HAGÅTÑA (The Guam Daily Post) — Two groups have filed a joint lawsuit against the Navy, alleging the military has not complied with the Endangered Species Act during the construction of Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz in Dededo.
On Tuesday in the District Court of Guam, the Center for Biological Diversity, along with Prutehi Litekyan: Save Ritidian, filed a complaint against the United States Department of the Navy in which they “challenge the failure” of the military branch to comply with federal law related to ensuring endangered species are protected.
The complaint filed by former Attorney General of Guam Leevin Camacho, now in private practice, explains in particular the construction of Camp Blaz “is causing great harm to Guam’s endangered plants and animals, including some of the most imperiled species in the world, and has destroyed hundreds of acres of Guam’s last remaining native limestone forests.”
The complaint states the project affects a total of 15 species, including the Guam Rail, or ko’ko bird; the Mariana eight-spot butterfly, or the ababang; and the Cyas micronesica, or the fadang.
“All told, the relocation project detrimentally impacts 15 endangered and threatened species by destroying their habitats and disrupting their life cycles, threatening to erase them from Guam’s unique limestone forests,” the complaint stated, explaining the Navy did not follow “conservation measures” issued by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
The complaint contends that between 2010 and 2017 three measures were issued, and the Navy agreed to carry them out, which it is required to do under the Endangered Species Act, especially considering the construction of Camp Blaz is near complete.
“These conservation measures are mandatory and were specifically intended to offset the adverse impacts to these species from the Navy’s ongoing military activities at Camp Blaz,” the complaint stated.
While asking the District Court to declare the Navy in violation and order the service to cease activities until being in compliance with the Endangered Species Act, the Center for Biological Diversity alleges a Freedom of Information Act request to release documents pertaining to the issues sent to the Navy two years ago has not been honored.
“Unfortunately, it has become clear that without such relief from this court, the Navy will continue to carry out its military activities. … And it will do so in secrecy, without disclosing records it is required to disclose under the FOIA that pertain to these issues,” the complaint alleged.
The parties added a remedy for the claim would be for the Navy to produce all records sought in the FOIA request.
Release
About an hour after the lawsuit was filed, the Center for Biological Diversity issued a press release about the legal challenge.
“If the U.S. government and military are serious about environmental protection and addressing climate change, they need to start by addressing the devastating environmental effects of their own activities,” Monaeka Flores, of Prutehi Litekyan, stated in the release.
Frances Meno, another member of Prutehi Litekyan and a traditional healer, or yo’åmte, also explained how the buildup has affected her work.
“For me, it’s the medicines that we need to help heal our people and continue our practice of traditional healing,” Meno stated. “We have already lost access to so many places to gather our medicines because concrete jungles have been built. Western medicine does not always help our people and we need to return to our natural and spiritual ways of healing.”
‘Green Guam’
According to Post files, Joint Region Marianas issued a news release during the construction of Camp Blaz stating the military remains committed to working in accordance with the “Green Guam” pledge made with the local government.
The release stated efforts had been made to relocate more than 7,000 native plants out of construction sites to a protected nursery, later to be replanted in protected habitat areas.
The enhancement efforts in particular will provide a healthy habitat to aid in the recovery of the sihek, or Guam kingfisher, and fanihi, or Mariana fruit bat, with the military also having a goal to introduce plants eaten by the Mariana eight-spot butterfly caterpillars to boost the rare butterfly population.
Construction is underway May 7, 2023, at Marine Corps Base Camp Blaz in Dededo.
