Supreme Court Takes Up Case About Air Force’s Disposal of Hazardous Waste

The U.S. Supreme Court on March 9 agreed to hear the Trump administration’s bid to throw out environmentalists’ challenge to the U.S. Air Force’s practice of detonating waste explosives on a beach in Guam. The justices granted the petition in Department of the Air Force v. Prutehi Guahan without comment in an unsigned order. No justices dissented. Guam, located in the Western Pacific Ocean, is an unincorporated U.S. territory that is part of the Mariana Islands. The island territory serves as an anchor for U.S. military operations in the region. The dispute centers on the federal National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA), a law that requires federal agencies to generate statements assessing the environmental impact of proposed major federal actions....