7,000 Japanese sue over Atsugi jet noise

[unhappycamper]

7,000 Japanese sue over Atsugi jet noise
By Hana Kusumoto and Teri Weaver, Stars and Stripes
Pacific edition, Thursday, May 15, 2008

A civil lawsuit hearing of more than 7,000 residents living near Naval Air Facility Atsugi seeking compensation from jet noise damages began Monday at Yokohama District Court, according to the plaintiffs.

Four residents gave statements in court Monday saying the "Japanese government hasn’t done anything when the noise is at the illegal level," and that "one won’t know how it is on the illegal level until one actually lives there," according to the secretary general of the plaintiffs’ group, Hideaki Saito.

The suit, the fourth of its kind by Atsugi area residents, seeks approximately 5.3 billion yen (about $53 million) in damages allegedly incurred over the past three years. The amount has increased since they filed the suit in December because the number of plaintiffs has increased by about 900, the plaintiffs said. Residents also want a ban on military flights between 8 p.m. and 8 a.m. and are demanding no flights of aircraft with engine noise exceeding 70 decibels at any time.

Officials at South Kanto Defense Bureau, a local branch of the defense ministry that deals with U.S. military base issues, declined to comment because the hearing is ongoing.

However, Saito said, the Japanese government submitted a statement to the court claiming the lawsuit should be rejected since the levels are tolerable and the residents moved to the area knowing about the jet noise.


Rest of article at: http://www.stripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=54788