A partial win for Makua, but struggle far from over

Post Date January 14, 2011
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Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Free Makua, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice

Yesterday, the Army announced that it will end live fire training in Makua valley. This is a win for those who have struggled for many years to save Makua from the destructive and contaminating activities of the U.S. military. The Honolulu Star Advertiser ran a story and so did the Associated Press.

However, it is only a partial victory.

The Army continues to hold Makua hostage and plans to use the valley for other kinds of training. Furthermore, the Army is shifting the bulk of its training to Schofield in Lihu’e, O’ahu and Pohakuloa on Hawai’i island. This is consistent with the recent announcement of a Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement for expanding or renovating training facilities at Pohakuloa.

This was never a “Not-In-My-Back-Yard” movement. Trading one ‘aina for another is not acceptable. Furthermore, it leaves unchallenged the very premise that the training is needed. Training for what purpose? To invade and occupy other countries? Inflict death and destruction in the name of Pax Americana?

The movement to protect Makua moves into a challenging phase as we now push for the cleanup and return of the land. The Army is hoping that non-live fire training will be less likely to inflame community anger. By removing a major flashpoint, the Army hopes to deflate the momentum of the movement. It is more difficult to sustain high levels of energy around the technical and tedious clean up and restoration of a site. So we must be inspired by our vision of the alternative we hope to grow in Makua.

Every gain we make in Makua owes to the thousands in Hawai’i and around the world who have come forward to malama ‘aina, speak out, protest, pray and grow the peaceful and blessed community we wish to see in the world.  The Makua movement must not forget its kuleana to the many people who have stood in solidarity with us, as we continue to stand and speak out in solidarity with others.

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http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20110113_Army_ends_live-fire_training_at_Makua.html

Army ends live-fire training at Makua

After decades of opposition to bombing the valley, real ordnance will be used only at Schofield and Pohakuloa

By William Cole

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 13, 2011

The last company of soldiers may have stormed the hills of Makua Valley with M-4 rifles blazing, artillery whistling overhead, mortars pounding mock enemy positions and helicopters firing from above.

After battling environmentalists and Hawaiian cultural practitioners since at least the late 1980s, the Army said this week it is acceding to community concerns and no longer will use the heavy firepower in Makua that started multiple fires in the 4,190-acre Waianae Coast valley and fueled a number of lawsuits.

In place of the company Combined Arms Live-Fire Exercises, known as CALFEXes, the Army said it is moving ahead with a plan to turn Makua into a “world class” roadside-bomb and counterinsurgency training center with convoys along hillside roads, simulated explosions and multiple “villages” to replicate Afghanistan.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

Army invited to PUBLIC community forum on Depleted Uranium Monday Aug. 30th in Keaau

Post Date August 14, 2010
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Category Depleted Uranium, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice

Aug 14, 2010

Press Release:

Army invited to PUBLIC community forum on Depleted Uranium Monday Aug. 30th in Keaau

further contact: Jim Albertini 966-7622 ja@interpac.net

Below is a copy of a letter of invitation mailed today to Pohakuloa Commander Lt. Col. Rolland C. Niles from Malu ‘Aina.

Email versions were sent to Celso Tadeo at Pohakuloa (celso.tadeo@us.army.mil) and Mike Egami, Army Public Affairs officer on Oahu (Mike.Egami@us.army.mil) with a request that the invitation be extended up the chain of command to Col. Douglas S. Mulbury. Commander, US Army Garrison – Hawaii. The Aug. 30th DU forum will go on whether or not the Army accepts Malu ‘Aina’s invitation to participate. “The Army promised transparency. We’re still waiting,” said Jim Albertini.

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O. Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawai`i 96760

Phone 808-966-7622 email ja@interpac.net

Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

+++

August 14, 2010

Lieutenant Colonel Rolland C. Niles

Commander, US Army Garrison – Pohakuloa

P.O. Box 4607

Hilo, Hawaii 96720-0607

Dear Lieutenant Colonel Niles:

Aloha and welcome to our Island home.

