Japan Press Weekly

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2022 June 1 - 7 [US FORCES]

US fighter jet dumps fuel tank into sea off Okinawa

It came to light on June 1 that a U.S. FA-18 fighter jet which is based on the nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Ronald Reagan jettisoned a fuel tank into the sea off Okinawa Prefecture.

On May 30, a resident of Okinawa’s Higashi Village discovered the fuel tank with a length of 5.3m and a width of 80cm which was cast ashore on the village’s coast. On the following day, the U.S. military recovered the tank. Regarding the dumping incident, the U.S. forces did not provide any information regarding the incident to the Japanese and the Okinawa prefectural governments.

Japanese Communist Party prefectural assembly member Shimabuku Keisuke pointed out, “As the fuel tank happened to get washed up on the shore of Higashi Village,
the U.S. military’s act of dumping things into the sea surfaced. This aroused the suspicion that the U.S. military neglects to notify Tokyo and Okinawa of many other similar cases.” Referring to the U.S. forces’ refusal to let local residents know about the content of military drills, the JCP assemblyperson stressed the need to realize a return to Okinawa of the vast airspace and sea areas allotted for U.S. military training as well as the removal of U.S. military bases.

JCP member of the Higashi Village Assembly Isa Masatsugu angrily said, “If the fuel tank had hit a fishing boat operating on the sea, it could have been a catastrophe. The U.S. forces disregard Okinawans’ lives.”