Citations
- 180 F. Supp. 2d 145
Full opinion text
MEMORANDUM OPINION
KESSLER, District Judge.
Plaintiff, the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico (“Commonwealth”), brings this action to enjoin the United States Navy’s military training operations on the Island of Vie-ques, a municipality of the Commonwealth. Defendants are Donald Rumsfeld, Secretary of Defense; Gordon England, Secretary of the Navy; and Admiral Vern Clark, Chief of Naval Operations. Plaintiff alleges that Defendants’ naval exercises violate the federal Noise Control Act of 1972 (“the Act”), 42 U.S.C. § 4901 et seq., and Puerto Rico’s local environmental noise control law, namely the Noise Prohibition Act of 2001. The matter is now before the Court on Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment, and Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, or in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment.
Before turning to the particulars of the legal issues raised in this case, the Court notes some general observations about the underlying challenge. Without question, the issue of the Naval training exercises on Vieques has been of long-standing significance to many people. The Navy and the United States government view the exercises as critical to military readiness; the Commonwealth and the states that have submitted an amicus curiae brief believe the exercises interfere with their sovereign duty to protect the health, safety and welfare of their residents. The people of Vieques maintain that the exercises have significantly impaired their quality of life and well-being.
While the political and policy issues raised in this case are complex and involve the clash of many important interests, the legal issue, in contrast, is simple and straightforward. Upon consideration of the motions, oppositions, replies, the ami-cus curiae brief of the States of New York and Connecticut, and the entire record herein, for the reasons stated below, the Court concludes that the Commonwealth’s case must be dismissed for lack of subject matter jurisdiction. The federal Noise Control Act of 1972 does not provide Plaintiff a cause of action to sue in federal district court for the violations alleged. Accordingly, the Court denies Plaintiffs Motion for Summary Judgment and grants Defendants’ Motion to Dismiss, or in the Alternative, for Summary Judgment.
1. BACKGROUND
The Commonwealth filed this action to enjoin the United States Navy from firing its naval guns, known as 5-inch/54 caliber Mark 45 guns (“Mark 45 guns”), during naval training exercises at the inhabited island of Vieques. The Commonwealth asserts that these exercises violate both the federal Noise Control Act of 1972 and Puerto Rico’s own Noise Prohibition Act of 2001.
A. Naval Exercises on Vieques
Vieques, a municipality of the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico, is a hilly island in the Caribbean located to the south and east of Puerto Rico. Vieques is over 18 miles long and four miles at its widest point. About 9,300 civilians reside in Vie-ques, most of them in the two towns in the middle of the island, Isabel Segunda on the north coast and Esperanza on the south coast.
The Navy has been conducting military training exercises on and in the waters surrounding Vieques for the past 60 years. Currently, the Navy owns approximately 14,000 of the island’s 33,000 acres, which includes most of the eastern end of the island. The Navy’s installations on the eastern end of Vieques are part of a larger military complex known as the Atlantic Fleet Weapons Training Facility, headquartered in Puerto Rico. That facility consists of four firing ranges. The one most relevant to Plaintiffs challenge is the “Inner Range.”
Many different kinds of training exercises occur in the Inner Range. Plaintiffs allegations challenge the continuation of the exercises known as Naval Surface Fire Support exercises (“NSFS”). These exercises involve ship-to-shore gunnery practice by Navy vessels stationed between 4.6 to 6.8 miles from the southern shore of Vieques. The vessels fire 70-pound projectiles at 2.3 times the speed of sound at targets on an uninhabited area on the eastern end of Vieques known as the “Live Impact Area.” Each individual firing generates three sounds, namely one muzzle blast and two intense sonic booms. These sounds are propagated through air and water toward the island of Vieques, and each sound exceeds peak sound pressure values of 190 dB re 1