West Virginia Attorney General John B. “JB” McCuskey is leading a coalition of 21 state AGs asking the Supreme Court of the United States to protect the right of states to manage their own environmental permitting.
In a June 1 release, McClusky’s office said, “The U.S. Air Force has been disposing of WWII-era munitions at a base in Guam for decades and needs a permit under a federal environmental law — the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act — to do so legally. Congress has delegated authority over that permitting process to states, territories, and tribal nations. But, when the Air Force applied to renew its permit in 2021, an activist group sued before Guam EPA had even reviewed the application — and the Ninth Circuit agreed with the group. West Virginia and other states are asking the Supreme Court to reverse that decision.”
McCusky said by ruling that activity stop before Guam’s environmental protection agency can review the permit, the Ninth Circuit’s order sidelines the states and shifts all the power to federal judges.
“Extreme environmentalist activists are trying to weaponize laws and add unnecessary layers to an established and workable permit process. If they are allowed to succeed, they will be able to delay or block any project — including housing, energy or military — they want at any stage — even before the appropriate agencies have had the chance to look at it,” he said.
“This will cost taxpayers millions of dollars in project delays and cancellations, as well as litigation costs with little, if any, environmental benefit. This is an abuse of the process. Not only that, but it would also strip states of their congressionally mandated permitting authority. Where does it stop? We must take a stand now to end this extreme overreach.”
The coalition’s argument is that because the Air Force simply applied for renewal of a permit and nothing has been approved yet, it is too early to sue. They argue the Ninth Circuit’s ruling threatens a principle called cooperative federalism — the system where Congress lets states run environmental permitting programs within federal guidelines.
The Air Force wants the Supreme Court to reverse a 2025 federal appeals court ruling that found local activist group Prutehi Guahan could pursue the lawsuit. The court said in March it would review the case.
Prutehi Guahan filed the suit in 2022. It seeks to force Andersen Air Force Base to conduct a deeper environmental analysis before trying to get a new permit to operate the Tarague range. mbj
