Okinawa activists applaud ruling on Futenma lawsuit

[unhappycamper]

Okinawa activists applaud ruling on Futenma lawsuit
By David Allen and Chiyomi Sumida, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Sunday, January 27, 2008

CAMP FOSTER, Okinawa — Okinawa environmentalists welcomed a U.S. District Court judge’s ruling on a lawsuit Thursday that could delay construction of a new Marine air facility on Okinawa and the move of some 8,000 Marines and their families to Guam.

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court of Northern California in 2003 by a coalition of U.S. and Japanese conservation groups, claimed the Defense Department failed to conduct its own study of the effects of building the new air station on the lower half of Camp Schwab and the shallow waters of Oura Bay. It claimed the failure violated a preservation act that requires federal agencies to study how their activities affect culturally significant areas.

The suit also claimed the airport construction would damage the breeding ground of the Okinawa dugong, a saltwater manatee whose northernmost habitat is the warm waters off Okinawa.

The judge’s ruling upheld the plaintiffs’ contention the act covers such properties in the States and abroad where U.S. facilities are involved.

“The ruling is a huge step forward,” Koichi Makishi, one of the plaintiffs, said Friday. “We are hoping to have an opportunity at the earliest possible time to discuss the issue with U.S. government.”


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=51945



uhc comment: Previous thread on the dugong --> http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=259&topic_id=10375