Bordallo: Okinawa Air Station Concerns Shouldn't Hamper Guam Realignment

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Written by Jeff Marchesseault, Guam News Factor Staff Writer

Saturday, 27 June 2009 11:21

MadeleineZBordallo

GUAM - A weekend edition of Stars & Stripes reports that "the House version of the Fiscal 2010 Defense Authorization Bill could hamper plans to replace Marine Corps Air Station Futenma on Okinawa with a new airstrip on Camp Schwab [also on Okinawa]."

But in the same article, Guam Congresswoman Madeleine Z. Bordallo suggests that language seeking a safety certification from the Defense Secretary for the new base ultimately should not stall the planned movement of Okinawa-based U.S. Marines to Guam. Nor should it interfere with the massive preparatory buildup whose preliminary stages have already been set in motion here on island.

This excerpt from Stars & Stripes lays out Bordallo's perspective:

Madeleine Z. Bordallo, the House delegate from Guam, said House Armed Servicess Committee chairman Ike Skelton, D-Mo., raised concerns about the design of the [Camp Schwab] facility. But, she said, the language in the bill is not mean(t) to scuttle the far-reaching realignment plans.

"The continued commitment to the military build-up on Guam is evident in the significant military construction funding for Guam in the bill," Bordallo said. "The issue of the Futenma Replacement Facility is a provision that the committee leadership will continue to address in conference committee with the Department of Defense."

Stars & Stripes says the White House, the Pentagon and Japan's Defense Ministry have expressed their opposition to the provision, stating that it would jeopardize the U.S-Japan realignment accord already in place.

Read the Stars & Stripes story, "Bill may complicate plannned Camp Schwab airstrip", By Leo Shane III and David Allen, Stars and Stripes Pacific edition for Sunday, June 28, 2009.

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