Earthjustice and Prutehi Guåhan File Supreme Court Brief Defending Guam Community’s Right to Meaningful Environmental Review

Earthjustice filed its merits brief today in the U.S. Supreme Court in Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guåhan, a case about whether the U.S. military can destroy its expired munitions on a beach in Guam without following the basic requirements of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a federal law designed to protect people, health, and the environment. At its core, the case is about ensuring that the military takes a hard look at the irreversible consequences of its operations and respects the right of the people of Guam to have their voices heard at a critical juncture. Read our full merits brief.

“The people of Guam deserve transparency, accountability, and respect before the military decides to move forward with environmentally destructive activities that threaten our land, waters, and cultural resources,” said Monaeka Flores of Prutehi Guåhan. “This case is about fairness, deliberation, and self-determination — and about making sure the Air Force listens to our community before key decisions are made and the harm is done.”

“[The Air Force’s] determination to bypass NEPA in this instance is at odds with other agency practice, including in the hazardous-waste-munitions context. It is also misguided as a policy matter. Far from being an unusual application of NEPA, this situation caters to one of the statute’s strengths: streamlining analysis required under different environmental laws in one place at an early juncture,” said Earthjustice in its merits brief to the U.S. Supreme Court.

NEPA requires federal agencies, including the military, to take a hard look at environmental, cultural, and community impacts early enough in the process to matter, when there is still a real opportunity to consider alternatives and avoid potentially irreversible harm. Earthjustice’s brief explains that a later permitting process under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act does not replace that duty, and that Prutehi Guåhan may seek relief for the NEPA violation in court without waiting for that separate permitting process to conclude.