Hawaii

US Navy sued over live-fire training plan in Pacific

Associated Press
Published | Updated

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force airmen wave at residents of Pagan island in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands after dropping a package to the islanders as part of Operation Christmas Drop. Community members and an environmental group on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, sued the U.S. Navy, the Department of Defense and the secretary of defense over a plan to turn two Pacific islands, including Pagan, into live-fire testing sites. (Staff Sgt. Benjamin Gonsier/U.S. Air Force via AP) (The Associated Press)

FILE - In this Dec. 9, 2015 file photo provided by the U.S. Air Force, Japan Air Self-Defense Force airmen wave at residents of Pagan island in the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands after dropping a package to the islanders as part of Operation Christmas Drop. Community members and an environmental group on Wednesday, July 27, 2016, sued the U.S. Navy, the Department of Defense and the secretary of defense over a plan to turn two Pacific islands, including Pagan, into live-fire testing sites. (Staff Sgt. Benjamin Gonsier/U.S. Air Force via AP) (The Associated Press)

Community members and an environmental group are suing the U.S. Navy over a plan to turn two Pacific islands into live-fire testing ranges.

The lawsuit was filed in federal court in Saipan on Wednesday.

The plan proposes using the islands of Tinian and Pagan in the Northern Marianas for live-fire military war games.

Attorneys representing the complainants said in a news release that training would prevent Pagan's native people from returning to their home island, which was evacuated in 1981 after a volcanic eruption, and would disrupt local communities on Tinian.

The lawsuit says the National Environmental Policy Act requires the military to consider all of the effects the relocation and training of their forces would have, but that the Navy has violated that law.