Don't Let Guam Sink into Oblivion

“Do Not Allow Guam to Sink into Oblivion”
Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty Conference 2010 NYC
by: Melvin Won Pat-Borja,
Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice/We Are Guahan

During a congressional hearing on the Guam military buildup in early April, US Representative Hank Johnson said that he feared the Military Relocation on Guam would cause our tiny island to capsize and sink. The comment, though not meant to be taken literally, caused an uproar among Chamorus everywhere. People were so outraged at his perceived ignorance that they continually bashed him in the media and all over the internet. The sad truth however is that Guam WILL sink. It will sink under the weight of tons of toxic waste dumped by the military each year, sink under the pressure of contaminated drinking water, sink under the weight of overpopulated schools, massive amounts of traffic, inadequate health care, and extreme over population. If this military expansion goes as planned, the people of Guam will surely sink to the bottom of the Marianas Trench and become nothing more than a footnote in America's colonial history.

Our story began centuries ago when we first sailed from the coast of south east asia and made this beautiful chain of islands our home, but for the sake of time, THIS story will begin when the DEIS (draft environmental impact statement) for Guam and the military buildup was released in November of last year. The document laid the blueprint for the transfer of 8,000 marines and their 9,000 dependents from Okinawa to Guam. It was an 11,000 page document that held our future in the margins of the paper it was printed on and the public was only given 90 days to comment on it. The plans suggested that Guam was the best alternative to right the wrongs that America's armed forces had imposed on the people of Okinawa. The Department of Defense had chosen Guam because South Korea, the Philipines, California, and Hawaii all said "no." But the sad reality is that Guam was never offered that same courtesy. We are an unincorporated territory of the United States, leaving us victim to whatever decision America makes, whether it is beneficial for us or not. Guam is America's dirty little secret, the step child that no one ever talks about. We are affectionately referred to as the place "where America's day begins," but no one likes to admit that America starts each day with injustice. We have traditionally been loyal servants, patriots, and second class citizens, enlisting more soldiers per capita than anywhere else in the world. It makes me wonder if America could even have a military without people like us. We are as American as apple pie and baseball when there is war on the horizon or when strategic positioning in the Pacific is needed, but we are not American when it is time to vote in congress or the senate or when it is time to elect a new president.

When you read about the military buildup on Guam, many media sources portray the move as positive on all sides, hailing economic benefits as its saving grace. The people of Guam have been sold the idea of 33,000 new jobs that will stimulate our suffering economy, providing work for families in desperate need of some kind of income.

Our government has been sold the idea that millions of federal dollars will go to fund desperately needed infrastructural upgrades. And the rest of the nation has been sold ideas of potential business ventures that promise them desperately needed money and success.

Indeed, the global economy has created desperate times for all of us and it seems that selling Guam to the highest bidder is the answer.

Thousands of jobs and millions of dollars have a way of sounding too good to be true and upon reading the massive 11,000 page document it has become clear that it is indeed a wolf in sheep's clothing. Nothing is what it seems and all of their promises are empty. Like their promise of 33,000 new jobs predicting an economic upturn for Guam in reality, a mere 17 percent of those jobs will go to the local community while the vast majority of jobs will go to the foreign work force from around the region. As we speak, people from all over the world and the US are making preparations to move to Guam in search of business opportunities. They promise financial prosperity to the people, but even the measly 17 percent of total jobs they will offer are mostly temporary construction work, which will cause unemployment to sky-rocket once the construction is completed. The DEIS even states that they predict a "recession-like atmosphere" after the construction phase is over. They say that there are incredible gains for our local government, which will absorb millions of dollars from the federal government, but nowhere in the DEIS does the federal government make any kind of commitment to support infrastructure outside the fence. In fact, of the billions of dollars coming from the federal government and the Japanese Diet, a vast majority is earmarked for infrastructural upgrades on base only. The DEIS suggests that the government of Guam will reap its financial benefits from an increase in tax dollars as a result of the population boom, but it doesn't take into account the amount of money we will also have to spend in order to service all these people. They predict that Guam's population will increase by almost 80,000 people. On an island that is only 31 miles long and 7 miles wide with a current population of 170,000 people it's not hard to imagine Guam sinking to the bottom of the ocean floor. When you translate these numbers into social services, it becomes clear that the Government of Guam will find itself in dire straits trying to maintain an acceptable level of community care. The DEIS predicts that our hospital, which sees a shortage of beds on a daily basis, will see an increase of over 41,000 patients. Yet the DEIS only has plans to upgrade Naval Hospital, a facility that not only denies health services to our general public, but consistently fails to care for our local veterans as well. They predict that the Department of Public Health and Social Services along with the Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse will see an increase of nearly 23,000 more patients. Our Public School system will see 8,000 new students and the DEIS recommends that we build 5 new public schools. We will also require 532 new teachers in our public school system, which already has to fill 300 vacancies each year. There are a number of infrastructural upgrades that Guam will require in order to cope with the demands that 80,000 more people bring to our community, but there is no commitment by the Military or the Federal Government to support us financially. We are being forced to bear the burden of this buildup on our own. Once again, America has found a way to make a mess and the people of Guam will be forced to clean up after them.

Of course with any massive change in population we must also take into account the impact that such changes will have on our environment. Two major proposals in the DEIS are the dredging of 71 acres of coral reef in Apra Harbor to make room for a nuclear aircraft carrier and the acquisition of ancestral land for a live firing range.

The military plans to dock their nuclear aircraft carrier in our local harbor instead of using their own Kilo Wharf, the harbor that they already occupy. The US Environmental Protection Agency claims that this dredging project is unprecedented and that the impact on the biologically diverse ecosystem cannot be mitigated. DoD experts claim that most of the reef in the area they want to dredge is already dead and that there isn't much wildlife that will be adversely impacted, but our local marine biologists have found species of coral that have not yet been identified and could be endemic to this region. Furthermore, the way in which they propose to dredge the reef may have lasting impact on surrounding reefs and ecosystems as a result of sediment which could suffocate and destroy the species of coral down current. The plans for Apra Harbor in the DEIS demonstrate the military's lack of concern and insensitivity to the issues facing Guam; in fact, it was just recently discovered by a local marine biologist that certain sections in the DEIS (particularly the sections on Apra Harbor) were plagiarized!

The land that the military wishes to acquire for their firing range is rich in cultural history and significance, containing ancient artifacts and ancestral remains that cannot be mitigated or replaced by any sum of money.

Some parcels of land are owned by local residents who refuse to sell or lease, but the military insists on applying pressure to these private land owners as the threat of eminent domain hangs in the balance like it did after world war II, when residents were given a "take it or lose it" option when it came to private property. Most of the land that the military currently occupies was "purchased" for little to nothing in most cases and not selling was not an option.

Upon review of the DEIS, the US Environmental Protection Agency rated it "insufficient" and "environmentally unsatisfactory," giving it the lowest possible rating for a DEIS. Among other things, the US EPA's findings suggest that Guam's water infrastructure cannot handle the population boom and that our fresh water resources will be at high risk for contamination. Our waste water system is in desperate need of upgrades and the population increase threatens to cause overflow and run off which could permanently pollute our fresh water lens. The increase in demand for fresh water will require that we dig up 22 new water wells especially to serve the military population up north, but several experts believe that digging so many new wells in close proximity to each other puts us at high risk of salt water contamination. Once a fresh water well is contaminated by salt water, the effects are irreversible. Officials at the Guam Waterworks Authority claim that we have more than enough water to handle the burden of 80,000 additional people, but the DEIS has plans for a desalinization plant, which is normally only used if fresh water resources are limited or jeopardized. In addition, the US EPA predicts that without infrastructural upgrades to our water system, the population outside the bases will experience a 13.1 million gallon water shortage per day in 2014. And this is where the battle gets interesting.

