Vancouver Sun runs article on buildup

On March 29, 2010, the Vancouver Sun ran an article on the buildup entitled “Strained U.S.-Japan relations threaten to overwhelm tiny Guam.”

And this is where Guam comes into the story.

That plan involves 8,000 marines and their 9,600 dependents — 17,600 people — moving to Guam. In addition, another 62,000 people or so would arrive in Guam by 2014 to work on various aspects of the buildup.

Now, Guam is already home to significant U.S. air force and navy bases on what is the closest sovereign American territory to potential Far Eastern trouble spots like North Korea, China and Taiwan. But the addition of 80,000 people associated with the creation of a new marine base would boost Guam’s population by more than 40 per cent.

All the evidence, in the shape of dense reports by the Government Accountability Office last year and the Environmental Protection Agency last month, is that Guam’s facilities just couldn’t take that strain. Both reports say that Guam’s aquifer water supply is already near capacity and the solid-waste sewage disposal facilities reached the end of their useful life some time ago.

The article can be found at http://www.vancouversun.com/business/Strained+Japan+relations+threaten+overwhelm+tiny+Guam/2738699/story.html