Research Paper Buildup

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 According to my tracking statistics for this blog, a large number of people visit one of these pages based on searches related to Guam and its military buildup. My assumption is that some of these people are journalists looking into the issue, a few more may be scholars, as my blog has been quoted in several dozen academic publications on the topic. The majority are students working on research papers, either in Guam or elsewhere about the major concerns for the military buildup and putting together pro or con arguments. In the spirit of this Christmas and future Christmases, I thought I'd post a couple more articles to help those with future research paper needs. These are a few articles that I've used in papers or presentations to make certain important points.

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DEIS rouses youth activism

Monday, 11 Jan 2010 05:02am

Marianas Variety

By Zita Taitano

DYNAMIC young community voices are starting to rise above the public complacency toward the military’s voluminous draft impact study to give new breath to vital concerns of family, community and employment. 

More than 500 island residents turned out to the University of Guam Fieldhouse in Mangilao on Saturday for the second in a series of village presentations of the military draft impact statement.

The military buildup will attract 30,000 more jobs, but what they don’t want us to know is our people will only fill less than 20 percent of those jobs, Melvin Won Pat Borja, one of the organizers of the new group called We Are Guahan, founded by emergent young activists. “But this is not about jobs, or culture or money. This is about community. This is about our family.”

Scion of the of the storied Won Pat clan, the 28-year old further compelled the attention of the young adults in attendance by attesting to the rights of the future generations to be able to live free on their native island and without feeling oppressed.

“You are not alone. We must be united. We must never be silent!” he proclaimed. “I think in the past the larger community has been misrepresented as being in full support of this buildup. I think a lot of our people have been misled into believing the general population is in full support of this move.”

Won Pat Borja said it is clear the community is starting to coalesce and take note after observing the hearings this past Saturday and last Thursday.

“There’s been a lot of individuals from the community who have been coming out to speak out against this move and really voice their opinion,” he said.

Right before the hearing, members of the Taotaomona Native Rights group and We are Guahan walked in behind Danny “Pagat” Jackson and his wife Josephine Jackson as their grandson Cason Jackson sang Fanohge Chamorro.

Joint Guam Program Office is organizing the series of public hearings. They allowed others to provide their perspective on the military buildup as well, so long as they did not speak for more than three minutes.

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EPA sharply criticizes military's Guam plan
by Audrey McAvoy
AP
February 25, 2010

HONOLULU—The Environmental Protection Agency is sharply criticizing the military's plan to move thousands of Marines to Guam, saying its failure to plan for infrastructure upgrades would lead to raw sewage spills and a shortage of drinking water.

Further, the agency said the military's plan to build a new aircraft carrier berth at the U.S. territory's Apra Harbor would result in "unacceptable impacts" to 71 acres of a high quality coral reef.

The EPA outlined the criticisms in a strongly worded six-page letter to the Navy regarding a draft environmental impact statement by the military.

"The impacts are of sufficient magnitude that EPA believes the action should not proceed as proposed and improved analyses are necessary to ensure the information in the EIS is adequate to fully inform decision makers," the EPA said.

The military's Joint Guam Program Office said it was evaluating all comments it received on its environmental study and was committed to working with the EPA and other federal agencies to find solutions.

"The issues raised by EPA regarding the potential impacts to Guam from the military buildup are consistent with what we have heard from Guam's leaders, local agencies and the public," the military office said in an email statement to The Associated Press on Wednesday.

The military plan includes moving 8,600 Marines, and 9,000 of their dependents, to Guam from Okinawa, Japan. Washington and Tokyo are jointly paying for the transfer, which is designed to reduce the U.S. military's large footprint on densely populated Okinawa.

The letter said that at its peak, the change is expected to boost the Pacific territory's population by 79,000 people, or 45 percent, over the island's current 180,000 residents. The figure includes large numbers of construction workers that will have to move to Guam to build the new facilities.

The EPA's letter, dated Feb. 17, was first reported by the Pacific Daily News on its Web site Thursday Guam time.

Specifically, the EPA said the military's plan would lead to the following problems:

-- A shortfall in Guam's water supply, resulting in low water pressure that would expose people to water borne diseases from sewage.

-- Increased sewage flows to wastewater plants already failing to comply with Clean Water Act regulations.

-- More raw sewage spills that would contaminate the water supply and the ocean.

Regarding coral reefs, the EPA said the military underestimated the effect the aircraft carrier berth would have on a resource that currently provides essential habitats for fish and endangered sea turtles and that supports commercial and recreational fishing.

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On the Net:

EPA National Environmental Policy Act page for the Department of Defense: http://www.epa.gov/region09/nepa/dod.html

© Copyright 2010 Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

 

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Snorkeling Outing Showcases Guam's Habitat

KUAM

by Heather Hauswirth

February 7, 2010

Guam - Members of the We Are Guahan Coalition sponsored a four-hour snorkeling trip to outer Apra Harbor on Sunday so that residents could see for themselves the rare coral and fish whose habitat will be disrupted by proposed dredging cited in the Draft Environmental Impact Statement in order to accommodate a pier for an aircraft carrier.

While parts of Apra Harbor are open to the public, this may not be the case for long. On Sunday more than 100 snorkelers scoped out the habitat that thrives in jade and western shoals. We Are Guahan member and Southern High Social studies teacher Collin Smith says there's no doubt that the construction of an aircraft carrier pier will have dire consequences on the marine habitat.

"Some of the reef will actually be gone. Some of it will be gone directly taken out and that's it. Some of the reef will be killed when the sand spreads out in the water and impacts other areas. In the DEIS they say 39 acres will be directly impacted, but it's more like 70 acres will be directly impacted," he noted. "To give you a sense of the scale of this, 39 acres is 21 Micronesia Malls."

While the DEIS states that existing fish stocks can easily relocate to another habitat, marine biologists say otherwise.  They argue that removing any coral especially older colonies - permanently reduces the number of surrounding fish.

Legislative Speaker Judi Won Pat, who saw some of the 110 different species of coral herself during the dive, won't allow dredging in Apra Harbor without a fight.  "It was an experience I've never had diving or snorkeling here. The large coral heads I'm sure took so many years to grow to that size. There are a lot of fish down there, so it is a habitat for our marine life so I surely don't want to see anything like that disturbed," she said.

For research psychologist and University of Guam professor Mike Elhart, he questions whether or not alternatives are even possible.  "Should it not happen? Do we not need to be careful with defense? Of course we do, but the question is can they do it some other way. 

Could they, for example, set it up further out in the port, another part of the port where it wouldn't damage as much reef that's public access?  I don't know the solution, but dredging deeper areas here doesn't seem to be a reasonable way to do it," he said.

http://www.kuam.com/global/story.asp?s=11949187

http://www.weareguahan.com