[CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL, CLOSURE: Editorial: Clean Okinawa base land before returning it

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Base contamination information disclosure must precede land return plan

Editorial
Ryukyu Shimpo (Okinawa, Japan)
October 18, 2016 

Thorough decontamination of land used by the U.S. military must be carried out before it is returned. The Okinawa Defense Bureau has submitted a proposal plan for the return of roughly half of the U.S. military’s Northern Training Area, but the fact that its plan limits the decontamination period to “12 to 18 months” is unacceptable.

Decontamination is a major obstacle to realizing the early return of U.S. military base land in Okinawa. There are countless examples of time taken for decontamination delaying land return, such as the case of the former Onna Communication Site, where cadmium, mercury, PCB, led, and arsenic have been found, and the case of former Camp Kuwae land, where led and asbestos have been found.

U.S. military veterans testify that defoliants containing highly poisonous dioxins were sprayed in the Northern Training area, and assert that they now suffer health damage from those poisons. There is also the problem of contamination from U.S. military helicopter crashes.

…

For the entire editorial, see
http://english.ryukyushimpo.jp/2016/10/25/25928/

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice/Fax: 650/961-8918 
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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