Hagel

AMENDED ORDER GRANTING DEFENDANTS’ MOTION TO DISMISS

(Docket No. 163)

Plaintiffs are three Japanese individuals and four environmental groups that are challenging a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) 1 decision, made jointly with the Government of Japan, to construct a new *994 military base on Okinawa. According to Plaintiffs, construction of two aircraft runways on landfill in Henoko Bay will destroy critical feeding grounds and habitat for the Okinawa dugong, a species of marine mammal similar to a manatee. It is undisputed that the Okinawa dugong is critically endangered.

Plaintiffs originally filed this lawsuit in 2003, arguing that DoD failed to “take into account” any adverse effects that construction of the military base might have on the dugong. Plaintiffs contended that such action was necessary pursuant to section 402 of the National Historic Preservation Act (NHPA). This Court (Patel, J.) agreed with Plaintiffs, and in 2008 ordered the-DoD to comply with the NHPA. DoD completed a report intended to satisfy its NHPA obligations in April 2014.

Now, with construction of the military base apparently underway, Plaintiffs seek to challenge the DoD’s NHPA findings under the…