NAHA, Okinawa Pref. -- Residents in Nago, Okinawa Prefecture, presented a petition with 19,734 voter signatures to the municipal election management commission on Aug. 13, calling for an ordinance to provide for a plebiscite on construction of a U.S. Marine Corps offshore heliport.

The number of signatures far exceeded the figure required for voters to have the local assembly debate an enactment of an ordinance under the Local Government Law. An ordinance can be called if the figures exceed 2 percent of Nago's total eligible voters, who number about 38,000.

The same day, the Naha Defense Facility Administration Bureau started boring operations off Camp Schwab, near Nago, as part of its feasibility study for the heliport, which would replace Futenma Air Station. It plans to bore at 15 sites in the area until the end of October.