On May 27, 2019, 45 Japanese citizens filed suit to block the construction of a new coal-fired power plant. The plaintiffs filed a legal challenge against the Japanese Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, seeking cancelation of the notice of finalization of the environmental impact assessment for the construction of two new coal-fired generating units - totaling 1,300 MW - at the Yokosuka power plant. The plaintiffs allege that JERA, the plant operator, improperly exploited a streamlined assessment process for replacements or upgrades that the Japanese Government created after the Fukushima Fukushima Daiichi nuclear accident.
On January 27, 2023, the Tokyo District Court delivered a judgment that dealt with the request to cancel the Notice of Confirmation issued by the Minister of Economy, Trade and Industry, who confirmed the Environmental Impact Assessment of JERA under Article 46 (17) (ii) of the Electricity Business Act. Firstly, the judgment discussed if the Notice of Confirmation was considered disposition against which an administrative complaint could be made. On this point, the Court determined that the Notice of Confirmation was considered disposition within the meaning of Article 3 (2) of the Administrative Case Litigation Act since the recipient of the Notice was an essential requirement for starting the operation of a power plant and granted legal status to JERA. Secondly, the judgment discussed if the Plaintiffs had standing and to what extent claims could be made. The Court stated that those persons who lived close to the coal-fired power plant and were likely to directly suffer significant damage from air pollution had legal interests to request the cancelation of the Notice of Confirmation. On the other hand, the Court stated that the damage from climate change could not be considered an individual interest to be protected by law. Thus, the Court recognized the standing of the Plaintiffs who lived within 20 km of the coal-fired power plant related to air pollution but did not recognize the standing and claims related to climate change and CO2 emissions. Lastly, the judgment discussed if the Notice of Confirmation was legal. The Court stated that the consideration of the alternative fuels was not obligatory and the use of the simplified procedure of the assessment was rational when the nature of the power plant (in this case, replacement) fell under the scope the rationalized guidelines. Therefore, the use of the simplified procedure in accordance with the rationalized guidelines was not against the Power Plant Assessment Ordinance and there were no procedural defects in the assessment of the impact of air pollution. Moreover, the Court stated that there were no reasons to predict that the level of the environmental impact would increase by the construction. The Court concluded that the Notice of Confirmation was legal as its content was adequate and there was no deviation nor abuse of power by the Minister.
On the same day, the Citizens’ Committee released a statement saying that the judgment was unjust, for the Court rejected the standing of the plaintiffs in relation to climate change and determined that the evaluation of PM 2.5 and consideration of the use of alternative fuels were not necessary.
On February 9, 2023, the citizens submitted a statement of appeal, and the following arguments are made in the appeal procedure.
Firstly, the citizens claim that the judgment of the District Court did not recognize the danger of climate change as fact, although the significant damage caused by climate change such as an increase in the number of extremely hot days and also an increase in the precipitation have been observed in their residential area. They particularly emphasized the destruction of marine ecosystems due to the impact of climate change and the fact that fishermen are being deprived of their means of livelihood.
Secondly, the citizens contest their lack of standing with regard to GHG emissions. The citizens argue that their health and living environment are exposed to risks and the interests to not suffer damage from GHG emissions should not be absorbed into public interests which do not assign standing but should be recognized as individual concrete interests.
Thirdly, the citizens argue that the lack of consideration of the use of alternative fuels is a serious procedural flaw in the Notice of Confirmation. They also contest the District Court’s inadequately wide recognition of governmental discretion on issuing the alleged notice.
Fourthly, the citizens argue that there have been procedural flaws during the EIA, including the lack of consideration of carbon dioxide emissions at the planning phase. They also contend that the conducted assessment ignores the perspective of environmental conservation through transparency of the decision-making process and effective public participation, which is a fundamental requirement of EIA, and that the assessment did not examine the consistency with the Paris Agreement.
Finally, the citizens argue that the use of the simplified EIA procedure is illegal since the present plan does not meet the criteria, such as the reduction of environmental impact as a result of the replacement of the power plants.
Case Documents:
Filing Date | Type | File | Summary |
---|---|---|---|
05/27/2019 | Complaint | Download | Complaint in Japanese |
10/02/2019 | Statement of Reply | Download | Defendants' response in Japanese |
05/10/2019 | Complaint | Download | Summary of the complaint in English. |
01/27/2023 | Decision | Download | Decision of the Tokyo District Court in Japanese |
02/22/2024 | Decision | Download | Tokyo High Court Decision |
02/24/2024 | Judgment | Download | Judgment of Tokyo High Court |