Today's U.S. military is a good steward of the environment and doesn't bulldoze its way through construction sites without regard for culturally important finds, the commander of the military leadership on Guam said at a gathering of the island's largest business organization Wednesday.

The military has invested close to $100 million over the past five years toward environmental and cultural stewardship on Guam, Rear Adm. John Menoni, commander of Joint Region Marianas, said in a speech to the Guam Chamber of Commerce at the Hilton Guam Resort & Spa.

"So when people say that we’re just going out there bulldozing trees and kicking over latte stones, that’s just not the case. That may have been in the past – and I’m talking 50, 60, 70 years ago in the past – that’s not how we do things today,” he said.

‘We’re always pausing construction’

Having said that, Menoni also said the military must balance its need to train and be ready to go at a moment's notice, thus the need for proper training facilities.

The construction of the live-fire training range complex on Northwest Field at Andersen Air Force Base – which is part of the relocation plan for almost 5,000 Marines who are being moved to Guam from Okinawa – has been a major point of contention for activists and certain Guam senators who want the construction paused completely while environmental and cultural concerns are addressed.

“A lot of talk has been made about pausing construction on some of these sites; and what the senators saw ... when we went up to the site is that we’re always pausing construction on these sites," he said. "We pause any time we find something.” Speaker Tina Muña Barnes and other senators visited the firing range construction site about two weeks ago.

Working with Historic Preservation Office

“If we’re digging around and doing some construction and we find something that we think is an issue, whether it’s a pottery shard, whether it’s a fragment of a bone, or whether it’s something we just don’t understand – work stops. Work doesn’t start again until we go through a series of steps as outlined in the programmatic agreement," Menoni said.

Construction stops in an area if it is culturally significant, and the area is cordoned off, he said, to figure out what the discovery means with the assistance of experts.

“We take our responsibility seriously to protect all areas of cultural significance here on Guam and the CNMI. We work closely with state and local partners, including the State Historic Preservation Office," he added.

The military has a responsibility to be a good neighbor to Guam, the Northern Marianas and U.S.-affiliated island nations in the Western Pacific, he said.

Rear admiral has ties to Guam

Menoni mentioned military installations in Hawaii and California, where environmental and cultural sites have been protected.

It's Menoni's third time to be assigned on Guam. His wife taught public schools on Guam as well as the Department of Defense Activity School. The Menoni children were raised on Guam and have made friends here, he said.