The United States and Japanese governments have plans to build a new American military base atop a healthy coral reef that supports at least nine species threatened with extinction and myriad other types of animal life. Because of global warming and pollution, Okinawa’s coral reefs are already threatened. More than half have disappeared over the past decade. This makes preserving healthy reefs all the more important.

American, Japanese, and international organizations all recognize the potential harm the new base would cause. Japan’s Mammalogical Society placed the dugong on its “Red List of Mammals,” in 1997, estimating the population in Okinawa to be critically endangered. The U.S. Government’s Marine Mammals Commission fears the project would be a serious threat to the animals’ survival. The World Conservation Union’s dugong specialists have expressed similar concerns.

Additionally, the Endangered Species Act of the United States, lists the dugong and three sea turtles affected by the project as endangered.

Construction of the offshore facility will devastate the marine environment and have dramatic consequences for avian and terrestrial species as well. In addition to complete destruction of the coral reef off the coast of Henoko village, this plan will deplete essential fresh water supplies, increase the human population in sensitive areas, and encourage more environmentally harmful development.

Each of these changes will have a dramatic impact. Construction of the new airbase would cause irreversible ecological damage to one of the most diverse ecosystems on earth. The United States and Japanese governments must reconsider this plan.

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Environmental groups from both sides of the Pacific Ocean -- the Center for Biological Diversity and the Turtle Island Restoration Network in the U.S., Dugong Network Okinawa, Save the Dugong Foundation, Committee Against Heliport Construction/Save Life Society, and the Japan Environmental Lawyers Federation in Japan -- have filed a lawsuit in Federal District Court in San Francisco against the U.S. Department of Defense aiming to stop the base. Environmental law firm Earthjustice represents all the plaintiffs. The coalition of conservation groups argue that the proposed 1.5-mile-long airbase would not only destroy the coral reef, but also the prime remaining habitat of the endangered Okinawa dugong.

Okinawa Dugong
The dugong is a saltwater manatee that has extreme cultural significance to Okinawan people. Only about 50 – the last dugong in Japanese waters – are thought to remain alive. Coral reefs are essential habitat for the dugong.

In Japan, the dugongs primary remaining habitat exists off the northeastern coast of Okinawa – precisely where base construction will take place. Surviving dugong use seagrass beds (jungusa, or literally, “dugong-grass”) in the area to feed, mate, and rear their young.

Construction will crush this critical habitat for dugong. The Nature Conservation Society of Japan has called the proposed base the “greatest threat” to local seagrass beds. Even if the seagrass doesn’t die off completely, construction will eliminate feeding trails that are essential for dugong. A study by the Japan Scientists Association found that destruction of the coral reef and seagrass beds “is inescapable at the planned site of the base.”

Both Japan’s Environment Ministry and the U.S. Defense Facilities Administration Agency conducted surveys that found dugong off the coast of Nago, directly in the project area. The Japan Times published photographs of dugong in the sea, swimming exactly where the base is set to be built.

Sea Turtles
Three imperiled species of sea turtles – the hawksbill, loggerhead, and green turtle – rely on habitat in the Henoko area. All three types of turtles are listed under the United States' Endangered Species Act and the global Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species.

Turtles use nearby beaches to feed and to lay their eggs. The new base will cause pollution, create harmful artificial lighting in the area, and increase human activity – all of which are harmful to sea turtle reproduction.

Forests and Birds
The new base will require a constant supply of fresh water from the Yanbaru forest ecosystem – and not just for drinking. Because military aircraft will be exposed to salt water, they must be washed with fresh water every day to avoid corrosion.

Already, the ecologically significant Yanbaru forest suffers from numerous dam projects. Drawing more water from this sensitive area will imperil endangered bird species that rely on the forest for habitat, such as the Okinawa woodpecker and the Okinawa rail. The Okinawa woodpecker is the official bird of the prefecture, and under grave threat.

Threatened mangrove trees will be at risk, too. Twelve stands of mangrove may come under direct threat from pollution created by the new base, including some classified as “protected areas” by the Japanese government.

Mollusks
Researchers from Japan’s Natural History Museum and Institute discovered seven types of mollusks never before found in Japan on the project site. Numerous endangered mollusks only found in Okinawa are known to reside there. More than 1,000 distinct types of mollusk, researchers say, may be found in the area.

Quality Of Life For Local People
Even before construction begins, a planned environmental “survey” by the Japanese government would use an intrusive drilling method. The planned boring survey would itself cause environmental damage and severe noise pollution, which may cause dugongs and other wildlife to flee the area, thus creating a serious bias to any survey results.

Water pollution and soil erosion induced by from the airbase construction could foul Nago city and Henoko village residents’ drinking water and threaten the nearby Yanbaru forest’s bountiful wildlife. Plus, noise pollution from incredibly loud military aircraft will undermine animal habitat and the quality of life for local people.

Thousands more military personnel will be stationed in the area when the base is completed. This will further strain already taxed water resources as well as increasing waste and pollution problems.

Oil and chemical spills have repeatedly occurred at two other military airfields in Okinawa. If such accidents occur here – and there is no reason to think they won’t – the impacts on coral and sea life would be catastrophic. Construction itself would bury most of the area’s coral underneath the new base.