The Supreme Court began oral arguments in a case challenging the US Air Force’s decades-long practice of detonating unexploded munitions at Tarague Beach in Guam. The challenge was brought by Prutehi Guahan, a local conservation organization, which contends that the ordnance disposal operations risk harming the island’s ecosystem, damaging culturally significant sites, and compromising water resources that serve the majority of the population.
The legal dispute centers on which environmental laws govern the Air Force’s munitions disposal operations. The Air Force asserts it complied with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act in obtaining a permit to continue operations, which it has conducted at the site since 1982. Prutehi Guahan argues the Air Force also must follow the National Environmental Policy Act, which mandates federal agencies conduct environmental impact assessments and solicit public input before major undertakings. Government lawyers maintain that compliance with the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act supersedes National Environmental Policy Act requirements.
Prutehi Guahan’s legal filings emphasize multiple concerns about the disposal site. The beach sits on ancestral land seized by the military after World War II and is adjacent to areas where local families fish for sustenance and gather traditional medicines. Archaeological evidence indicates the region has been occupied since the 2nd millennium BC. Additionally, the detonation range sits above an aquifer supplying drinking water to over eighty percent of the island’s population. Studies cited in court documents indicate munitions disposal releases toxic chemicals and sends fragments into surrounding ocean and reef environments.
The case has attracted broader attention for raising questions about the political relationship between US territory residents and the federal government. Guam residents cannot vote in presidential elections and have limited legislative representation. The case highlights a pattern of military decisions affecting the island made without resident input, compounded by existing environmental damage from previous military operations at designated Superfund cleanup sites.
A federal district judge initially dismissed the case after Prutehi Guahan filed its challenge in January 2022, but the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals determined the case could proceed. The Air Force subsequently appealed to the Supreme Court, where the case is now being argued.
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