We invite the Army to participate in a BALANCED PUBLIC FORUM on Deleted Uranium Health Risk Assessment. Monday, Aug. 30th from 7-9PM at the Keaau Community Center. The Army is invited to start the evening off with a 30 minute presentation followed by a 30 minute presentation from community representatives. Public testimony and Moderated Q & A will follow. The event is free and THE PUBLIC IS INVITED.

Please R.S.V.P. by August 23 to our organization which is the sponsor of the event. Contact information is listed below.

We are aware that the Army has scheduled a presentation on the Depleted Uranium Health Risk Assessment for PTA to be held Tuesday, Aug. 31st at 2PM at Pohakuloa Training Area.

We object that this presentation is:

1. “By invitation only”

2. Not balanced with community representatives being given equal time

3. Held at PTA instead of in the community (preferably forums in Hilo, Kona, Waimea and Na’alehu). The winds, dust devils, and vehicles that travel through Pohakuloa travel around this island. Everyone on this island is potentially at risk from military radiation contamination at Pohakuloa.

We appeal to you to come out of your bunker, your “Green Zone” on Hawaii Island, and meet and treat the people of this island with respect. Democracy is not by invitation only. Furthermore, it is we civilians who are paying for the military budget, including your salaries.

Mahalo for your consideration.

Jim Albertini

President

—

Jim Albertini

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action

P.O.Box AB

Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760

phone: 808-966-7622

email: JA@interpac.net

Visit us on the web at: www.malu-aina.org

"Area Unsafe": Depleted Uranium in Hawai'i ranges

Post Date August 11, 2010
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Category Depleted Uranium, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice

http://www.bigislandweekly.com/articles/2010/08/11/read/news/news02.txt

Report: Area unsafe

PTA visitors speak up about having to sign a safety waiver

By Alan D. Mcnarie

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 10:38 AM HST

U. S. Army sources have often contended that the depleted uranium left by spent shells on its firing ranges at O’ahu’s Schofield Barracks and Hawai’i Island’s Pohakuloa Training Area pose no danger to the public.

In 2008, Army officials told the Hawaii County Council that DU did not pose a health risk to the public, even though the Saddle Road passes through Pohakuloa Training Area, where DU shell fragments had been found. In a recent letter to Rep. Mazie Hirono, Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army Addison Davis, IV, wrote that “Many independent scientific studies of uranium in the environment show that DU presents no significant ‘environmental health or safety hazard,’ especially at soil concentration of the DU on Hawaii’s ranges.”

“Based on data gathered and careful analysis of the current situation, there is no immediate or imminent health risk to people who work at Schofield Barracks or Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) or live in communities adjacent to these military facilities from the DU present in the impact areas… Studies conducted by numerous non-military agencies, including the World Health Organization and the Department of Health and Human Services, have not found credible evidence linking DU to radiation-induced illnesses Studies conducted by numerous non-military agencies, including the World Health Organization and the Department of Health and Human Services, have not found credible evidence linking DU to radiation-induced illnesses,” claims the Army’s DU information website, http://www.imcom.pac.army.mil/du.

But the Army took a different position when representatives from several Native Hawaiian groups requested access to the West Range at Schofield Barracks on O’ahu on May 27. Before being allowed into Schofield, all were asked to sign a waiver of responsibility acknowledging, among other things, that they knew DU was potentially hazardous to their health.”

“I fully understand and by my signature acknowledge that I understand, West Range at Schofield Barracks is currently constructing the Battle Area Complex (BAX) which includes clean up of unexploded ordnance (UXO) including potential chemical warfare munitions (CWM) and depleted uranium (DU)…,” the waiver read, in part. “I understand that the ENTIRE RESERVATION IS DANGEROUS AND UNSAFE due to the presence of surface and subsurface UNEXPLODED ORDNANCE and DEPLETED URANIUM; that there may be hazardous conditions and ordnance on or under the surface of the Reservation; and that unexploded ordnance may explode nearby causing serious bodily harm, injury and death and that depleted uranium particles can be ingested from the soil or inhaled by airborne dust that may cause adverse health effects.” [Words capitalized as in original.]

