US sued over military plans for Marianas islands

Transcript

A lawsuit against US military proposals for two Northern Marianas islands claims that the US has shifted the goalposts on its plans in the territory.

Four local community groups, with legal representation by the NGO Earthjustice, are suing the US Navy and government over plans to use Tinian and Pagan islands for large, live-fire war exercises.

Johnny Blades reports.

The US plans have been in the pipeline for at least six years. American officials have conducted various consultations and received thousands of submissions on their plans. Last year, the navy told RNZI that it had gone beyond what the law required of it in terms of engagement with local stakeholders over the plans. However, Earthjustice's attorney David Henkin argues that the National Environmental Policy Act requires the navy to take a thorough look at all of the impacts associated with the imminent relocation of 5000 US marines from Japan to Guam. He says that due to this transfer of marines to Guam, proposed training in the neighbouring Marianas has changed radically since 2010, from low-level to highly destructive exercises.

DAVID HENKIN: In 2018 is when it's projected they'll actually do their environmental review for the training associated with moving those marines, in other words the training those marines are going to need to do. well by then it's too late. By 2018 the die will be cast. So, the marines will be on Guam, the infrastructure will be built and at that point, they're not going to abandon the project and move marines elsewhere or consider different training that would be less destructive.

One of the plaintiff groups in the lawsuit is the Tinian Women's Association. Its spokesperson Deborah Fleming says when two-thirds of Tinian was leased by the US military in the 1970s, the island's elders were presented with a far different picture of how the US wished to use it.

DEBORAH FLEMING: Using our island for a firing range was never discussed, and they would never have agreed to it. Because our elders survived World War 2, and they talked about the fear and the damage that bombs and weapons of mass destruction can do to your island and natural resources.

Meanwhile, a statement from the US military's Joint Region Marianas command said it was aware of the lawsuit but that since the issue was pending litigation, it couldn't comment on any specifics related to the matter. Acknowledging widespread concern in the Marianas about the use of mortars on the two islands, the former mayor of Tinian Ray de La Cruz also says there could be upsides to the military presence.

RAY DE LA CRUZ: You know it's pro-military, majority of the people here, because this is a sleeping town, so to speak. Nothing really major is happening here. The only operating casino here closed down its doors so now we're looking for other economic activities. We believe that the military training will provide the necessary driver for economic development.

Pagan remains largely uninhabited following a  volcanic eruption in 1981, however its indigenous community hopes to one day return to resettle there. Cinta Kaipat of the group Paganwatch sees the US plans as an obstacle to this.

CINTA KAIPAT: They are also supposed to look at other alternatives within our region, and they have not done that. That's why we're saying listen, we support the military, this has nothing to do with patriotism, and everything to do with not wanting our home island to be bombed. Why can't they understand that no means no?

More public hearings on the latest version of the US military's draft environmental impact statement on the plan are expected soon. But the feeling among locals that the plan opens the islands up for environmental, and social, devastation is unlikely to fade quickly.