MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, OKINAWA, Japan -- MARINE CORPS AIR STATION FUTENMA, Okinawa, Japan – Okinawa Vice-Governor,Kiichiro Jahana, visited Marine Corps Air Station Futenma today and was welcomed by U.S.Deputy Consul General Hilary Dauer, U.S. Marine Corps Brig. Gen. William J. Bowers,Commanding General of Marine Corps Installations Pacific, and Col. David M. Steele,
Commanding Officer of MCAS Futenma.
Jahana’s visit comes a week after Aqueous Film Forming Foam (AFFF) was released aboard MCAS Futenma and flowed off-base through a storm drain into a watershed in the City of Ginowan. The purpose of the visit was to have a meeting and view the site of the aircraft hangar where AFFF was released on April 10, 2020. The visit was done in accordance with bilateral agreements between the United States and Japan, and highlighted the positive relationship between our governments and local communities. During the visit, Marine Corps officials provided the Okinawan Prefectural Government a detailed review of what occurred, discussed the immediate clean-up response, prevention of future spills, and on-going efforts to safeguard the community.
The visit began with a meeting in which Bowers expressed his personal apologies for the troubles that the AFFF incident caused the Okinawan people.
“We apologize that this incident has caused trouble for local residents,” said Bowers. “We responded diligently to the spill and focused on containment in order to prevent as much foam from as possible from exiting the base. We will continue to cooperate with the City of Ginowan on any specific spill response requests.”
During the meeting Bowers, Dauer, and Jahana discussed details about the spill.
“This incident involved approximately 60,000 gallons of water mixed with 1200 gallons of undiluted concentrate,” explained Bowers. “We estimate that approximately 38,000 gallons flowed off of the camp. This is not dangerous to touch but it should be avoided. A senior Marine colonel is conducting a thorough investigation to determine the cause of the spill. When the investigation concludes and based upon the recommendations in the final report, we will
implement measures to reduce the likelihood of similar incidents in the future.”
After the meeting, both Japanese and U.S. Marine Corps officials moved to the spill site where they visited the hangar where the foam originated. They were also able to see where the AFFF flowed from the flight line to the storm drain.
Steele detailed the clean-up and mitigation conducted, including immediate actions using a variety of absorbent material to prevent AFFF mixed with water from entering storms drains and the vacuum system to accumulate the water from the Ginowan Fire Department for storage on MCAS Futenma awaiting proper disposal.
When talking about prevention, Steele explained “We are in the process of replacing all legacy foam with a more environmental friendly variant that meets military specifications for firefighting, and will do so in accordance with guidance from the Secretary of Defense and Secretary of the Navy. The U.S. works diligently to comply with the Japan Environmental Governing Standards and Department of Defense instructions.”
Jahana thanked U.S. military leaders at MCAS Futenma for supporting his visit and sharing information about the U.S. Marine Corps environmental response.
The U.S.-Japan alliance has been the cornerstone of stability and security in the Indo-Pacific, and is the United States’ most important alliance in the 21st Century. Marine Corps Installations Pacific is committed to maintaining an open dialogue about this incident with our local communities to preserve the strategic alliance between our two countries.