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Pacific Island Could Be Spared From Becoming Tsunami Dump Site
By Sophie Cocke 05/30/2012
Japanese investors appear to have abandoned plans to dump millions of tons of debris from last year's tsunami disaster on a pristine island in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Hawaii scientists, outraged at the potential environmental impacts, have been working for weeks to derail the proposal after it was first reported in the Saipan Tribune.
Asia Mining Development PTE and Kanakyo Kaizen Kiko Co. are no longer exploring the idea of using Pagan Island as a garbage site, according to a spokesperson for Benigno Fitial, governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
"It appears that the interested investors are no longer interested in shipping and storing tsunami debris due to certain laws in Japan that seemingly prohibit such from occurring," said Angel Demapan by email.
Japan has only disposed of a little more than 5 percent of the estimated 23 million tons of rubble from the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukishima prefectures, according to Japan Today. And in March, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda called on the private sector for help.
More: Civil Beat of Honolulu
Japanese investors appear to have abandoned plans to dump millions of tons of debris from last year's tsunami disaster on a pristine island in the Northern Mariana Islands.
Hawaii scientists, outraged at the potential environmental impacts, have been working for weeks to derail the proposal after it was first reported in the Saipan Tribune.
Asia Mining Development PTE and Kanakyo Kaizen Kiko Co. are no longer exploring the idea of using Pagan Island as a garbage site, according to a spokesperson for Benigno Fitial, governor of the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
"It appears that the interested investors are no longer interested in shipping and storing tsunami debris due to certain laws in Japan that seemingly prohibit such from occurring," said Angel Demapan by email.
Japan has only disposed of a little more than 5 percent of the estimated 23 million tons of rubble from the Iwate, Miyagi and Fukishima prefectures, according to Japan Today. And in March, Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda called on the private sector for help.
More: Civil Beat of Honolulu