Though it seems that the odds are already stacked against us and that we can rely on no one but ourselves, we have found that special interest groups like the Guam Chamber of Commerce and the Guam Visitors Bureau have been avid proponents of the military buildup. They target our marginalized population enticing them with dreams of economic prosperity. Over 25 percent of Guam's population lives below the poverty line and poverty is possibly the most powerful weapon in conquering a people.

These special interest groups and even some government officials including our Governor and our representative in congress prey on our people, dangling money over their heads while unemployment looms in the background like the Gestapo. These house slaves promise that life will be so much better with the buildup and threaten that foreign countries will invade if the buildup does not happen. We are being subjugated by US imperialism and dependency and our own people have become our own worst enemy. Right now, our representative in congress claims that the people of Guam welcome this buildup with open arms and that we will gladly "take one for the team." But we have never really been a part of America's Team. We are like the black athletes of the 30's and 40's whose accolades on the field were heralded, but couldn't even get a cab off the field.

We, the people, have found ourselves backed into a corner, deserted on the battlefield, left to fight the world's largest superpower. It is truly a case of David vs. Goliath. Though the military buildup on Guam seems like a losing battle, this terroristic threat to our homeland has caused an uprising among the youth and many have stepped up to fight and defend our island and its people. But we cannot win this alone, so we are calling on our brothers and sisters from across the globe; those of you who know the bitter taste of oppression, we urge you fight alongside us in solidarity. We want this buildup no more than Okinawa wants the Marines to stay put. The military has already stolen almost 30 percent of the total land mass in Guam. We cannot allow them to take even more from us. We have sacrificed time and again for a country that has led us astray with empty promises and half-truths; who have held us hostage with US citizenship, fear, and economic dependency. We need your help. We need environmental law experts to help us take this issue to court. We need media support to get our message out to the rest of the world. We need more representation and influence to help us fight in congress and the senate. We need the international community to help us stay afloat and not allow us to sink into a sea of indifference, ignorance, and apathy. I pray that these words do not fall on deaf ears and that the world will come to the aid of a people and an island who have been mistreated for over 500 years of uninterrupted colonization. Please do not allow Guam to sink into oblivion.

Build up Speed Up

Buildup speed up .
Friday, 30 April 2010 01:03
by Gerardo Partido
Marianas Variety News Staff

Any doubts that the military buildup on Guam won't happen were dashed earlier this week when Japan prime minister Yukio Hatoyama reportedly told the U.S. that he would abide with the original 2006 military realignment agreement.

Before that, some members of Hatoyama's coalition had been boasting that they would defy the U.S. and relocate the Futenma airbase outside Okinawa, perhaps even transfer it to Guam.

But the Washington Post, citing unnamed sources, reported that President Obama told Hatoyama in no uncertain terms that Japan must abide by the original agreement or else.

Of course, Hatoyama, the next day, denied that he had caved in. He even joined a rally in Okinawa that called for the removal of the Futenma base. But that is just face-saving, an attempt to appease his constituents.

The Washington Post report is credible because Obama has long looked for a chance to prove that he is no wimp when it comes to global security issues. He has already been widely criticized for letting the Futenma issue stew. So his reported "blunt" talk with Hatoyama during the recent nuclear talks held in Washington D.C. has a ring of truth to it.

Hatoyama's self-imposed deadline of May for announcing his decision on Futenma is now upon us. Many analysts believe that his final decision will not be a radical departure from the original agreement. Perhaps small changes here and there to give a show of not totally capitulating to the U.S. But nothing radical to anger the U.S. and risk Japan's more than 50-year security relationship with the U.S.

There has been talk of minor revisions such as changes in the runway plan or pushing the proposed relocation site further away from population centers. The U.S. can live with these changes and is expected to give Hatoyama the political breathing room he needs.

Here on Guam, we are back to where we started and there is an even bigger sense of urgency now that it seems that the buildup will push through after all.

Nothing has been heard about the draft environmental impact statement since the comment period expired. The military, especially the JGPO, has been very reticent about whether concerns raised against the DEIS have been addressed. A "deafening" silence, as military buildup chair Sen. Judith Guthertz characterized it.

And yet, there are signs that the military buildup is speeding up. Younex has just broken ground on its $200 million workforce village that is capable of housing 18,000 guest workers expected to come to Guam for the buildup.

There are also rumors that teams of civilian-military contractors are already scouting areas where at least 9 new DoDEA schools will be constructed for the children of military personnel.

Ditto for the Barrigada area where the planned Army ballistic missile unit will be located. The teams are supposedly already planning for the area's "preliminary water piping." Now, water service has always been a sore point among Barrigada residents. Imagine the additional strain that the newcomers will bring to the water infrastructure in the area.

In fact, many are saying now that the water demand alone from the buildup is so massive that it warrants an entirely new and separate environmental impact study, especially with the military planning to dig up its own water wells to supplement the existing supply.

This is true as well for the Apra Harbor portion of the buildup plan, with its many facets covering possible ill effects on the marine environment in the area, including the possible danger of radioactivity.

All in all, the Guam military buildup plan is so huge and all-encompassing that in other states in the mainland, such an undertaking would require various, separate environmental impact studies.

In the meantime, errors in the one DEIS that we currently have continue to be uncovered. Some are laughable were it not for the fact that it is our island they are talking about. Imagine, making an elementary mistake on the sequence of the Guam and Pearl Harbor bombing?

Also, there's the possibility that sections of the DEIS may have been plagiarized. As the UOG professor who blew the whistle on the plagiarism said, if one part of the report is a lie then the whole thing becomes suspect.

And the U.S. government paid $87 million for this report! If they had employed more local professionals, perhaps the report would have been more accurate and more of those federal dollars would have stayed on island.

With such glaring mistakes and the wholesale condemnation of the report by the feds' own U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the federal government must consider redoing the whole DEIS and starting from scratch.

The military can't just release a final record of decision based on a draft that has been proven to be defective. There's simply no way we can accept a final EIS if that is based on the old DEIS.

We all want the economic benefits of the military expansion to start as soon as possible, but the buildup must be done properly so that our island suffers the least damage from it.

Buildup Angers Guam

On Guam, planned Marine base raises anger, infrastructure concerns
By Blaine Harden
Washington Post
March 22, 2010

HAGATNA, GUAM -- This remote Pacific island is home to U.S. citizens who are fervent supporters of the military, as measured by their record of fighting and dying in America's recent wars.

But they are angry about a major military buildup here, which the government of Guam and many residents say is being grossly underfunded. They fear that the construction of a new Marine Corps base will overwhelm the island's already inadequate water and sewage systems, as well as its port, power grid, hospital, highways and social services.

"Our nation knows how to find us when it comes to war and fighting for war," said Michael W. Cruz, lieutenant governor of Guam and an Army National Guard colonel who recently returned from a four-month tour as a surgeon in Afghanistan. "But when it comes to war preparations -- which is what the military buildup essentially is -- nobody seems to know where Guam is."

The federal government has given powerful reasons to worry to the 180,000 residents of Guam, a balmy tropical island whose military importance derives from its location as by far the closest U.S. territory to China and North Korea.

The Environmental Protection Agency said last month that the military buildup, as described in Pentagon documents, could trigger island-wide water shortages that would "fall disproportionately on a low income medically underserved population." It also said the buildup would overload sewage-treatment systems in a way that "may result in significant adverse public health impacts."

A report by the Government Accountability Office last year came to similar conclusions, saying the buildup would "substantially" tax Guam's infrastructure.

President Obama had planned to visit Guam on Monday as the brief first stop of an Asia trip, but he delayed his travel because of Sunday's health-care vote in the House. Obama is aware of the problems here and had planned to promise some federal help, White House officials said.

"We're trying to identify and understand the current conditions on Guam and the potential impact of the relocation," said Nancy Sutley, head of the White House Council on Environmental Quality, who on Tuesday will lead a delegation to the island. "There's no question that the environmental conditions on Guam are not ideal."

