Guam has 90 days to review Draft EIS

Guam has 90 days to review Draft EIS

Posted: Nov 21, 2009 2:09 PM
Updated: Nov 21, 2009 6:48 PM
by Michele Catahay

Guam now has 90 days to review and provide testimony on the released by the Department of the Navy at midnight. The document includes nine volumes of information relating to the Marines' relocation to Guam. It details the relocation of approximately 8,600 service members and their 9,000 dependants from Okinawa to Guam.

Joint Guam Program Office Director John Jackson says residents can pick up copies of the DEIS at the Dededo, Yigo, Agat, Mangilao, Santa Rita and Barrigada mayors offices as well as the Nieves M. Flores Memorial Library in Hagatna, and the RFK Memorial Library at the University of Guam in Mangilao. You can also check out the Reading Room on the 2nd floor of the Agana Shopping Center.

Jackson says they're already receiving feedback and phone calls about the massive document, saying, "I think overall, they're mainly questions. Not positive, not negative but just questions about the different aspects of the EIS."

Jackson says all comments will be considered when formulating the final document. He says once everything is compiled and put together, the people of Guam will then be able to start seeing progress. "Our goal is so that we can complete the process which is the final EIS, the record of decision and everything else so that we can start construction in Fiscal Year 2010, this fiscal year. So if you back all that up, we want to have construction started at October 1 2010, back that all up, it all has to happen in sequence so we're really looking at late spring or early summer to get the final EIS out but then again, it's totally dependent on how many comments we get."

Residents have until 3pm on February 18 to provide testimony.