“I signed that form twice,” said Hawaiian activist Terri Mullins, who has made two trips to Schofield because ancient Hawaiian remains had been uncovered during construction of a new training area for the army’s new Stryker attack force — the same force for which rangeland has been purchased for a new training area at Pohakuloa, whose firing range has also been contaminated by DU spotting rounds fired by the so-called ‘Davy Crockett,” a Cold-War-era nuclear artillery piece. Mullins, who represents a Hawaiian group called Kipuka said that on the May 27 trip, she was accompanied by members from the O’ahu Island Burial Council, Hui Malama I Na Kupuna, the Wahiawa Hawaiian Civic Club, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the American Friends Service Committee, Aha Kukuniloko and Hui Pu. All, she said, were asked to sign waivers. Big Island Weekly confirmed that at least one other activist who had been on that trip had signed an identical waiver.

The reference to the hazards of “inhaled by airborne dust” containing DU appears to echo concerns expressed by opponents who think fine airborne particles of DU, called “aerosols,” could cause cancer and other diseases. The Army in the past has scoffed at such risks. Its application to the NRC to legally possess the DU at Pohakuloa, for instance, states that “available information indicates that depleted uranium metal generally remains in the immediate vicinity where initially deposited, with limited migration over the period that the materials are present.

But critics such as Dr. Mike Reimer, a geologist and radiation expert who lives in Kona, disagree.

“It is an alloy and a study by the U.S. Air Force revealed that various DU alloys, not quite the same as claimed to have been used at Pohakuloa, are 100 percent effective in producing tumors in mice that then metastasize the lungs,” wrote Reimer, in an e-mail to Sierra Club researcher Cory Harden. “Solid (or alloyed) U[ranium] as a respirable absorbed particle in your lung will produce a radiation dose much greater than the same size particle of oceanic basaltic rock containing 0.t par per million [of] uranium [In other words, naturally occurring uranium found in Hawai’i’s rocks].”

The most probable vector for exposure to DU on the Big Island, maintained Reimer, was the inhalation of tiny, windborne particles, or “aerosols”: “As long as bombs drop and winds blow in the spotting round test area, there will be aerosol production and transport of DU. Aerosols may form and drop nearby, but they can be remobilized by constant bombing.

“Any DU residue present is limited to impact areas well within the perimeter of operational ranges,” the Army’s DU website maintains. “These areas are not publicly accessible. Very few range and safety personnel access the impact areas of our operational ranges. Those people that work in these areas are trained to recognize potential hazards associated with military munitions.”

Why, if the danger of DU is limited to impact areas, Native Hawaiians visiting a construction site would be warned about it or told that “THE ENTIRE RESERVATION IS DANGEROUS AND UNSAFE,” remains an interesting question.

"The Army has no plans for the removal of the legacy DU"

Post Date July 01, 2010
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Category Depleted Uranium, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice

Mahalo to Big Island Weekly for continuing to track the Depleted Uranium contamination in Hawai’i.

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http://www.bigislandweekly.com/articles/2010/06/30/read/news/news02.txt

Army official: We never meant to clean up DU

By Alan D. Mcnarie

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 11:08 AM HST

According to a high Army official, the Army never intended to remove depleted uranium ammunition remnants from Pohakuloa Training Area and Shofield Barracks, and it has no plans to do so for as long as the firing ranges at those facilities are still in use.

“The Army requested a license for possession, not decommissioning, of the legacy DU at the affected Army installations,” wrote Deputy Assistant Secretary to the Army Addison D. “Tad” Davis IV to Congresswoman Mazie Hirono on May 26 of this year. Davis added, “Currently the Army has no plans for the removal of the legacy DU. The ranges containing DU are still in use, and most, if not all, of these ranges also contain unexploded ordnance, which is significantly more hazardous than any DU that might be present on these ranges. Should those ranges be scheduled for closure at some future date, the Army will address the DU present as part of the range closure….”

