An outside view of the Supreme Court of the United States in Washington, DC. The Supreme Court heard oral arguments this week concerning the legality of a US Air Force test range in Guam, opposed by local environmental activists. (Shutterstock/Framalicious)

Can the US Military Keep Using Guam as a Test Range?

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Prutehi Guåhan, an environmental group, argued before the Supreme Court that the US Air Force illegally refused to conduct an environmental impact study on a weapons testing range in Guam.

The United States military has conducted live-fire weapons tests and exercises on the US territory of Guam in the Pacific Ocean for decades after the end of World War II. This included the US Navy’s anti-ship missile tests in August 2017, with formal local live-fire training ranges and comprehensive missile defense tests beginning major modern phases in September 2023 and December 2024.

Though these weapons are conventional rather than nuclear—indeed, the United States conducted nuclear tests on other Pacific islands that made them uninhabitable, notably Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands—there are growing concerns over the harm they may cause to locals and wildlife. This week, the United States Supreme Court is wrestling with whether the United States Air Force should be required to conduct environmental reviews before it continues with its practice of open burning and detonation of expired bombs, rockets, and hazardous waste munitions at Tarague Beach on Andersen Air Force Base (AFB), in the US territory in the Western Pacific.

On Wednesday, the nine justices heard 75 minutes of oral arguments in........

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