Okinawa residents fight waste-burning plan

More than 600 Okinawa residents have signed a petition opposing a plan to burn some of the debris from the Japanese earthquake and tsunami. Stars and Stripes, reporting from Camp Foster on Okinawa, said the online petition calls on the Okinawa prefecture government to abandon the plan to burn the debris from the disaster zones in northeastern Japan. The residents, who include some in the US military community, say they fear disposing of the waste on Okinawa could spread radiation and diseases. The Tohoku region has about 25 million tons of debris after the earthquake and tsunami last March that killed thousands of people and caused widespread damage. The Japanese government wants to ship about 4 million tons to other areas of the country for disposal. The Japanese Ministry of the Environment has said waste shipped to Okinawa would not come from the Fukushima prefecture -- the site of the nuclear power plant damaged in the earthquake and tsunami -- and could be burned safely in Okinawa incinerators that would capture almost all radioactive material. Karen Kelley, a US Embassy spokeswoman, said the United States hasn't discussed the plan with Japan but trusts the national and prefecture governments will handle the debris safely. Local governments on Okinawa are to decide whether to burn the waste there, Stars and Stripes said.