Draft EIS published online by JGPO

by Mindy Aguon

The highly-anticipated Draft Environmental Impact Statement has been released online and is available for public review.  The community now has 90 days to review the nine volumes of information relating to the U.S. Marines' relocation to Guam and provide comments.

The Joint Guam Program Office will host a public hearing sometime in January to provide island residents an opportunity to voice their specific concerns.  The DEIS spells out where the marines will be situated on the island, including portions of private and government land that the military hopes to acquire.

The Draft Environmental Impact Statement details the relocation of approximately 8,600 Marines and their 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to Guam.  The mission capabilities of the units to be stationed in Guam are part of a larger mission capability supporting the overall national defense objectives of the United States in the Western Pacific.  The proposed action involves constructing and utilizing all required facilities, infrastructure and training assets necessary to establish a Marine Corps base of operations on Guam.

The DEIS explains that there are four relocating military elements:

• Command Element - 3rd Marine Expeditionary Force - which is the forward-deployed Marine Air Ground Task Force that has the ability to deploy rapidly and conduct operations ranging from humanitarian assistance and disaster relief to amphibious assault and high intensity combat.  The Command Element will consist of more than 3,000 personnel.
• Ground Combat Element - approximately 1,100 personnel and includes the 3rd Marine Division units with a mission of locating, closing with and destroying the enemy with fire, maneuver and close combat.
• Air Combat Element - consists of more than 1,800 personnel that operate from a variety of sea- and shore-based facilities to support Marine Air Ground Task Force expeditionary operations.
• Logistics Combat Element - provides all support functions beyond the other capabilities.  It is also a large transient component.

The Marines will need firing ranges for live and inert munitions practice and that requires safety buffers, known as "surface danger zones" and "special use airspace".  They will also need aviation training areas for practicing landing and takeoffs and air field support, which will be held at Andersen Air Force Base in Yigo.

The Live Fire Training Range Complex is all dependent though on the military's ability to acquire land east of Andersen South, which would be much of Route 15 that belongs to private landowners and the Government of Guam.  The DEIS notes that the northern plateau in Yigo is mostly undeveloped, with the exception of the Guam Raceway Park. 

Additionally, the feds note that the southern valley portion is also mostly underdeveloped.

The military is also looking at acquiring the former Federal Aviation Administration housing area in Dededo as well as properties in Harmon that are owned by both private residents and GovGuam. 

The military notes that the Harmon properties are mostly undeveloped with the exception of some apparent temporary structures and a few abandoned buildings.  The area, according to maps, appears to be near Two Lovers Point.

The military briefly discusses in Volume 2 efforts to acquire the real estate that they need, saying the acquisition of access rights and land parcels will be pursued with the appropriate land owners upon completion of the Record of Decision, which will not occur until after the final EIS is formulated.  Additionally, they note that the alternatives vary in the quantity of non-Department of Defense land to be acquired in the vicinity of NCTS Finegayan and the quantity of NCTS Finegayan proposed for development. 

As it stands now, apparently two of the four alternatives would divide the family housing-community support facilities between properties located on both the east and west sides of the island.  

There was some discussion previously to put military housing at the airport and LeoPalace, but those have since been ruled out.

The military did not however that before acquiring real property by purchase or lease - a DoD component must determined that the requirement cannot be satisfied with existing DoD or other excess or under utilized federal lands.  The DEIS does detail how the Marines will use existing military property - such as Northwest Field - where the Marines will use the existing demolition range and the aviation training site there. 

The Marines are also expected to utilize AAFB for munitions storage and air field operations and training while they want to integrate into the existing Naval Base Guam operations at Inner Apra Harbor for waterfront facilities and operations.

Residents can view the DEIS in-person at the Nieves M. Flores Memorial Library in Hagatna; the RFK Library at the University of Guam in Mangilao; at the Yigo, Dededo, Barrigada, Mangilao, Agat and Tinian mayor's offices; and at the CNMI College Library.

JGPO confirms that a public hearing will be held sometime in January to allow residents to voice their concerns.