Comment on US Navy sued over live-fire training plan in Pacific

US Navy sued over live-fire training plan in Pacific

HONOLULU (AP) — Community members and an environmental group on Wednesday sued the U.S. Navy, the Department of Defense and the secretary of defense over a plan to turn two Pacific islands into live-fire testing sites. The training would prevent Pagan's native people from returning to their home island, which was evacuated 35 years ago after a volcanic eruption, and would disrupt communities on Tinian, according to Earthjustice attorneys, who are representing complainants including the Center for Biological Diversity and local community organizations. The lawsuit says the National Environmental Policy Act requires the military to consider all of the training's potential effects on the islands and surrounding communities. The Navy did not take into consideration the people involved or the wide-ranging environmental effects, according to the groups. Expanding training would expose residents to "high-decibel training noise, permanent loss of 15 percent of the island's prime farmland soils, destruction of cultural and historic sites, and severe restrictions on access to traditional fishing grounds, cultural sites and recreational beaches," the lawsuit says. "When the Northern Marianas agreed to remain part of the United States, destroying the northern two-thirds of our island with live-fire training and bombing was never part of the deal," Florine Hofschneider of the Tinian Women's Association said in a statement.

 

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