Judge Rejects Navy Request To Dismiss Environmental Lawsuit

Environmental advocates are cheering a federal judge’s decision to allow a lawsuit challenging military training plans in the Pacific to move forward.

National nonprofits and organizations in the Northern Marianas are challenging the Navy’s decision to relocate Marines to Guam and establish highly destructive training ranges on the islands of Tinian and Pagan.

The Navy is considering turning the northern half of Pagan into a bombing range and establishing a heavy artillery range on Tinian. The Navy has said ranges would ensure that about 5,000 Marines moving from Okinawa to Guam would have a place to train. It’s also part of an ongoing effort to beef up the military’s presence in the Asia-Pacific.

Earthjustice, Guardians of Gani, PaganWatch and Center for Biological Diversity argued that the Navy should have considered alternatives to Guam before deciding to move 5,000 Marines and their dependents there. The organizations also said that the Navy should have reviewed the impact of the intense training on Pagan and Tinian when it evaluated the impacts of the Guam relocation.

Read more: http://www.civilbeat.org/2017/10/judge-rejects-navy-request-to-dismiss-environmental-lawsuit/