May 29 12:27 AM US/Eastern
YAMAGUCHI, Japan, May 29 (AP) - (Kyodo) — The U.S. military began operation of a new offshore runway Saturday at the Marine Corps' Iwakuni air station in Yamaguchi Prefecture, replacing an existing runway located closer to nearby residential areas.
A ceremony was held at the base to commemorate the opening of the 2,440-meter-long runway, built about a kilometer offshore in a 250 billion yen project that involved reclaiming about 213 hectares of land.
The new runway is scheduled to be used also for commercial flights from fiscal 2012.
The construction project for the runway began in fiscal 1996 to address noise and safety concerns of nearby residents. It had earlier been scheduled to be completed in fiscal 2008 but was pushed back by a delay in the handover of land for the relocation site.
Under a 2006 Japan-U.S. agreement on the realignment of U.S. forces in Japan, the Iwakuni base will accommodate 59 U.S. carrier-borne jet fighters to be transferred from the U.S. Navy's Atsugi base in Kanagawa Prefecture, southwest of Tokyo.
A group of local residents has demanded in a lawsuit filed in 2008 with the Yamaguchi District Court that the prefectural government rescind its approval for reclaiming land for the new runway, saying the original relocation plan does not provide for such carrier-based jets to use the runway.
Yamaguchi Gov. Sekinari Nii has indicated he will not attend the new runway's opening ceremony, saying that while he is glad the offshore runway will reduce noise, it also ended up being saddled with the transfer of the fighters.
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