urging people to weigh up the environmental, social, and cultural impacts of the transfer of thousands of marines to the territory from Japan, against economic promises.

This week department of defence officials wrapped up public hearings to dissect a draft environmental impact statement, about the United States plan to relocate the marines by 2028.

The move would result in the population increasing by nearly 10,000 and require the construction of a new military base.

The spokesperson for the We Are Guahan organisation Leevin Camacho told Bridget Tunnicliffe, the impact will be significant:

LEEVIN CAMACHO: I think the firing range complex that they're going to build alone is about fifteen hundred hectares. And that doesn't include the new base that they're building. Environmentally, we're looking at the destruction of thousands of acres and from a social perspective we're looking at having to fund funding to deal with an increase in population. Guam has a population of about 160,000 so 9700 more people moving to the island is going to have an impact on our local community.

BRIDGET TUNNICLIFFE: And that was conveyed in a number of the submissions last night and over the past few days?

LC: Yes and it's an ongoing process. Last night was just an opportunity for people to go to these meetings that are hosted by Department of Defense. We have until June 17th to submit comments on the draft supplemental environmental impact statement. So we're still looking through the documents, we're still encouraging members of our community to review it and submit comments on it.

BT: From the point of view of your organisation, are you dead set against this plan or do you just need assurance that some procedures will be in place to ensure this doesn't have a negative effect on the environment and on people?

LC: We've looked at our role not neccessarily as an advocate but as information sharing because there's a lot of misinformation being spread by groups who look to gain billions of dollars off construction contracts. So the question we ask everyone to look at is whether or not the move to Guam will be good for Guam as a whole and not for just a handful of people and their off-island joint ventures who are really the ones who are going to make the most money off this. So when you look at the social, environmental and cultural impacts that this move will have on this island and you weigh it against... really the only positive is the economics, is it worth it? We've looked at the jobs, the number of jobs that are supposed to be created, how many of them are long-term jobs and the impact on our tax revenus is minimal at best. Really it's up to every individual to weigh it and decide for themselves whether or not this is really the kind of legacy we want to leave for our kids and their kids.

BT: Can you say what the general feeling is amongst the population?

LC: Most people are kind of anxious about this move. But when you start pulling again at these different pieces, we don't have assurances that the civillian impacts that we're going to be taking care of outside of the gates... Because the DOD will find money - they just built a multi-million dollar new hospital while our hosptial is in dire need of repairs. They have brand new schools and you can just see it by driving past the base and looking at their facilities versus the facilities that we have. So I think people want to see our economy grow but they also understand that there are going to be some negative impacts. It's not like this magic, golden ticket that some people are saying that it is. People are weary for what the impact is going to be for those of us who do call Guam home.