Action timeline

September 25, 2003 – The Center led a coalition of Japanese and American environmental groups in filing a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense to halt American airbase construction in Henoko Bay.

2004 – The Center helped organize a resolution of 889 of the world’s leading coral-reef experts, urging the governments of Japan and the United States to abandon their offshore airbase plans. The Center was also instrumental in leading numerous international conservation groups to urge President Bush and Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to cancel airbase construction.

2005 – A federal judge ruled that the lawsuit over the airbase could proceed under the National Historic Preservation Act.

January 24, 2008 – A federal judge concluded a lawsuit against the U.S. Department of Defense, brought by the Center and a coalition of Japanese and American environmental groups, by ruling that the agency's construction of a new airbase in Henoko Bay — the feeding grounds of the dugong — was in violation of the U.S. National Historic Preservation Act. The judge ruled that the agency must consider impacts of the new airbase on the Okinawa dugong to prevent or mitigate harm.