Besides a new Marine base and airfield, the buildup includes port dredging for a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier, a project that would cause what the EPA describes as an "unacceptable" impact on 71 acres of a vibrant coral reef. The military, which owns 27 percent of the island, also wants to build a Marine firing range on land that includes one of the last undeveloped beachfront forests on Guam.

'Should not proceed'

In a highly unusual move, the EPA graded the buildup plan as "environmentally unsatisfactory" and said it "should not proceed as proposed."

"The government of Guam and the Guam Waterworks cannot by themselves accommodate the military expansion," said Nancy Woo, associate director of the EPA's western regional water division. She said Guam would need about $550 million to upgrade its water and sewage systems. White House officials said the EPA findings are preliminary.

Guam government officials put the total direct and indirect costs of coping with the buildup at about $3 billion, including $1.7 billion to improve roads and $100 million to expand the already overburdened public hospital. On this island -- where a third of the population receives food stamps and about 25 percent lives below the U.S. poverty level -- that price tag cannot be paid with local tax revenue.

"It is not possible and it is not fair that the island bear the cost," Woo said.

At the peak of construction, the buildup would increase Guam's population by 79,000 people, or about 45 percent. The EPA said the military plans, so far, to pay for public services for about 23,000 of the new arrivals, mostly Marines and their dependents who are relocating from the Japanese island of Okinawa. Ceded to the United States by Spain in 1898, Guam is a U.S. territory. Its residents are American citizens, but they cannot vote in presidential elections and have no voting representative in Congress.

The Marine Corps is sensing a populist backlash on Guam, which is three times the size of the District of Columbia and more than 6,000 miles west of Los Angeles.

"I see a rising level of concern about how we are going to manage this," Lt. Gen. Keith J. Stalder, the Hawaii-based commander of Marine forces in the Pacific, said in a telephone interview. "I think it is becoming clearer every day that they need outside assistance."

The White House said Obama included $750 million in his budget to address the civilian impact of the relocation and has asked Congress for $1 billion next year, but Guam officials say they have received no assurances from the federal government that the money is headed their way.

No input in decision

Guam was not consulted in the decision to move 8,000 Marines -- about half those based in Okinawa -- to the island. The $13 billion move was negotiated in 2006 between the Bush administration and a previous Japanese government, with Japan paying about $6 billion of the non-civilian cost, as a way of reducing the large U.S. military footprint in Okinawa.

But in the past year, with new leadership in Tokyo, the Japanese role in the move has become complicated. Anti-military sentiment is growing in Okinawa; Japan's new leaders have yet to decide if they will allow a Marine air station to remain anywhere in the country. Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates has expressed irritation with Japan, even as the Pentagon presses ahead with its plan to shift the Marines to Guam by 2014.

The government of Guam and most of its residents initially welcomed the buildup. It was viewed as good for business, and the military enjoys deep respect here. Many families have members serving in the armed forces; among the 50 states and four territories, this island regularly ranks first in recruiting success. Guam's killed-in-action rate is about four times as high as on the mainland.

Guam is the only American soil with a sizable population to have been occupied by a foreign military power. During World War II, the Japanese held the island for 2 1/2 brutal years, building concentration camps and forcing the indigenous Chamorro people to provide slave labor and sex. Beheadings were common.

Led by the Marines, American forces liberated the island in 1944, and people here say they still feel a debt to the United States. To repay it, they proudly call their island the "tip of the spear" for projecting U.S. military power in the Far East. Guam already has Navy and Air Force bases that can handle many of the most potent weapons in the U.S. arsenal. Nuclear-powered attack submarines, F-22 fighter jets and B-2 stealth bombers frequent the island, which will soon be protected by its own anti-missile system.

"We don't mind being the tip of spear, but we don't want to get the shaft," said Simon A. Sanchez II, chairman of Guam's commission on public utilities. "We have been asking for help from Day One, but we have not got any meaningful appropriations."

'Not being listened to'

The governor of Guam, Felix Camacho, asked the military last month to slow down the deployment of Marines until sufficient federal money arrives. But as a territory, and without a vote in Congress, the island has negligible lobbying power and no legal means of halting the buildup.

Many residents have hoped that Obama -- a fellow Pacific islander, who was born in Hawaii and lived in Indonesia -- might understand their anxieties and unlock federal resources. The White House said Obama will visit Guam when his Asia trip is rescheduled, perhaps in June.

I just want to remind President Obama that his story is our story," said Victoria-Lola Leon Guerrero, an English instructor at the University of Guam and a leader of a group opposing the buildup. She said her students read Obama's autobiography, "Dreams From My Father," focusing on a coming-of-age passage from his years in Hawaii, in which he describes his realization that he was "utterly alone."

"That's how we feel here," she said. "We feel like we are not being listened to, like we are not being respected."

The federal government's push to further militarize this island -- combined with its heel-dragging in paying for the impact on civilians -- has led many Guam residents to doubt the value of their relationship with the United States.

"This is old-school colonialism all over again," said LisaLinda Natividad, an assistant professor of social work at the University of Guam and an activist opposing the buildup. "It boils down to our political status -- we are occupied territory."

Staff writer Michael D. Shear in Washington contributed to this report.

$1.75 Billion

Buildup utilities cost: $1.75B
By Brett Kelman
Pacific Daily News
March 24, 2010

It could cost as much as $1.75 billion to prepare Guam's utilities for the military buildup and the growth beyond, and the federal government must pay for the costs that local residents cannot afford, the island's highest utility official said yesterday.

Simon Sanchez, chairman of the Consolidated Commission on Utilities, explained this price tag during a closed-door briefing with President Obama's chief environmental adviser yesterday.

Sanchez said the island needs a commitment that the federal government is willing to pay to make Obama's "One Guam, Green Guam" vision a reality -- or delay the buildup.

"What we shared with the feds this morning was: Inside this $1.5 billion to $2 billion, we are going to find a number that is the most the people of Guam can afford to pay," Sanchez said.

That number is enough for only some of the upgrades Guam's power, water and wastewater systems need to prepare, Sanchez said. The buildup is expected to bring 80,000 more people to the island by 2014.

"If the federal government wants more than that to occur, they have to fill in the gap," Sanchez said.

Some of the sharpest expert criticism of the coming military buildup came from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency in February. Like Sanchez, the U.S. EPA said the buildup's impact on drinking water and wastewater could threaten the island's aquifer and public health.

If these concerns aren't addressed, U.S. EPA will call on the White House Council on Environmental Quality, which acts as a referee when federal agencies disagree.
The council's chairwoman is Nancy Sutley -- whom Sanchez briefed yesterday morning.

Journalists weren't allowed to attend the briefing, which was held at the Naval Base admiral's office. Sanchez and Sutley spoke about their meeting during a tour of Guam's northern wastewater treatment plant yesterday afternoon.

Sutley said it was obvious that the island had many long-standing infrastructure needs and the buildup would add to those shortcomings. The puzzle of who pays for the solutions must be solved, she said.

"I know there are lots of discussions going on on costs and it is important information for us and this (is) clearly an issue we are going to have to resolve, about who pays and how," Sutley said. "... We have a lot to think about and a lot of work to do still."

Direct and indirect

Regardless of whether the buildup happens, many of these improvements would be unavoidable as Guam grows, Sanchez said. But the sudden spike in population in 2014 has forced some changes to happen sooner.

Some of these changes are direct impacts -- such as the increased power, water and sewage needs of the new Marine base -- for which the military has been more than willing to help pay, Sanchez said. One example is that the military has discussed paying as much as $50 million to make upgrades at the northern wastewater treatment plant that was toured yesterday, he said.

But indirect impacts are more difficult to plan for and pay for, so Guam needs even more money from the Department of Defense for these, Sanchez said.

For example: The Guam Power Authority had planned to build a new power plant in 2022, but because the buildup will increase power needs sooner, the plant is now needed in 2017, Sanchez said.

"So why should Ms. Cruz pay for debt service on the cost of another generator five years sooner than she would if (the Marines) didn't show up?" Sanchez said.
Closed doors

Sutley's two-day fact-finding trip ended yesterday, and much of her research about Guam has taken place behind closed doors.

