[CPEO-MEF] GLOBAL, BIOTA: "Lawsuit Seeks to Halt Construction of U.S. Military Airstrip in Japan"

[Lenny Siegel <lsiegel@cpeo.org>]

Center for Biological Diversity
News Release
July 31, 2014

Lawsuit Seeks to Halt Construction of U.S. Military Airstrip in Japan
That Would Destroy Habitat of Endangered Okinawa Dugongs

Marine Base Threatens Survival of Manatee Relative

SAN FRANCISCO - American and Japanese conservation groups today asked  
a U.S. federal court to halt construction of a U.S. military airstrip  
in Okinawa, Japan that would pave over some of the last remaining  
habitat for endangered Okinawa dugongs, ancient cultural icons for  
the Okinawan people. The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in San  
Francisco, is the latest in a long-running controversy over the  
expansion of a U.S. Marine air base at Okinawa’s Henoko Bay.  
Preliminary construction on the base began earlier this year.

Dugongs are gentle marine mammals related to manatees that have long  
been revered by native Okinawans, even celebrated as "sirens" that  
bring friendly warnings of tsunamis. The dugong is listed as an  
object of national cultural significance under Japan's Law for the  
Protection of Cultural Properties, the equivalent of the U.S.  
National Historic Protection Act. Under this act and international  
law, the United States must take into account the effect of its  
actions and avoid or mitigate any harm to places or things of  
cultural significance to another country.



...

For the entire release, see
http://www.biologicaldiversity.org/news/press_releases/2014/okinawa- 
dugong-07-31-2014.html

--

Lenny Siegel
Executive Director, Center for Public Environmental Oversight
a project of the Pacific Studies Center
278-A Hope St., Mountain View, CA 94041
Voice: 650/961-8918 or 650/969-1545
Fax: 650/961-8918
<lsiegel@cpeo.org>
http://www.cpeo.org

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