The Voiceless Residents' Cry - Construction of Industrial Waste Facilities and Litigation in Fukuoka Prefecture (2004)

The Voiceless Residents' Cry - Construction of Industrial Waste Facilities and Litigation in Fukuoka Prefecture (2004)

In 2004, Fukuoka Prefecture planned to construct a new intermediate treatment facility to deal with the increase in industrial waste. Due to the industrial concentration and urbanization that followed the period of high economic growth, Fukuoka became one of the industrial waste centers in Kyushu, and the construction of a treatment facility was urgently needed. However, residents in the vicinity of the planned construction site strongly objected. Residents' groups filed a lawsuit to stop the construction, claiming that the environmental impact assessment (assessment) of the facility was inadequate and that it lacked effective measures to deal with future air and water pollution and traffic loads.

At the time, friction with residents over waste treatment facilities was becoming increasingly serious in many parts of Japan, and while the phenomenon of NIMBY (against in your own backyard) was becoming apparent, local governments and companies claimed that they were fulfilling their "accountability," but residents saw the quality of information provided and the absence of dialogue as problems. Similarly in Fukuoka, the relationship of trust between the government and citizens collapsed, leading to a confrontation in the form of a lawsuit.

This lawsuit is a symbolic case in which the voices of local residents regarding the construction of a facility were brought to the judiciary, and can be seen as a turning point in Japanese society, when the principle of "environmental justice" began to be recognized. The question of how to achieve harmony between economic rationality and the living environment continues to be asked to this day.