Only hand-picked community groups were allowed in a stakeholders meeting on Monday afternoon, and journalists weren't allowed in the briefing held yesterday morning. Yesterday afternoon, Sutley met with local senators behind closed doors.

Sutley said the meetings were designed to create "frank and candid" conversations and she didn't know if journalists would get in the way of that.

Dave Lotz, president of the Guam Boonie Stompers, said he was insulted that the White House met with "cherry-picked" stakeholders on Monday.

The Boonie Stompers have worked to retain access to local hiking trails when the military expands it borders during the buildup. This group -- and anyone else who was interested -- should have been allowed in that stakeholders meeting with Sutley, Lotz said.

"Somebody was making a judgment that they thought these were the important groups," Lotz said. "The bigger picture, obviously, ... is why are these stakeholders meetings meant to exclude true community involvement?"

Rising Seas, Rising Awareness

Published on Thursday, October 22, 2009 by The Baltimore Sun
Rising Seas, Rising Awareness
Climate change threatens to drown Maryland's coasts and islands, but it's not too late to act
by Mike Tidwell

Here's an idea: Why don't the residents of Smith Island - at the fragile center of the Chesapeake Bay - rent a few scuba-diving suits and hold a town hall meeting under water?

Scientists say a huge part of the Chesapeake region could be below water in a few decades due to rapid global warming. So why not practice up? Just grab a few wetsuits and goggles and rehearse for the aquatic life to come.

A similar rehearsal took place last week in another island area: the archipelago nation of the Maldives in the Indian Ocean. Sitting at underwater tables, atop underwater chairs with fish darting about, the country's president and Cabinet ministers held a "global warming summit" to ask the world to stop the rising seas that could eventually submerge their entire country.

But as TV networks broadcast this bizarre meeting back to the U.S., you could almost hear the "tsk, tsk." We comfortable Americans tend to view really big catastrophes - things like famines and tsunamis - as far-away matters involving people usually too poor or under-educated to plan better.

This mindset helped blind us to the pre-Hurricane Katrina dangers of New Orleans. And it's blinding us today to the shared threat of climate change in places like Smith Island, not to mention Manhattan Island and most of south Florida.

Smith Island - just 80 miles east of the White House in the main stem of the Chesapeake - is home to 300 fishermen, artists, boat-builders, shopkeepers and retirees. The island covers four square miles and is, on average, less than 2 feet above sea level.

If, thanks to global warming pollution, the Greenland ice sheet continues its satellite-verified meltdown, then Smith Island will almost certainly disappear even faster than the Maldives and faster than several much-publicized South Pacific island nations. The whole eastern third of Maryland, in fact, is in big trouble, from Ocean City to Solomons Island to Annapolis. James Hansen, the top climate scientist at NASA, says we'll be measuring sea-level rise in meters by 2100 if current trends continue.

That's a lot to take in, for sure, and skepticism might be the natural response to such climate predictions. So don't take it from Greenpeace or Al Gore or even James Hansen. Listen instead to Allstate Insurance Co.

In 2006, Allstate announced it was no longer issuing new homeowners' policies in states up and down the East Coast. In Maryland, the company shut its doors to new customers across 11 eastern counties, including parts of Anne Arundel and Prince George's counties. Why? First, the company said, sea levels are definitely rising worldwide based on irrefutable science. Second, Atlantic hurricanes are getting bigger and more intense as the planet warms. Hence, Smith Island and much of the rest of eastern Maryland just aren't good insurance risks anymore, Allstate acknowledged. The potential for catastrophe is too great.

Allstate is not a Republican corporation. It's not a Democratic corporation. This is rational private capital talking. The idea of an underwater town hall meeting near Smith Island seems less alarmist when a major insurance company is abandoning customers just a stone's throw from our nation's capital.

Thankfully, the Maryland General Assembly has done its part on global warming. It passed a statute last spring mandating a 25 percent reduction in greenhouse gas emissions statewide by 2020. But like the tiny nation of the Maldives, Maryland can't solve global warming by itself. The U.S. Senate must pass an even stronger federal carbon cap by mid-December, ahead of international climate talks in Copenhagen, Denmark. With a congressional bill in hand, President Barack Obama must then go to Copenhagen and push China and the rest of the world for a strong global treaty to replace the expiring Kyoto Protocol.

The good news is that this Saturday, for the first time ever, activists from Maryland and the Maldives - as well as Greenland, Australia and myriad places in between - will be speaking with one voice on global warming. The much-heralded "International Day of Climate Action" involves more than 4,000 events in more than 170 countries, including a "human circle of hope" outside the White House. (Learn more at www.350.org/dc).

And while there's no word yet about an aquatic town hall meeting at Smith Island, there are rumors of wetsuits and goggles available for loan from the president of the Maldives. It's time to follow in his wake.

Copyright © 2009, The Baltimore Sun
Mike Tidwell is executive director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network based in Takoma Park. His e-mail is mtidwell@chesapeakeclimate.org.

Guam Senators Not Pleased with JGPO Plans

Not all senators pleased with JGPO's plans
Posted: Oct 05, 2009 5:00 PM
KUAM
by Nick Delgado

The Joint Guam Program Office provided an overview brief on the draft environmental impact statement to lawmakers today. While the draft EIS will be released for public comment at a later time, it's apparent some lawmakers aren't too happy about the details of today's briefing.

Senator Matt Rector (D) announced, "What they told is that look we're going to tap our own wells and we're going to suck up all the water from your aquifer because you tap a well on federal property. The aquifer is the aquifer, and we'll have absolutely no control over how much water they draw out of our aquifer." He added, "The one thing that they can't do and meet their timelines is to build their own wastewater system. They have to tap into ours. That's the one shining thing that I found out at this study."

It was more than obvious that Rector and his senatorial colleagues didn't like what they heard this morning during a briefing with JGPO representatives. Like her Democrat colleague, Speaker Judi Won Pat is upset that lawmakers are once again being kept out of the loop when it comes to updates on the military buildup. "We were under the impression that all the departments and agencies were given copies of this and sign a disclosure to review it and provide comment, only to find that there were only five agencies that were given," she told KUAM News,

Those agencies include Coastal Management, the Guam Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Public Works, the Historic Preservation Trust, and the Department of Agriculture. The speaker adds that the naval facilities will invite those agencies to Hawaii for a one-day meeting on October 8 to explain their comments in to the EIS.

However, she disagrees with the meeting being held off-island. "We're the ones being impacted by this," she proclaimed. "Why wouldn't they want to hold that one meeting here where all the different departments and agencies are here and could provide the information? And the last thing is that this all going to be at our expense, our dime. We're going to have to pay for these individuals to go over there?"

That, coupled with the draft EIS consisting of thousands of pages that must be reviewed, prompted Rector to say, "And they've made that very clear when they do this, they said we're going to give you this 11,000-page document and you have 45 days to review it and come back and tell us what you want."

Rector added, "How are we supposed to put meaningful input into this and come back and say, 'Look, you shouldn't do this, you shouldn't do that' - we just are never going to be able to do it and they've made that perfectly clear. They're going to have the meetings in Hawaii and turn around and tell us, 'Here's what we're going to do, thank you very much!'"

It's an issue the speaker says lawmakers will now take up with the governor. As for island residents, you'll have an opportunity to give your input beginning November 20.

GWA asks EPA to reverse its order

Navy Raises Water Rate

Navy raises water rate
Sunday, 07 June 2009
Marianas Variety News Staff

(Navy) – The Naval Facilities Engineering Command Marianas has notified the Consolidated Commission on Utilities that the Navy will charge $4.06 per 1,000 gallons of water supplied to the Guam Waterworks and Power Authorities beginning Oct. 1.

This rate is consistent with the Navy’s promise toward graduated rate adjustments designed to minimize financial impact to GWA and GPA, and to bring the previously reduced water rate in line with the rate charged to Navy and other Department of Defense customers, according to a press release from the Navy.

