The Supreme Court is getting involved in a fight over the duty of the U.S. Air Force to conduct a federal environmental review before detonating munitions on a beach in northern Guam.
In a short order issued Monday, the justices granted a bid by the U.S. government to overturn a ruling by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that said the military’s activity was subject to requirements under the National Environmental Policy Act.
The West Coast appeals court found that the Air Force could be sued for violating NEPA and that local activist group Prutehi Guåhan had standing to sue the federal government to protect ancestral lands on the U.S. territory.
Federal attorneys have made the case that its activity is properly governed by a Resource Conservation and Recovery Act permit that the Air Force has held — and periodically renewed — since 1982. The government has argued that RCRA contains its own provisions for environmental review of hazardous waste cleanups.
