More than 200 participants attended last week's compatibility and sustainability study workshops hosted by the Matrix Design Group.  The company will be summarizing the Draft Environmental Impact Statement for the military buildup on behalf of the government.

Matrix Vice-President Celeste Werner says most residents expressed concerns about how the Department of Defense dealt with environmental and land issues in the past as well as war reparations.  Matrix will review the planning, environmental and fiscal components of the DEIS once it's released on November 20, but Matrix will not be handling the technical review. 

That will be left to individual government agencies.

"We are not required or scoped to do a technical review, but just to clarify that that does not mean that Matrix Design Group does not have that expertise," said Werner.  "We have reviewed and assessed EISs across the U.S. of the same complexity in regards to military buildup as well as closures."

The group will return to Guam sometime in late-January to provide more village workshops and allow the public at least one month to comment on the DEIS.