The fiscal year 2009 rate of $3.80 for GWA and GPA was less than the rate paid by Navy and other DoD customers.

According to the Navy, the adjustment is based on the current cost of operations and maintenance to continue to produce reliable and safe drinking water to the Naval Base and other customers in the southern villages of Agat, Santa Rita, Piti, Nimitz Hill, parts of Asan and Maina, and the Apra Harbor area.

“The Navy operates, maintains and repairs its water production and distribution system through the Navy Working Capital Fund (NWCF) and not direct appropriated funds,” said Capt. Paul Fuligni, NAVFAC Marianas commanding officer. “As such, our rates are developed to cover the operation and maintenance of our water system,” he added.

In a letter to CCU chairman Simon Sanchez, Fuligini said the Navy’s current projection is for a water rate of approximately $4.12 per 1,000 gallons. “However,” he added, “this rate is subject to further review and adjustment.”

Guam Should Be Wary

BOSTON GLOBE - LETTER TO THE EDITOR
GUAM SHOULD BE WARY
January 11, 2009

"US PLANS for military buildup leave Guam wary" (Page A9, Jan. 4) reminded me why the Chamorro people are increasingly fearful of the destruction of their environment and culture, and why many are doing all they can to prevent the massive US military expansion in their occupied land.

Guam remains the colony designed to reinforce US dominance in Asia that William McKinley and Teddy Roosevelt envisioned when they seized it from Spain in 1898. Twenty-five years ago, members of the Guam Land Owners' Association worked with two maps. One depicted Guam's best fresh water supply, agricultural land, and fishing grounds. The other showed the US military bases in their homeland. The maps were nearly identical.

Now, with many Okinawans and other Japanese saying that they've had enough of US nuclear-powered ships based in their cities, and that they are fed up with the terrifying noise of night-landing and low-altitude flights and the seizure of their lands, the idea is to transfer some of this nightmare to Guam. Guam's isolated 155,000 people are a frail force to resist the imperium.

As a nation, we feel shame when we recall the genocide and cultural destruction of our country's first peoples. We should not repeat it with the military corruption and destruction of Guam.

Joseph Gerson
Director of programs
American Friends Service Committee
New England Region
Cambridge

GWA on its Way to USEPA Compliance

Fiji Government Yields to Bottled Water Company Pressure

Fiji government yields to bottled water company pressure
By Chris Bolwig on Jul 26, 2008 in International, Society comments(0)
A proposed tax on bottled water in Fiji has been scrapped following pressure by an industry lobby group on the island.

The interim Fijian government repealed its 20 cents per litre tax on bottled water following the factory closure of Fiji Water, the last of the bottled water companies to stop operations after the cabinet introduced the new taxation system.

Bottled water companies on the South Pacific island have welcomed the move. According to Fiji One News, the Fiji Bottled Water Institute, which represents nine companies, has said that consultations need to be held first on any future tax proposals before they are implemented.
Industry spokesman Jay Dayal said, “We are very pleased that at least the prime minister and attorney general intervened in the matter and resolved the whole issue. And now the bottlers will get together with the government and work out a form of compensation that is suitable to the government for the resource that we are extracting.”

Last year bottled water exports from Fiji counted for around $130 million, in an industry employing more than 700 people.

However, conservationists have pointed to the growing environmental costs associated with bottling water in Fiji. Typically plastic bottles are transported from China and then sent around the world to consumers in the United States and Europe.

A BBC Panorama documentary released earlier this year also highlighted the fact that a third of Fijians are still living without access to clean water. It showed that people were falling ill and dying of typhoid and other diseases related to contaminated water.

The Invasion of Guam

Minagahet Zine
Vol. 5 Iss. 5
10/27/07
"The Invasion of Guam"


Hafa Adai, yan welcome to i mina'trenta kuatro na Minagahet.

Last week I decided to try a different format for Minagahet, which would feature lists of articles grouped around issues relevant to things such as the military build up, the environment, federalization, and so on. The response I received was very positive and thankful. People know things are happening, and these things may or may not be something they can control or prevent. But, rarely for a variety of reasons, do they feel they have the time or the abilities to find out exactly what is happening, or what they can do about it. Bula na infotmasion manliliko' giya Guahan put i mamtan i militat, hayi mismo gaitiempo para u taitai yan komprende todu?

If for instance, you just read a single article on the economic re-energizing that Guam will be experiencing over the next few years, then you might think that the future will be incredible, sen ma'lak siempre! The business community is clearly working hard on this military increase. From just one article you'll get an image of business leaders meeting regularly at conferences and forums, where they are working on bringing in some of their business friends from around the world, all for the betterment of the people of Guam, so that everyone can benefit in fantastic ways from the military increases that are already being felt on the island. If, however, you read how many articles there are covering the business community's efforts to capitalize on the impending military increases, and how many business are moving into Guam to set up shop, you probably won't get an image of businesses working towards what's best for Guam, but rather an image of ferocious drunken vultures circling and swarming around the island, looking for any means to make some money. Members of the Chamber of Commerce, the US Congress and the Department of Interior have been traveling around the United States and the Pacific letting any and all know that "GUAM IS FOR SALE! and ready and willing to be plundered" To make this point very very clear, during one such conference in New Zealand, businesses there were encouraged to invade Guam.

As with the last issue, I am hoping again that if people find the things they read here disturbing or unsettling about the way Guam, Chamorros and others on Guam are being treated, they find productive ways to act upon their discomfort or anger. As you read this, Guam is being sold. It is first being sold as a place ideal for investors looking to make a quick buck or carpetbaggers looking for an eager and patriotic population to plunder. Second it is being sold off, the very future of the island is being handed over to people who are interested in making whatever money they can off the majority of Guam's population, and then fleeing one's the economic "excitement" is over. Third, Guam is being sold a complete pack of lies and half-truths as to how this military increase and the economic "boom" that is taking place now, will impact the island. Those in charge, elected or otherwise, of the island's economy, government and society, have decided for the most part to either celebrate these things in almost stupidly exuberant ways, or to simply go with the flow. It is up to those who see the future of our island in jeopardy, who see or can feel the numerous ways the island can be poisoned, the economy ruined, and our lives put at risk by these moves, to do something about it!

For more info, head over to these blogs, the JGPO Blog and the Decolonize Guam Blog. My other two blogs are still going strong. At No Rest for the Awake - Minagahet Chamorro, I posted recently about the relationship between "Guam, GITMO and Diego Garcia." And at Voicing Indigeneity, we recently uploaded a new podcast for the school year titled "The Indigenous View."

Sahuma Minagahet yan Na'suha Dinagi

Sahuma

ARTICLES

Hanom: articles about the water on Guam

"Navy's Fuligni Supports Decision to Raise Water Rates," by John Davis, KUAM, 10/18/07"
"Bring Fena to the Table," From the Marianas Variety, 10/10/07
"Simon Says Stop to Navy," by John Davis, KUAM, 10/10/07
"Water Rights in Guam," from Senator Ben Pangelinan, Famoksaiyan, 10/06/07
"Navy: Rate Hike Had to Be Done," by John Davis, KUAM, 10/4/07
"Navy Water Rate Hike Irks Senators," by Mar-Vic Cagurangan, The Marianas Variety, 9/28/07
"GWA Plans to Reduce Dependency on Navy Water," by John Davis, KUAM, 9/28/07
"Navy Will Nearly Double Water Rates for Southern Guam," by Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes, 9/27/07
"Navy Raises Fena Water Rate," by Gerardo R. Partido, The Marianas Variety, 9/26/07
"Mounting Losses Brought About Need to Raise Rates," by Mindy Fothergill, KUAM, 9/26/07
"CCU Prepared to Fight Navy If Water Rate Increases," by John Davis, KUAM, 9/18/07
"US Military Buildup Brings Tensions to Guam," from AP, The Honolulu Advertiser, 8/16/07
"Unpingco Hits Navy Fena Plan," by Gerardo R. Partido, The Marianas Variety, 8/16/07
"Navy May Increase Price of Water to GWA," by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM, 8/15/07

