by Mindy Aguon

Guam - The Joint Guam Program Office isn't making any official statement about the litigation, instead referring KUAM News to the Department of Justice. But on KUAM News Extra last night JGPO director Joe Ludovici discussed the possibility of a lawsuit, saying Pagat remains the preferred alternative but that officials are working to resolve concerns raised by the local community and get the programmatic agreement signed.

"Of course, we're going to follow the law; if we're sued and they direct us to do that. We still have to meet our mission and do our training. If Pagat doesn't work out because of the courts...then we would say ok what are our alternatives and we would have to explore our other alternatives. They probably wouldn't meet our mission to the extent that we'd need but we would have to do that."

Ludovici added though that he believes if officials were to look at putting the firing range in another location, there would still be problems with cultural or environmental concerns. The JGPO director said he doesn't know if there's a perfect solution.

The DoJ meanwhile has declined to comment at this point, saying they will respond after being served with the lawsuit.