The “legacy DU” referred to in the letter is believed to be fragments of spotting rounds from cold-war-era Davy Crockett nuclear artillery. In 2008, the Army submitted an application to the Nuclear Regulatory Commission for a permit to “possess” the DU; its original permit had expired in 1964. The NRC’s ruling on that application is still pending, though the NRC has criticized the Army’s plan to monitor the DU in the area as ineffective. (See “NRC to Army: DU Monitoring Plan Won’t Work” in the archives at http://www.bigislandweekly.com.) A sub-agency called the Federal and State Materials and Environmental Management Programs is entertaining a petition from Hawaiian activist Isaac Harp to discipline the army over the expired permit. Hirono had asked Davis what the army had done to address public concerns about “environmental, health and safety” hazards that the DU posed.

The Army has repeatedly contended that the DU does not present a significant hazard to the island’s population. Davis’s letter to Hirono continued to maintain the Army’s position. He claimed that the soil concentration of DU at the Army ranges was estimated at 1-4 pCi/g (picocuries of DU per gram of soil), which averaged “much less than the NRC decommissioning levels of uranium in soil (14 pCi/g of Uranium 238, the major constituent of DU), and are not much above soil concentrations of naturally occurring uranium.”

“The Army has collected numerous air and soil samples, none of which indicate that the DU at Hawaii’s ranges has migrated off-range…,” Davis contended.

Not so, says Dr. Lorrin Pang, a former Army doctor and frequent critic of the Army’s handling of the DU issue.

“That’s absolutely not true. Even their own tests at Waiki’i [on the Saddle Road near Pohakuloa] found it [DU] in dust at low levels. I think the correct scientific interpretation is, it was there,” Pang told the Big Island Weekly.

Pang also challenged Davis’s assertion that “Many independent scientific studies of depleted uranium in the environment show that DU presents no significant ‘environmental, health and safety [hazard],’ especially at the soil concentrations of the DU on Hawaii’s ranges.” Pang noted that the NRC itself had criticized the Army’s monitoring protocols as inadequate; he maintained that the Army simply didn’t know, yet, how much DU was located at Pohakuloa.

“You don’t have a system in place to monitor and baseline, and then you’re gonna tell me the risks?” he asked skeptically. “Tad Allen isn’t a scientist. He’s an MBA from Harvard. If he makes these statements, he’d better refer to scientists who will defend them…

First of all, if you say, we never intended to clean it up, how much is there? You don’t even know.”

The proper scientific approach, he maintained was, “First tell me, how much [DU] is there. Then you’ve got to tell, me, what is the risk? Then you’ve got to tell me the response: if you’re going to clean it up or not.”

And the army’s own “friendly fire” studies on servicepeople exposed to DU were so badly flawed, he maintained, that the researchers hadn’t even recorded tumors, so the health risks were also not known. Without knowing either the quantity of DU or the health risk, the proper course of action was impossible to determine.

He added that that appropriate course of action might turn out to be something other than cleaning up the DU.

“Maybe they don’t have to clean it up,” he said. “Maybe they just promise never to use it again. Maybe they keep the dust down.”

Davis’s letter also provoked a response from Cory Harden, who has been monitoring the DU controversy for the Sierra Club. Harden noted that when Davis wrote , “the Army has collected numerous soil and air samples, none of which indicate that the DU…has migrated off range,” he didn’t mention testimony by geologist and radiation expert Dr. Mike Reimer, who had reviewed the Army’s proposed DU monitoring system and found that the holes in the filters on the Army’s detection devices were “ten times too large.”

She also questioned Davis’ statement that the DU disposal problem would be addressed when the firing ranges were finally decommissioned. She noted that after the military took over Kaho’olawe for a bombing range, Pres. Dwight Eisenhower had promised to return the island in habitable condition – but when it was finally returned 50 years later, massive bombing had cracked the caprock, draining the island’s freshwater supply, and most of the island’s land still had not been entirely cleared of ordnance.