Hambiento: articles about the selling of Guam

"US Ambassador Wants Islands to Cash in on Guam Military Buildup," by Giff Johnson, Pacific Magazine, 10/25/07
"Guam Business Conference Best Ever," by Gerardo R. Partido, The Marianas Variety, 10/15/07
"China Eyes Business Ventures on Guam," by Gemma Q. Casas, The Marianas Variety, 10/09/07
"Business Opportunities Conference Will Cover All Bases," by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM, 10/07/07
"Pacific Businesses Head to Guam to Check Out US Dollars," 10/05/07
"Unlocking the Value of Real Estate in Micronesia," by David B. Cohen, The Saipan Tribune, 9/30/07
"Invest in the Pacific, US Tells Philippine Businesses," by Ma. Stella F. Arnaldo, Philippine News, 9/19/07
"Businesses Encouraged to Invade Guam," by Martin Tiffany, Waikato Times, 9/10/07
"Cohen to Address Real Estate Conference," by Gerardo R. Partido, The Marianas Variety, 9/07/07
"Forum Focuses on Military Buildup," by Jesse Leon Guerrero, NAVFAC, 8/30/07
"Guam Industry Forum Unites Industry Innovation with DOD Opportunity," by Kyra Hawn, NAVFAC, 8/28/07
"Guam Industry Forum Passes Valuable Lessons" by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM, 8/24/07
"Japan May Control Military Money," by Gerardo R. Partido, The Marianas Variety, 8/24/07
"Camacho Address Industry Forum," by Gerardo R. Partido, The Marianas Variety, 8/24/07
"Business Leaders, Lawmakers Converge on Guam," from the Associated Press, NBC KHNL, 8/23/07
"Gun Beach to Undergo Multimillion Commercial Development," by Mindy Fothergill, KUAM, 6/05/07
"Report Paints Bleak Picture of Guam's Financial Situation," by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM, 12/21/06

Fino' Okinawa: articles about the island where the 8,000 Marines are coming from

"Governor Rejects Defense Agency Environmental Assessment," from Japanupdate.com, 10/25/07
"Japanese City Opposes New Runway," from United Press International, 9/8/07
"Okinawa Does Not Need New US Military Bases," by , Manabu Sato, Asahi Shimbun, 9/07/07
"Tensions Mount as Prefecture Rejects Military Assessment Letter" from Japanupdate.com, 8/9/07
"Guam Welcomes Okinawa Delegation," by Mar-Vic Cagurangan, Marianas Variety, 7/12/07
"Okinawa Airfield Returned After 61 Years,'" by Takuya Okamoto, The Japan Times, 6/24/07
"Three Rapes: The Status of Forces Agreement and Okinawa," by Chalmers Johnson, Minagahet, 4/29/07
"Okinawans Oppose Missile Deployment," by David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes, 7/01/06
"US Military Retreats Over Japanese Base After Protests," by David Mcneill, The Independent, 10/27/05
"US Agrees to Relocate Marines on Okinawa," by Anthony Faiola, The Washington Post, 10/27/05
"Okinawans Outraged at Crimes by Troops of 'Rogue Superpower America,'" by Karl Grobe, Frankfurter Rundshau, 7/13/00

Fino' Militat: articles about what the military plans for Guam

"Senators Frustrated with Military," by Gerardo R. Partido, The Marianas Variety, 10/11/07
"Tankers Fuel Tip of Spear," from The Pacific News Center, 10/07/07
"Bice on the Buildup," by Michael Lujan Bevacqua, No Rest for the Awake - Minagahet Chamorro, 9/26/07
"How Will They All Fit on Guam?," by Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes, 9/25/07
"Guam Officials Need to Be Careful," by David Allen, Stars and Stripes, 7/15/07
"The Pentagon as Global Landlord," by Nick Turse, Tomdispatch.com, 7/11/07
"Marianas as one Big Military Camp," by Gerardo R. Partido, The Marianas Variety, 6/18/07
"Military Mulls Infrastructure," by Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, Pacific Daily News, 6/05/07
"From the Mouth of Fallon," by Michael Lujan Bevacqua, No Rest for the Awake - Minagahet Chamorro, 4/17/07
"Report Recommends US Military Buildup in the Pacific," by Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno, Pacific Daily News, 4/13/07
"Air Force to Proceed with Strike Plan," by Mar-Vic Cagurangan, The Marianas Variety, 1/28/07
"Navy May Outsource Civilian Jobs,'" by Gerardo R Partido, The Marianas Variety, 10/21/06
"Pace Visits Guam to Assess Infrastructure Growth Plans,'" by Donna Miles, American Forces Press Service, 6/2/06
"New Military Era Rises in the Pacific," by Edward Cody, Washington Post, 10/03/05


Fino' i Maladjusted: articles by the "activists" of Guam

"Lemlem," by Michael Lujan Bevacqua, No Rest for the Awake - Minagahet Chamorro, 10/01/07
"Women's Group Demands Impact Study on Troop Buildup," from Fuetsan Famalao'an, 8/15/07
"US Obligation Unfulfilled," by Patty Garrido, The Marianas Variety, 8/14/07
"Better Poor Than Dead," by Vicente Ulloa Garrido, The Marianas Variety, 8/10/07
"On Wars and Numbers," by Julian Aguon, The Voice Project, 4/23/07
"Letter to Japanese Prime Minister Abe Shinzo," from the Hawai'i - Okinawa Alliance, 4/23/07
"Topics on Decolonization," by Victoria Leon Guerrero, KUAM Extra, 1/03/07
"Back to Guahan," by Erica Nalani Benton, Famoksaiyan, 11/30/06
"Okinawa Move Requires Strong Leadership, Not Meek Stewardship," by Senator Jesse Lujan, The Marianas Variety, 6/20/06
"From a Native Daughter: For Peace, Human Rights and the Environment ," by Fanai Cruz Castro, Minagahet, 10/23/05
"Thinking About the US Military in Guam," by Antonio Artero Sablan, Minagahet, 1/07/05
"If a Tree Falls; If Colonization Occurs..." by Senator Hope A. Cristobal, Minagahet, 9/1/04
"There are Things Other Than Marines and War that are Worth Celebrated!" by Rita Lujan Butler, Minagahet, 6/17/04
"Guam: Natives Chamorros Decry US Military Increase," by Rufo Lujan, Colonized Chamoru Coalition, 4/23/04
"Guam; A Self-Sustaining Nation," by Angel Leon Guerrero Santos, Nasion Chamoru, 9/17/91
"Is Guam for Sale?" by Governor Ricardo Bordallo and Congressman Robert Underwood, /91.

No Water Rate Decrease for Military on Guam

Navy cuts water rates for civilians on Guam
By Jennifer H. Svan
Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, November 11, 2007

But last month’s price increase still in effect for its DOD customers

After nearly doubling the price of water for its southern Guam customers on Oct. 1 in a move that drew sharp criticism from island officials, the Navy has partially reversed course.

Navy officials said Friday that water rates would be reduced to $3.25 per 1,000 gallons, down from $4.05 per 1,000 gallons.

But the price break would extended only to its civilian customers: Guam Waterworks Authority and Guam Power Authority, said Navy Lt. Donnell Evans, U.S. Naval Forces Marianas spokesman, in a written response to Stars and Stripes.

The rate for its Defense Department customers — including Naval Base Guam and tenant commands — would remain at the current $4.05 per 1,000 gallons “to recover DOD share of past losses,” Evans wrote.

“The Navy will defer recovery of losses on water sale to GWA and GPA over the next five years.”

In a news release from her Washington, D.C., office, Guam’s Rep. Madeleine Bordallo welcomed the Navy’s announcement.

She said the price reduction was to go into effect immediately and was retroactive to Oct. 1.

“We appreciate the partial relief, and we will work to address the broader water issues on Guam in light of the planned military buildup,” Bordallo was quoted as saying.

