The buildup planned military infrastructure while leaving civilian water and utilities underfunded.

Evidence

The military’s own assessment predicted that at its height the buildup would strain and exceed the island’s wastewater treatment capacities. Given what the military called “the current poor state of the utilities infrastructure on Guam,” civilians would also face a shortage of millions of gallons of drinking water per day, requiring the military to share some of its surplus. Opponents noted that while the military hadn’t budgeted to expand Guam’s civilian facilities, the buildup plan included money to build new military schools, a new military hospital, and other base infrastructure. — David Vine, Base Nation_ How U.S. Military Bases…, 248

Categorization

Category: Factual Claims

• SEED: Angle: how base buildups deliberately privilege military over civilian infrastructure as a colonial governance pattern.

Related

• The 2006 Guam buildup moved Okinawa forces while expanding all military branches’ footprint. (similarity 0.82)
• EPA formally rejected the Guam buildup plan as environmentally unsatisfactory. (similarity 0.80)
• Pentagon cost estimates for the Guam buildup are grossly unreliable (similarity 0.80)
• The Guam buildup planned a nearly 50 percent population increase in four years. (similarity 0.80)
• The Pentagon’s Guam buildup budget massively understates true relocation costs by more than half. (similarity 0.79)
• A century-old colonial attitude drives the military’s poor planning on Guam (similarity 0.79)
• Guam is regarded as among the world’s most important military bases. (similarity 0.79)
• Grassroots and congressional opposition forced a major scaling back of the Guam build-up. (similarity 0.78)
• Military facilities occupy roughly thirty percent of Guam’s land. (similarity 0.78)