What the Army actually does with the DU, however, may depend not on what it intended or intends to do, but on what the NRC tells it to do. Few expect the NRC not to grant the Army a permit to possess the DU – after all, the stuff is already in the ground – but it may well impose conditions on the Army, including a more viable monitoring program and possibly a cleanup strategy.

Army tries, but fails to pacify Native Hawaiians in Makua, Lihu'e and Pohakuloa

Post Date June 21, 2010
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Category 'A'ole Stryker, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Free Makua, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2010/06/ap_army_hawaii_native_ties_062010/

Army seeks better ties with Native Hawaiians

By Audrey McAvoy – The Associated Press

Posted : Sunday Jun 20, 2010 14:14:17 EDT

HONOLULU — The people of Waianae believe the first Hawaiians were created in Makua, a lush valley about 30 miles from downtown Honolulu. The valley is also home to three large heiau, or ancient stone platforms used for worship. So it’s no surprise many Native Hawaiians consider the valley to be sacred.

The Army, though, sees Makua as a prime spot for soldiers to practice firing live ammunition.

These widely divergent perspectives illustrate the gulf between the Army and Hawaiians that have contributed to an often antagonistic and deeply distrustful relationship between the two.

Now the Army is trying to narrow the gap. In a series of firsts, the Army Garrison Hawaii commander hired a liaison for Hawaiian issues, formed a council of Hawaiians to advise him, and brought Army and Hawaiian leaders together to sign a covenant in which both sides vowed to respect and understand one another.

“Instead of going back and rehashing the past, I’m trying to make a fresh start, trying to make that relationship positive, make things better down the line,” said Col. Matthew Margotta.

But the Army did not invite several Hawaiians embroiled in ongoing disputes with the Army to join the council or sign the covenant, prompting critics to question how effective these initiatives will be.

“You want to work together but you only want to work with people who don’t disagree with you. How good is that?” said William Aila, whose uncle was ousted from Makua during World War II and who is fighting for the Army to return the valley.

The military took control of Makua in 1943 when Hawaii was under wartime martial law. Authorities told residents to leave, and the Army and Navy began using the valley for bombing practice.

The explosions damaged homes and the community’s church and cemetery. Interviews for a 1998 oral history commissioned by the Navy showed residents were embittered by the destruction and the takeover that severed their families, who had once fished and farmed in Makua, from the land.

Today the Army still controls Makua under a lease with the state that expires in 2029.

In recent years, the Army and Hawaiians have clashed over the Army’s restrictions on access to sites in the valley. The Army cites safety for the limits, although Hawaiians say they’ve long visited these sites and understand the risks.

Hawaiian anger also mounted in 2003 when the Army’s planned burn of brush raged out of control and scorched more than half of the 7-square-mile valley.

Elsewhere in the islands, Hawaiians and the Army have butted heads over the appropriate use of lands at Schofield Barracks, which is home to several thousand soldiers in the 25th Infantry Division, and Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

Last month, several Hawaiians objected when an army contractor leveling land for a new Schofield training ground unearthed an ancient bone fragment. They had opposed the construction of the training ground precisely because they feared human remains would be found if the soil was disturbed.

Hawaiian tradition says bones must stay in the ground until they’re dissolved so the deceased can complete his or her journey to the afterlife.

Margotta says the covenant, signed in March, will contribute to better relations by committing future commanders to partner and cooperate with Hawaiians. This should impose some consistency even as leaders rotate posts every two to three years.

“There’s been commanders out there who have embraced the Hawaiian community and partnered with them and worked with them. And there have been others who have been not so inclined,” Margotta said. “We wanted to codify it for successive generations.”

Col. Douglas Mulbury, who took over from Margotta in a change of command ceremony last week, agrees with the initiatives and hopes to build on them, spokesman Loran Doane said.

Neil Hannahs, the director for the land assets division of Kamehameha Schools, said the council and covenant may help ameliorate conflict by spurring dialogue.

