 Peace committee urges government to stop drilling survey for new U.S. base Members of the Japan Peace Committee (JPC) on January 18 made representations to the government demanding that it immediately halt the drilling survey in preparation for the construction of an on-sea U.S. military base in Nago City, Okinawa. At the Defense Agency, JPC Representative Director Sato Mitsuo said that at more than 30 locations, coral reefs and rocks have been found damaged by the undersea drilling survey and that a local fishermen's cooperative is concerned about the damaging effects the survey might have on the fish harvest. He said, "The government should cancel the plan to construct the new base for the U.S. Marine Corps in Okinawa, parts of which have joined operations in Iraq to massacre Iraqi citizens." An official of the Defense Facilities Administration Agency stated that such adverse effects can be eliminated or reduced by removing the floor plates of the scaffolds for the boring, stressing that the government will stick to the construction plan. JPC Secretary General Chisaka Jun requested the agency staff to have a meeting with environmentalists, in response to an increasing public demand for an environmental assessment of the drilling survey. At the Environment Ministry, JPC representatives referred to the ministry's own research showing that a habitat for an endangered species of dugong includes the area for the planned construction, and demanded it make effort to protect the environment. In September last year, the government forcibly started the drilling survey to construct an alternative facility for the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station in Okinawa's Ginowan City. (end) |