CENTER FOR BIOLOGICAL DIVERSITY; TURTLE ISLAND RESTORATION NETWORK; JAPAN ENVIRONMENTAL LAWYERS FEDERATION; SAVE THE DUGONG FOUNDATION; ANNA SHIMABUKURO; TAKUMA HIGASHIONNA; YOSHIKAZU MAKISHI v. MARK ESPER; US DEPARTMENT OF DEFENSE

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The Ninth Circuit affirmed the dismissal of a lawsuit originally filed in 2003 by environmental groups challenging the Department of Defense’s construction and operation of an aircraft base in Okinawa on the basis that the Department failed to consider to the impacts of the base on the local dugong—a manatee-like species—population. The court affirmed the dismissal on the basis that the Department’s actions were within its discretion. [To accompany Federal Case Law Update "Ninth Circuit Ends Suit Over Endangered Okinawa Dugong" from Brooks Animal Law Digest Issue No. 30.]