“Let’s just get together and talk before we’re at a point of crisis and conflict,” Hannahs said.

Hannahs is on the advisory council. He also signed the covenant, although as an individual and not as representative of Kamehameha Schools, an education institution and trust established by the will of a 19th century Hawaiian princess.

Aila isn’t optimistic. He wasn’t invited to join the advisory council or to sign the covenant even though he has long clashed with the Army over access to Makua and, more recently, the treatment of human remains found at Schofield last month.

“It’s great for PR,” he said, “to give the impression that things are hunky-dory here in Hawaii. But it doesn’t reflect the reality on the ground.”

The Army would do more to improve relations by leaving Makua, Aila said. He argues soldiers can train elsewhere.

Annelle Amaral, the Hawaiian liaison for Army Garrison Hawaii, said she didn’t invite people to join the council who have “site specific” concerns. She instead gathered Hawaiians who represent fields including education, business, and religion.

She denied the council omitted people who disagree with the Army, noting it includes Rev. Kaleo Patterson. The minister has vocally opposed ballistic missile testing on Kauai and pushed for the “decolonization and total independence” of Hawaii.

For some Hawaiians, the covenant fails to address the fundamental problem as they see it: the Army is part of an illegal occupation that began when U.S. businessmen, supported by U.S. Marines, overthrew Hawaii’s queen in 1893.

“Instead of having a covenant that sort of says you know ‘we promise to be really nice and do our best to protect sacred places,’ I’d rather get a timetable for when they’ll actually stop and leave us,” said Jonathan Osorio, a University of Hawaii professor of Hawaiian studies.

Time to Cancel the Army's Lease at Pohakuloa over Radiation Contamination

Post Date April 30, 2010
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Category Depleted Uranium, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice, Media Releases

Call from Malu ‘Aina:

Time to Cancel the Army’s Lease at Pohakuloa over Radiation Contamination

1. The Army repeatedly denied the use of Depleted Uranium (DU) in Hawaii.

2. Now it has been confirmed that in the 1960s the U.S. Army used the Pohakuloa Training Area for firing spotting rounds containing DU for the Davy Crockett nuclear weapon system.

3. The DU spotting rounds have created the presence of radiation contamination at Pohakuloa.

4. DU is a chemically toxic and radioactive heavy metal with a half-life of 4.5 billion years.

5. DU emits radioactive alpha particles than can cause cancer when inhaled (and poses health concerns for troops, residents and visitors in Hawaii).

6. Due to poor military record keeping, there may be more DU contamination at Pohakuloa than just Davy Crockett spotting rounds.

7. On July 2, 2008 the Hawaii County Council passed Resolution 639-08 by a vote of 8-1.

8. Resolution 639-08 called for “a complete halt to B-2 bombing missions and to all live firing exercises and other activities at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) that creates dust until there is an assessment and clean up of the depleted uranium already present.”

9. Live-fire continues at PTA and the DU has not been cleaned up. Live-fire and high winds at Pohakuloa risk spreading the radiation contamination off-base.

10. While major potions (more than 84,000-acres) of Crown lands at PTA were taken (without compensation) by Executive orders, PTA has a State General Lease No. S-3849 by the State of Hawaii, Board of Land and Natural Resources – U.S. Lease, Contract No. DA-94-626-ENG-80 – August 19, 1964 (expiration date 16 Aug. 2029) consisting of 22,988 acres for $1.00 for 65 years.

11. In the 1960s when the Army leased State land in the Waiakea Forest Reserve (Hilo’s watershed) for what was suppose to be weather testing, but in fact was chemical weapons testing including deadly sarin gas, Hawaii County residents spoke up and the State lease to the Army was canceled; now, therefore,

THE PEOPLE OF HAWAII COUNTY NEED TO SPEAK UP AGAIN TO CANCEL THE ARMY’S LEASE AT THE POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA AND REQUIRE CLEAN UP OF DEPLETED URANIUM (DU) RADIATION CONTAMINATION.

Let Your Voice Be Heard!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc.5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.

