TOKYO, May 5 (UPI) -- Okinawa Gov. Keiichi Inamine officially announced his opposition to relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station to elsewhere in Okinawa.
Despite his opposition to the Futemma shift, Inamine supports the substance of the new Japan-U.S. accord to refocus the U.S. military presence in Japan.
On May 4 Kyodo news agency quoted Inamine telling journalists in Tokyo: "'In total, (the new plan) shows direction toward reducing Okinawa's base-hosting burdens and I evaluate it highly. The basis of the Okinawa base issue is how we can remove the risk of the Futemma Air Station."
If the plan is implemented, Futemma's heliport facilities will be shifted to a new facility to be built using part of Camp Schwab's coastline, while 8,000 of 18,000 U.S. Marines currently based in Okinawa will move to Guam by 2014. Under terms of the realignment, the United States will eventually return five U.S. military facilities to Okinawan control, including Futemma.
For the last decade, Okinawan officials have clashed with Tokyo over relocating Futemma on noise and safety issues, local sentiments and environmental concerns.