Nearly 40,000 new military personnel and family members could move to Guam in coming years as part of the Pentagon’s overall plans to build up troop strength and operations on the island.

Some 8,000 Marines and their families and civilian support workers are to be relocated from Okinawa to Guam in the plan.

The Navy publicly announced in September that its rates for fiscal year 2008 would jump from $2.09 per 1,000 gallons to $4.05, and that rates would increase to $4.16 in fiscal 2009.

Some island officials then said the steep increase was too sudden and should have been phased in to be fair.

Simon Sanchez, chairman of the Consolidated Commission on Utilities, a governing board of elected officials for GWA and GPA, worried at the time that opponents of further military expansion might use the Navy’s decision as proof the Defense Department wasn’t a good partner with whom to do business.

Navy officials had said the increase was needed to cover ongoing operating and maintenance costs, and that the Navy had been running its Fena Reservoir water plant at a significant loss.

Evans said Friday that after a review of the cost components and discussions with the Navy and Office of Secretary of Defense comptrollers, it was determined that plant operations could break even at the new rate of $3.25.

“We’re taking this opportunity to foster better communication and coordination between Navy and the Government of Guam on utilities infrastructure, both now and in the future,” Evans wrote. “Navy will work more closely with local authorities during the planning stages in coordinating future planned rate adjustments.”

GWA spokeswoman Heidi Ballendorf said Friday the company is pleased with the Navy’s water rate decrease and is making progress in reducing its dependency on Navy water.

Sanchez could not be reached for comment Friday.

Stars and Stripes reporter Teri Weaver contributed to this report.

Navy to Reduce Rates

Navy indicates plans to reduce rate hike
by Sabrina Salas Matanane
KUAM News
Friday, November 09, 2007

Congresswoman Madeleine Bordallo received the official word today that the Navy plans to reduce its rate increase to the Guam Waterworks Authority for water from Fena. The Navy announced that starting October 1 rates would jump from $2.07 per kilogallon to $4.05. The new increase is $3.25.

The announcement comes as a result of a meeting a meeting in Washington, D.C. today between Bordallo and assistant secretary of the Navy for installations and environment B.J. Penn and Joint Guam Program Office executive director David Bice. Guam's delegate says she appreciates the partial relief and will work to address the broader water issues on Guam in light of the planned military buildup.

Bordallo also pledge to continue to work with the federal officials. The rate reduction kicks in immediately.

Navy Water Increased Halted

Navy's water increase halted
by John Davis, KUAM News
Wednesday, October 31, 2007

The Consolidated Commission on Utilities received word Tuesday night of a temporary moratorium on the Navy's 100% rate increase to the Guam Waterworks Authority for water from Fena. The hike went into effect on October 1, despite opposition from GWA, the CCU, local elected leaders and Guam congressional delegate Madeleine Bordallo.

The Navy doubled the amount it charges GWA for water up from $2.09 to $4.95 per thousand gallons. CCU chairperson Simon Sanchez was one of many who said the increase was unjustified, telling KUAM News, "I received a call from Captain Paul Fuligni and then his number two, a Commander Tomea, and he says that it has reached Washington, DC and they will not bill us as of now for the higher amount until it is determined by the Navy upstream whether these are appropriate."

The Guam Waterworks Authority reported at last night's meeting that the utility agency could operate the Fena Water Treatment Plant for the same price the federal government was charging before the rate increase. Figures given to GWA from the Navy show that the Navy operates the Fena plant for $13 million a year, inclusive of the cost to outsource their operations and recover prior year losses. Sanchez says GWA could produce and distribute water to the navy and its customers for almost half that amount, noting "There's a $7 million difference per year in our view for what it would take to run the new Fena, versus what they want to charge us."

The CCU in the meantime will be approaching the Navy to see if they would agree to a non-binding independent review by the Guam Public Utilities Commission.

Rate Hike Will Double Rates in Guam's South

Navy will nearly double water rates for southern Guam
By Jennifer H. Svan, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, September 27, 2007

The Navy’s plan to double water rates for its southern Guam customers starting next month is drawing sharp criticism from island officials.

The rate for fiscal year 2008 will increase from $2.09 per 1,000 gallons to $4.05, effective Oct. 1, according to a U.S. Naval Forces Marianas news release issued Monday night.

A further increase, to $4.16, also is projected for fiscal 2009, the release stated.

Navy officials said the rate increase was needed to cover ongoing operating and maintenance costs and applies to all water customers equally, not just the local community.

The Navy provides water through its Fena Reservoir water plant to Defense Department customers on southern Guam — including Naval Base Guam and tenant commands — as well as to Guam Waterworks Authority.

“We’ve been operating the plant at a loss,” said Lt. Donnell Evans, U.S. Naval Forces Marianas spokesman, in a phone interview Tuesday.

But Simon Sanchez, chairman of the Consolidated Commission on Utilities, a governing board of elected officials for GWA and Guam Power Authority, said the sudden, steep rate increase appears to signal that the Navy is not as cost efficient as it needs to be with its water system.

“Maybe it’s time to get the Navy out of the water business,” he said.

The Navy’s doubling of water rates “is a significant impact to the civilian side of the community,” he said in a phone interview from Hawaii, while traveling Tuesday. “It’s not a good way to do business together, to just offload a 100 percent increase all at once.”

The rate increase will cost GWA about $2 million, Sanchez said.

While the CCU had informal notice about a month ago that there may be a rate increase, the official written notice came Monday, he said.

“We’re very disappointed in the decision,” Sanchez said.

Naval Facilities Engineering Command Marianas is responsible for engineering, construction, maintenance, utilities and environmental programs for Navy installations on Guam.

Evans said the Navy produces about 8 million gallons per day — 4 million of which goes to GWA.

GWA buys water from the Navy for the villages of Santa Rita, Agat and part of Nimitz, supplying water to about 17,000 residents in those areas, according to GWA spokeswoman Heidi Ballendorf. She didn’t know how many of those residents were U.S. military members.

But Ballendorf, in an e-mail to Stars and Stripes, said GWA has no immediate plans to pass on the rate increase to consumers.

The company, however, will have to cut its operating budget and continue to reduce dependency on Navy water purchases, she said.

Navy officials, in the news release, said the Navy rate for water had increased only 7 percent since 2003. During that period, revenue generated from annual rates fell short of operating costs by more than $9 million, Evans said.

“We are stewards of government resources,” Evan said. “We can’t operate government systems and resources at a loss. As we move forward from here, our goal is to make sure we have better communication with all our customers.”

Sanchez said another concern was the effect the move could have on planned military expansion on Guam.

“Opponents of further military expansion on Guam could use this as further proof that DOD isn’t a good partner,” charging that the Navy made a unilateral move without much consultation, he said.

GWA has raised its rates for the past four years, but in increments that have totaled about 38 percent, Sanchez said.

The Navy noted the 2008 fiscal increase is less than the new GWA residential rate of $4.14 per 1,000 gallons, and the new GWA commercial rate of $5.15 per 1,000 gallons, but also stated those rates are not comparable due to the differences in Navy and GWA water systems and financing.

Ballendorf said GWA charges $2.40 to customers that use from one gallon to 4,999. The average monthly water bill on Guam is about $35 to $40, which includes a $22 sewer fee, she said.

Navy to Double Rate for Fena Water

Navy doubling rate charged to GWA for water
by John Davis, KUAM News
Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Starting October 1, the United States Navy will increase the amount it charges the Guam Waterworks Authority for water from the Fena Water Treatment Plant. According to a media release from COMNAVMAR the rate increase will go up from $2.09 per 1,000 gallons to $4.05.

And that's apparently just the beginning, as the military also announced future plans to raise the rate again next year by additional $0.11.

