utemma base relocation task forces to be launched

TOKYO, July 19 Kyodo - The central government and five local municipalities in Okinawa Prefecture agreed Friday to set up two task forces this month to promote the stalled project of relocating the U.S. Marine Corps' Futemma Air Station within the prefecture, government officials said.

But the central and local governments failed to make progress in negotiations
over the position of the envisioned relocation site in Nago, a main sticking
point, during a meeting in Tokyo among officials including relevant Cabinet
members and Okinawa Gov. Hirokazu Nakaima, participants said.

The task forces will discuss ways to remove the dangers surrounding the
relocation site in Nago and ways to smoothly carry out environmental impact
assessments.

Nakaima described the launch of the task forces as ''one step forward'' but
suggested more details are still undecided.

In Okinawa, the prefectural assembly adopted a nonbinding resolution the same
day against the relocation of the Futemma base from Ginowan to Nago, with the
backing of the opposition camp that controls the chamber.

The relocation of the Futemma base is a key item of the ongoing realignment of
U.S. military facilities in Japan in line with a 2006 bilateral accord.
Completion of the relocation site using part of the coastal U.S. Marine Corps'
Camp Schwab is a condition for moving some 8,000 Marines to Guam from Okinawa.
The relocation is a longtime demand in the local community which hosts the bulk
of U.S. military facilities in Japan.
But the central government and Okinawa are still at odds over details of the
plan, with Okinawa calling on the government to move the military facility
further from the shore than the current plan, citing concerns about the safety
of local residents.
==Kyodo