New US base at Henoko must not be allowed
October 27, 2011
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2011 October 26 - November 1 [OKINAWA]
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U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta on October 25 held talks with Prime Minister Noda Yoshihiko, Foreign Minister Genba Koichiro, and Defense Minister Ichikawa Yasuo in Tokyo.
The aim of these talks was to strengthen the Japan-U.S. military alliance and move ahead with the planned “relocation” of the U.S. Futenma base in Okinawa.
It is a betrayal of Okinawans for the government to accelerate the “relocation” in complete disregard of Okinawans’ consensus opposing any relocation in the prefecture.
Before the talks with the U.S. secretary of defense, Prime Minister Noda instructed the foreign minister and the defense minister to tell the Okinawa prefectural administration that a written environmental impact assessment, a prerequisite to the relocation, will be submitted to the prefecture within the year.
Presenting the assessment before the year-end to move the relocation forward is based on the pledge made by Prime Minister Noda to U.S. President Barack Obama at the Japan-U.S. summit meeting last month in NYC. The Okinawan consensus against the relocation continues to be ignored.
The submission of a written assessment, the final stage of the environmental impact assessment study, will lead the central government to apply to Okinawa Prefecture for reclamation work on the coast of Henoko to build a new base. U.S. Defense Secretary Panetta expressed his expectations for the application to be made as early as possible.
Defects in and the very illegality of the assessment, which the Defense Ministry has been carrying out at the Henoko coast, have been pointed out many times. The Okinawa Prefecture’s environmental assessment council also disapproves the ministry’s assessment. Some residents of Henoko filed a lawsuit calling for an independent assessment to be conducted.
It is against the assessment law to exclude the influence of deploying Osprey aircraft at a new base, generating a lot of noise pollution with a high risk of crashes, from assessing the effects of the relocation project. Shimoji Hiroshi, head of the prefecture’s environment and livelihood department, stated at a prefectural assembly session on September 30 that inspections over Ospreys should be carried out.
The government position cannot be allowed because it insists on submitting the environmental impact report while refusing to redo the assessment which has clearly been shown to be defective.
Even the U.S. government itself acknowledges the Futenma base to be the world’s most dangerous for local residents as they have to suffer from its noise pollution day and night. The hardships and suffering will accompany the base wherever it is relocated.
Okinawa Prefectural Assembly Chair Takamine Zenshin criticized the government move as “most regrettable for going ahead with relocating procedures by ignoring the opinions of the residents.” Nago City Mayor Inamine Susumu also expressed his opposition, saying, “Is the government willing to impose the relocation by force?”
As long as Okinawans are against relocating the base in the prefecture, the government has no choice but to give up on the relocation project.
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