Navy May Increase Price of Water

Navy may increase water rate to GWA
by Clynt Ridgell, KUAM News
Wednesday, August 15, 2007

It's quite possible the Navy could up the rate it's charging the Guam Waterworks Authority water from Fena. Currently GWA buys about $3 million a year of water from the Navy to supply southern residents with H2O, about $2 per every thousand gallons. According to Consolidated Commission on Utilities chairperson Simon Sanchez, he's heard the Navy plans to bump that up to $4.

Sanchez maintains the answer is to integrate the systems, telling KUAM News, "One of there concerns is that they don't have the economies of scale, which forces their costs to be higher. We offer to them GWA has economies of scale we run a bigger system we service more ratepayers and maybe it's time to do what we've done with the airport and with the Guam Power Authority is to begin to merge these systems because it's clearly too expensive when you have separate systems, especially if the Navy's charging as much as they are."

Residents Speak Out on the Military Buildup

Residents speak on buildup
Town hall meeting presents local views to U.S. Congress
By Gaynor Dumat-ol Daleno
Pacific Daily News
gdumat-ol@guampdn.com
August 17, 2007

With Guam's future at stake, many Guam residents spoke before a Congressional panel at last night's town hall meeting on the looming military buildup.

The buildup's $14 billion to $15 billion price tag -- a scale about four times the size of Guam's economy -- generated a mix of positive and negative comments about what the military's increased presence would do to the island.

For some of the residents who spoke out, their concerns were related to money.

Others voiced hope that as the buildup preparations progress, the military and officials of the federal government treat Guam as a partner rather than a subordinate.

"We need to sit at the table as equals and talk about it," said Democratic Sen. Tina Muna Barnes, who added that her husband and oldest son serve in the U.S. military.

But while Guam has generally voiced support for increased military presence on island, a new issue, according to Barnes, could erode local support for the buildup.

Rising water price
The Navy's recent confirmation that it would double the price of the local water agency's purchase of water from the military-held Fena water treatment plant, Barnes said, "makes our local people very angry."

The Navy earlier this week confirmed it would increase the Guam Waterworks Authority's purchase price of water from Fena from about $3 million to $6 million a year because of increased cost to operate the water treatment plant.

The increase, which the Navy plans to implement in about two months, would equate to a 6 percent increase in what GWA customers pay for water, said Simon Sanchez, chairman of the Consolidated Commission on Utilities.

The plant is the primary source of water for Nimitz, Santa Rita, Agat and other southern Guam areas.

"This increase in water cost, this unilateral action, ... jeopardizes local support," Muna Barnes said.

A major part of the Guam buildup involves the relocation from Okinawa of about 8,000 members of the U.S. Marines and about 9,000 of their relatives. The buildup's construction activities also are expected to cause an influx of about 15,000 construction workers.

With more civilian and military residents on Guam, the local population, last counted in a federal census at close to 160,000, would surge.

Becoming San Diego
Retired Marine Adolf Sgambelluri, a longtime Guam resident, commented that he expects Guam's quality of life to improve.

"I don't have a problem with Guam becoming like Oahu or San Diego," Sgambelluri said.

One benefit of the economic and population boom, Sgambelluri said, is that prices of consumer goods would drop because the local economy becomes bigger.

Another retired Marine, John Gerber, said he's disappointed that even some of Guam's elected officials have made comments that the Marines are "big, ... bad men."

The Marines built Marine Corps Drive and more than 300 miles of Guam roads after World War II, Gerber said. "When I heard about the Marines returning to Guam, I was very happy. It's a windfall," he said.

The military buildup has the support of "the silent majority of our people on Guam," Gerber said, citing surveys such as the Guam Chamber of Commerce's.

Those who cast the reputation of the Marines and the rest of the military in a bad light have no respect, he said, for American troops fighting in Iraq and deployed foreign missions such as Afghanistan.

"It really bothers me to hear my corps being trashed as they are in Iraq and Afghanistan fighting as we speak. This is not about the Marine Corps, this is a national defense issue," Gerber said. "I don't like people saying Marines are big, bad men ... that is not the Marines of today at all," Gerber said.

On record
The comments voiced at the town hall meeting, which were heard by congressional Delegates Donna Christensen of the U.S. Virgin Islands, Madeleine Bordallo of Guam and Rep. Eni Faleomavaega of American Samoa, were recorded and will become a part of congressional records.

Local officials asked the congressional delegates to be advocates for Guam's local community.

The meeting started around 6 p.m. at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa and still continued past 9 last night.

The local community's voices will help to shape what the military's actions will be, said Christensen, chairwoman of the House Subcommittee on Insular Affairs.

"Guam is now at a very, very critical point," Faleomavaega said.

Bordallo emphasized that the military's buildup plans for Guam are not final.

Money issue
Guam needs the federal government to provide Guam with the money to host the military buildup, rather than expect the local government to use "non-existent" local funds, said Sen. Eddie Calvo, the Guam Legislature's vice speaker and Finance Committee chairman.

Without federal money to help Guam host the buildup, Calvo offered the analogy of a rich brother visiting his poor brother's home and asking the poor brother to pay for the rich brother's stay.

Democratic Sen. Ben Pangelinan said rather than listing all of Guam's wishes for more money associated with the buildup, he gave the congressional panel his assessment of local sentiment.

"Some wholeheartedly welcome the military, some halfheartedly welcome the military, and some don't like the military," Pangelinan said.

He noted that the military in one meeting said it would not conduct live-ammunition exercises on Guam; and in another meeting said it would do so.

David Bice, executive director of the Joint Program Office, said he understands the local community's frustration about not getting more detailed information from the military.

But Bice said the buildup still is in a phase where "homework" is being done toward putting together more firm plans.

To emphasize the complexity of the "homework" and other preparations related to the buildup, Bice mentioned that the Japanese government's money contributions toward relocating U.S. Marines from Okinawa to Guam are a first for the country in terms for a foreign government financially supporting a move of American troops to U.S. soil.

Pangelinan also called for more military openness on what its plans are for Guam.

"If you want to come to Guam, say you want to come to Guam, ... otherwise, we have this adversarial relationship, ... this big brother coming to us," Pangelinan said.

"We need to be told the truth of what the military needs, ... and what they offer to Guam," Pangelinan said.

Unpingco Hits Navy Fena Plan

Unpingco hits Navy Fena plan
Thursday, August 16, 2007
By Gerardo R. Partido
Variety News Staff

SENATOR Antonio Unpingco, R-Santa Rita, has criticized the Navy’s plan to increase the rate it charges for water processed at its Fena treatment plant.

Unpingco, who heads the Legislature’s military committee, described the Navy plan as “a shocking blow,” coming as it does when all other prices are also rising for such items as gasoline and power.

“Contrary to what the Navy says, the plan to increase rates will not just affect three villages but also other areas in the south,” said Unpingco, who hails from Santa Rita.

The Navy currently sells water to the Guam Waterworks Authority to supply the villages of Santa Rita, Agat and Piti.
According to the Consolidated Commission on Utilities, the Navy plans to double its rate from $2 to $4 per thousand gallons starting Oct. 1.

If the increase is implemented, CCU estimates this would result in a cost increase to GWA of $3 million.

The Navy, however, maintains that the impact of an increase would be minimal since only three villages will be affected.

Lt. Donnell Evans, public affairs officer of the U.S. Naval Forces Marianas, said this will not have a significant effect on GWA’s bottom line.

He also said the Navy’s costs to operate Fena have increased, necessitating an increase in rates.

Unpingco, however, said the whole island will be affected by the increase implemented by the Navy for its Fena water.

“In the end, GWA’s cost will increase and GWA will have to pass on its increased costs to all of its customers. The whole island will end up paying to defray the cost,” the senator said.

In light of this development, Unpingco said his committee is looking at all avenues to see how the impact of a Navy rate increase could be mitigated.

“Perhaps we should revisit the plan to reclaim Fena. This should have been done a long time ago,” Unpingco said.

CCU chairman Simon Sanchez had said that it may be time to merge the Navy and GWA water systems and take over Fena.

Sanchez said GWA may be able to run Fena better and achieve economies of scale because GWA has a bigger customer base.