May 27, 2019
Plaintiff Group and Legal Team for Plaintiff Group, Yokosuka Coal-Fired Power Plant Lawsuit
On May 27, 2019, 45 citizens launched an administrative lawsuit in Tokyo District Court with the national government as defendant. They are seeking cancellation of the notice of finalization of the environmental impact assessment (EIA) for the construction of two new coal-fired generating units (650 MW x 2 units, totaling 1,300 MW) planned by Japan’s energy behemoth JERA Co. at the site of its Yokosuka thermal power plant, facing Tokyo Bay, south of Yokohama.
The lawsuit is calling on the government to cancel a notice of EIA finalization that was issued by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI), which cleared the way for the coal power plant to move ahead to the construction phase. The ministry didn’t request any changes in the EIA in terms of preventing impacts from CO2 emissions (approx. 7.26 million tons annually) and air pollutants from the proposed new generating units.
Rikuro Suzuki, representative for plaintiff group said, “Whatever personal effort citizens make to cut CO2 emissions day to day, we will never stop climate change if big coal power plants continue to be built. Yokosuka is the sole remaining coal plant slated for construction in the Tokyo Bay area. Promoting coal power is going in the wrong direction. We should stop it.”...
The First World governments HAVE TO END their dependence on fossil fuels. This is not a new concept, but, evidently a rather difficult one to tackle from the standpoint of making easy choices for the energy of a country. The USA is the poorest example of any of the First World countries. That doesn't mean there isn't a good fight to be fought. Americans have done all they can to stem the emissions of greenhouse gases within their power to change, the rest of the work has to be conducted in strict regulation and enforcement by all levels of government. In the USA, the most powerful governance is the local authorities that make the decisions regarding energy sources. The radical right wing states are attempting to preempt local authorities from making many different decisions including other issues as well.
Preemption (click here) occurs when law at a higher level of government is used to overrule authority at a lower level. State law can be used to preempt local ordinances, and federal law can be used to preempt state law. This page focuses on preemption of local ordinances by state law.
They amount to court fights. The monies paying for public utilities come directly from the consumer. Ohio is probably the best example of free wheeling expenditures that end up coming out of the citizen's pocket. If the consumer ultimately pays for the building and maintenance of public utilities then they have a right to say what type of electricity they are paying for. In that reality, Ohio now has to list alternative energies as a choice to the power received in the household.
So, if Japanese citizens do not want to pay for energy/electricity produced by coal power plants they should succeed in their lawsuit.
