FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (June 24, 2024 – Hagåtña, Guam) – In a response letter to Speaker Therese Terlaje’s June 11, 2024 letter requesting an extension to the Missile Defense Agency’s (MDA) Guam Flight Test Proposed Final Environmental Assessment/ Overseas Environmental Assessment’s (EA/ OEA) public comment period, MDA Director Lieutenant General Heath Collins wrote that the MDA will extend the previous deadline by 30 days. The new public comment period deadline for the MDA’s Guam Flight Test Proposed Final EA/ OEA is now August 2, 2024. 

Furthermore, the MDA, in coordination with Joint Task Force Micronesia Command and Joint Region Marianas Command will offer their environmental and flight test experts to be available for a briefing with local legislators, and for a public meeting on July 25, 2024. The location and time for the public meeting are forthcoming in public notices. 

The deadline extension and public meeting are a win for Guam, but a win that should be taken with determination to increase public involvement in the public comment period process. Recent public comment periods for Department of Defense projects have not seen substantial community involvement, but this extension could change that for upcoming MDA deadlines related to their proposed 360-degree Enhanced Air and Integrated Missile Defense system for Guam. 

On the extension, Speaker Terlaje says the following:

“Thank you to the Missile Defense Agency, in coordination with Joint Task Force Micronesia Command and Joint Region Marianas Command, for granting an extension to the Guam Flight Test’s public comment period. I further thank the joint team for offering their environmental and flight test experts to be available for local legislators and a public meeting so that we can all address important matters like landowner rights, public safety, and protection of the environment for their proposed Guam Flight Test. 

Although seemingly separate, the proposed actions detailed within the Guam Flight Test Proposed Final EA/ OEA are directly related to the proposed 360-degree EIAMD system as they help prepare the MDA to establish the system in Guam.

Therefore, I urge the public to review the Guam Flight Test Proposed Final EA/ OEA and submit questions and concerns to the MDA during this extended public comment period. The Proposed Final EA/OEA and Proposed FONSI are available for download and review at www.mda.mil/system/guamft or you can visit the Dededo and Nieves M. Flores Memorial public libraries to view a printed copy. Comments may be submitted by email to info@GFT-EA.com or by U.S. postal mail to: ManTech International Corporation, Attention: Guam Flight Test EA Project Support, PMB 403 1270 N. Marine Corps Dr., Suite 101, Tamuning, Guam 96913-4331.”

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For more information, please contact Speaker Therese M. Terlaje’s office at (671) 472-3586 or via e-mail at senatorterlajeguam@gmail.com.