By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

THE details for the relocation of thousands of Marines from Okinawa to Guam are not yet final and will mainly depend on the results of environmental impact studies that will be conducted to assess the impact of the military’s expansion on island.
This was stressed yesterday by visiting Pentagon officials who addressed a meeting of the Civilian/Military Task Force at the Guam National Guard Center in Barrigada.
Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Installations and Environment B.J. Penn and retired Marine Corps Maj. Gen. David Bice, executive director of the Joint Guam Program Office, took turns updating GovGuam and other community leaders on the status of the military’s expansion plans.
Both stressed that construction activities related to the Marine relocation won’t start for about four years because environmental studies and clearances will have to be secured first.
Penn said the Department of Defense is set to file its notice of intent for a draft environmental impact study by next month. Afterward, the study of the military expansion’s environmental impact could take up to three years before approval to proceed is given.
He assured the assembled community leaders that the Pentagon and the Navy are both strong proponents of protecting the environment.
“We will be extremely cautious and study the environmental impact carefully. In fact, the Navy spends $10 million a year in assessing environmental impacts,” Penn said.
He assured them that there will be an adequate period of time for public comment on military plans and that there will be “open communication” for everyone to voice their concerns.
Some sectors of the community have raised concerns that the expansion of the military on Guam might upset the island’s delicate eco-system, as well as cause many socio-cultural problems.
During the question-and-answer portion of yesterday’s meeting, Sen. Judy Won-Pat, D-Malojloj, pointed out that the military hasn’t even resolved the issue of cleaning up possible toxic waste from its previous activities on Guam.
Joe Ludovici, technical head of the Joint Guam Program Office, said that the military has a separate task force looking into this matter but that the current environmental impact study to be conducted on the Marines’ relocation will not cover this.
Bice said the Navy has already budgeted for the environmental study that will be made for the Marine relocation and this will be submitted to Congress soon.
He said the environmental study will not just look at ecological aspects but also at socio-cultural impacts that the military expansion may generate.
He said the Navy has always been thorough with its environmental studies and, if needed, some aspects of the military master plan may be deemed not feasible.
“The study will cover not only the impact but the alternatives and mitigation measures necessary to alleviate the impact on Guam. We will start alternative site analysis and start collecting operational data,” Bice said.
The DoD has initiated coordination with the Department of the Interior, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Resources to ensure that the environmental studies and assessments will be as comprehensive as possible.
In addition, experts from Japan, the U.S. and the government of Guam will jointly work on assessing the state of the island’s utilities, including power, water, sewage and solid waste, to see what improvements are needed.
The environmental impact studies are important since Bice disclosed that not only 8,000 Marines, but possibly up to 12,000 Marines and their families, may be relocated to Guam.