09/17/07 1:20 PDTSAN FRANCISCO (BCN)
A federal judge is scheduled to hear arguments in San Francisco this afternoon on a plea by conservation groups for a study of the effects of a proposed Marine Corps base on Okinawa on a rare sea mammal.
A coalition of American and Japanese environmental groups contends the new air-sea facility on the Japanese island of Okinawa would disrupt seagrass beds used as habitat of the Okinawa dugong.
The Okinawa dugong is a type of dugong, a large sea mammal related to the manatee.
The mammals have been designated by the Japanese government as critically endangered and as a national monument to the Okinawan people. They are culturally revered by native Okinawans and have been celebrated as sirens or mermaids believed to give friendly warnings of tsunamis, according to the Center for Biological Diversity, one of the plaintiffs in the case.
The center said in court papers that some studies suggest there may be as few as 10 Okinawa dugong remaining in existence.
The conservation groups have asked U.S. District Judge Marilyn Patel to rule that the U.S. Department of Defense is required under the National Historic Preservation Act to study the effects of construction on the Okinawa dugong before going ahead with the new base.
Martin Wagner, a lawyer for the conservation groups, said, "What's at stake here is whether the U.S. military respects the cultural values the people of Okinawa have placed on the dugong and dugong habitat."
U.S. Justice Department lawyers, meanwhile, have asked the judge to dismiss the case.
They contend the site of the new base was carefully chosen in consultation with highest levels of the Japanese government and that any ruling from a U.S. court should await completion of a Japanese environmental study.
Justice Department lawyers wrote in a brief submitted to Patel that allowing the lawsuit to proceed would interfere with Japanese internal affairs as well as with U.S.-Japanese diplomatic and military relations.
The federal attorneys said that applying the U.S. historic preservation law to the dispute "would compel unwarranted interference in foreign affairs."
Wagner said Patel is expected to take the case under consideration after today's hearing and issue a written ruling at a later date.
The plaintiffs in the 2003 lawsuit are two U.S. conservation groups, five Japanese groups, three Japanese citizens and the Okinawa dugong itself. The defendants are the U.S. Department of Defense and Defense Secretary Robert Gates.
The proposed new base on Cape Henoko would replace an existing Marine Corps air station in a heavily populated area. It would have V-shaped runways extending 1,800 meters into Henoko Bay, where seagrass beds used by Okinawa dugong for feeding are located.
The United States has had a military presence on Okinawa since the end of World War II in 1945. In 1972, the United States returned administrative control of the territory to Japan and Okinawa resumed its former status as a Japanese prefecture.
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