Dugong Lawsuit: Wise Decision from US Justice System Desired

[unhappycamper]

http://watchingamerica.com/News/244366/dugong-lawsuit-wise-decision-from-us-justice-system-desired/

Dugong Lawsuit: Wise Decision from US Justice System Desired
Ryukyu Shimpo, Japan
Translated By Maisha Kuniyuki
3 August 2014
Edited by Helaine Schweitzer

The plaintiffs in the dugong lawsuit and environmental groups from both Japan and the U.S. have filed a new action with the U.S. District Court in San Francisco against plans to move the U.S. Marine Corps Futenma Air Station to the Henoko area of Nago city.

The United States, of course, is also an interested party in this relocation issue. The U.S. justice system should thoroughly adjudicate the legality of this plan, which goes against the wishes of the locals, to reclaim land where the protected dugong species lives.

The new filing requests that construction-related vehicles from the Okinawa Defense Bureau be banned from entering Camp Schwab, regulated by the U.S. Department of Defense, and which is adjacent to the land planned for reclamation. In effect, granting this request would mean a suspension of construction.

The lawsuit, which is based on the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA), requests that the U.S. government also protect the cultural assets of other countries. The plaintiffs assert that the U.S. has not taken into consideration that the dugong is a protected species under the Japanese Act on Protection of Cultural Properties, and that the Henoko relocation project is in violation of the NHPA. With regard to the Department of Defense, the plaintiffs are also asking that it comply with the provisional decision made on the 2008 lawsuit, where the NHPA was applied to the dugong.