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Guam v. United States: How a Supreme Court Case Could Redefine Environmental Justice and Federal Accountability
The U.S. Supreme Court case *Guam v. United States* is more than a dispute over $160 million in cleanup costs for the toxic Ordot Dump. It represents a critical test of federal accountability for environmental damage on Indigenous lands and a potential shift in how the costs of military legacy pollution are allocated. This analysis explores the case's hidden economic logic—where statutes of limitations become a tool for fiscal evasion—and its profound implications for environmental justice, the remediation of CHamoru ancestral lands, and the future of cost-recovery for federally-caused contamination nationwide. The outcome could set a precedent that either strengthens or undermines the polluter-pays principle for government agencies.