Military build-up on Guam to go forward

On August 29, 2015, the U.S. Navy signed the Record of Decision (ROD) for the Guam-Marianas Military Build Up despite significant, long-standing opposition to the plan. When President Obama visited Guam in 2010,it was under the guise of speaking about sustainability and environmental practices within the Pacific. Barely mentioned were the real reasons for Obama’s visit: to rally community and official support for the Department of Defense plan to relocate 8,600 Marines from Okinawa (Japan) to Guam, provide additional live-fire training sites, expand Andersen Air Force Base, create berthing for a nuclear aircraft carrier, and erect a missile defense system on the island.

The ROD allows for:
the green light on massive base construction and expansion projects set over eight years, including a new Marine Corps Base at Finegayan;
the taking of more sacred, historically and culturally rich lands at Litekyan and water for military use in Northern Guam;
the closure of public access to one of Guam’s most pristine places, the Ritidian Wildlife Nature Refuge;
the clearing of over 1,000 acres of diminishing limestone forests;
The destruction of some 55 acres of coral reef;
more war games, weapons testing and arms training over ancestral lands;
thousands more troops living and working behind thousands of more feet of fenced off lands;
an increase in waste left from live-fire training; and
the expansion of militarization to the rest of the Mariana islands.