Posts Tagged ‘Guam’

The Navy plans to broaden the scope of an ongoing environmental impact study to assess the impact of reducing the number of Marines relocating from Okinawa to Guam, the Joint Guam Program Office said Tuesday. The expanded supplemental EIS — initially intended to identify locations for a live fire training complex — will evaluate new alternatives for locating the Marine’s main base and family housing, and take a fresh look at how changes in the size of the influx will affect Guam’s civil infrastructure …

About 3,000 of the 5,000 Marines expected to relocate to Guam from Okinawa will rotate through, meaning that only 2,000 troops will be stationed there, reported the Pacific Daily News. The force that will be stationed on Guam, however, will be higher ranking and under the command of a one-star general, according to Mark Calvo, buildup director for the governor of Guam. The island will receive the 3rd Marine Expeditionary Brigade headquarters, along with other units. Last week, the U.S. and Japanese governments unveiled a new plan for moving about 9,000 Marines off Okinawa to Guam, Hawaii, Australia and other locations in the Western Pacific. Hawaii Gov. Neil Abercrombie said he expects the military will send up to 2,700 Marines to Hawaii, reported the Star-Advertiser.

Guam would eligible for federal assistance to cover the costs of providing increased municipal services and facilities stemming from the relocation of Marine Corps personnel, under a provision in the FY 2013 defense authorization bill approved by the House Armed Services’ Readiness Subcommittee Friday. DOD would be required to determine “that an unfair and excessive financial burden will be incurred by the government of Guam to provide the services and facilities in the absence of the Department of Defense assistance,” according to the provision.

The U.S. and Japanese governments last week unveiled a new plan for moving about 9,000 Marines off Okinawa to Guam, Hawaii, Australia and other locations in the Western Pacific. The new agreement — an update of an earlier one which would have relocated 8,600 Marines and their families to Guam — calls for between 4,700 and 5,000 troops to be stationed in Guam. No figures, however, were provided for how the remaining 4,000 Marines would be allocated to other Pacific locations …

The expected announcement by the United States and Japan about a renegotiated agreement for realigning the Marine Corps presence in Japan has been delayed, possibly over criticism from U.S. lawmakers. On Tuesday, Sens. Carl Levin, John McCain and Jim Webb raised a number of concerns after getting briefed on the deal …

Three members of the Senate Armed Services Committee, including the top Democrat and Republican, repeated their concerns Tuesday that the Pentagon has yet to answer questions about the cost, military sustainment and force management, and overall strategy for the Asia-Pacific region after being briefed on a new agreement between the United States and Japan on the planned move of Marines from Okinawa to Guam. “We require additional information regarding how this proposal relates to the broader strategic concept of operations in the region, the Marine Corps’ concept of operations, master plans and alternatives to base realignments on Guam and Okinawa, as well as the positioning of U.S. Air Force units in the Asia-Pacific region …

U.S. and Japanese officials have agreed that only 4,000 Marines will move from Okinawa to Guam, a drop from a revised understanding reached earlier this year, according to reports in the Japanese media. In February, the two nations scaled down their original plan to relocate 8,000-plus Marines and their families to Guam. At the time, DOD officials indicated only 4,700 Marines would move …

The recent decision by the U.S. and Japanese governments to scale down the realignment of Marines from Okinawa to Guam could obviate the need to construct a new base there, two Guam officials suggested. Reducing the number of Marines moving to Guam from 8,600 to 4,700 could allow the contingent to be based at Naval Base Guam, especially since some of the troops are expected to be rotational …

The Japanese government has agreed to increase its direct contribution for the relocation of an estimated 4,700 Marines from Okinawa to Guam by $700 million to $3.5 billion. The U.S. government asked for the higher contribution in February, a request Japan had resisted until now. The increased commitment from Japan comes even as DOD has scaled down the scope of the realignment, which until recently had called for 8,600 Marines to move …

The change in scope of the planned realignment of Marines from Okinawa to Guam most likely will require a new environmental impact statement, possibly resulting in a significant delay, according to testimony last week by the Navy’s installations chief. Japan and U.S. officials are in talks over the details of the reshaped plan now calling for only 4,700 Marines to relocate to Guam, down from 8,600 …