Phone (808) 966-7622. Email ja@interpac.net http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (April 30, 2010 – 450th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Citizens denied access to meeting protest outside Pohakuloa Training Area

Post Date March 03, 2010
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Category 'A'ole Stryker, Depleted Uranium, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice

http://bigislandweekly.com/articles/2010/03/03/read/news/news03.txt

Citizens denied access to meeting protest outside PTA

By Heather Nicholson

Wednesday, March 3, 2010 11:38 AM HST

About 30 people concerned with depleted uranium (DU) radiation on Pohakuloa Training Area picketed outside the Saddle Road military base Feb. 24. At the same time, the group received word that their petition to challenge the Army’s license to possess DU was denied.

Jim Albertini, group leader and founder of the non-violent education and action group, Malu Aina, expressed disappointment at the decision handed down from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC), who said the petition “lacked standing.”

“It means citizens have nothing to say about this issue,” said Albertini, who went in front of the NRC with three other Hawaii residents in January calling the Army’s assessment of DU hazards inadequate.

Though Albertini and his group were not invited to the U.S. Army’s annual Community Leaders Day, various decision makers were seen in attendance, including Mayor Billy Kenoi. The attendees heard progress updates on everything from Saddle Road construction to depleted uranium.

U.S. Army spokesman Mike Egami said the DU discussion was a review of topics already on the radar, including the Army’s application to the NRC to possess and manage residual quantities of DU at various bases, including Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA).

Repeated attempts to contact Kenoi’s office for information about the meeting went unanswered. When the Army was asked to provide Big Island Weekly with a list of the attendees, we were told the group consisted of “politicos or representatives from various offices from the Mayor’s office, County Council, Congressional offices, business leaders, UH Hilo, school principals, DLNR, hunters, and members of the PTA Cultural Advisory Committee.”

“The community leaders were invited to provide opportunities for each to take back information to their respective organization and disseminate information, as well as receive comments to provide back to the military,” said Egami.

The majority of protesters opposed to the fact that the public was not invited to the meeting and stood across from the entrance of PTA holding signs that read “Where’s the transparency” and “Radiation cover up.” The group tried several times to get inside the base and was denied a list of invited attendees.

“We want this meeting that they are having about our neighborhood to be open,” said Hilo resident Stephen Paulmier. “It’s mainly about transparency in government.”

Ret. U.S. Army Col. Ann Wright stood on the side of Albertini’s picket line, concerned that the politicians invited to the meeting could not be trusted to ask the Army hard questions.

“This meeting undercuts the citizen’s right to know. It’s outrageous that no one can go in since there’s been so much public outcry,” she said.

WHAT IS DEPLETED URANIUM?

Depleted uranium is a waste obtained from producing fuel for nuclear reactors and atomic bombs. DU is extremely dense and heavy, so much so that projectiles with a DU head can penetrate the armored steel of military vehicles and buildings. It is also a spontaneous pyrophoric material that can generate so much heat that when it reaches its target it explodes.

The American military has been using DU to coat artillery, tanks and aircraft for years, and the DU found on Hawaii military bases came from The Davy Crockett, a series of recoilless guns used in 1960s training missions.

When exposed to very high temperatures, DU can go airborne. According to the World Health Organization, DU emits about 60 percent of the radiation as natural uranium. When inhaled, DU particles make their way into the blood stream and can cause health problems, especially to the lungs.

When DU was discovered at Hawaii military bases in 2006, the Army received much backlash after years of denying that any uranium weapons were ever used on island. After military testing of the remaining DU at PTA and Oahu’s Schofield Barracks, the Army contends that the radiation is too low to be a health concern.

Pahoa resident and retired Army pilot Albert Tell agrees.

“There’s more radiation in my house then there is out here,” Tell said.

Tell and about 10 other military supporters comprised mainly of ex-military personnel picketed outside PTA on Feb. 24 also. Brandishing several American flags and dressed in military fatigues, the group said they were there to support the troops, PTA and counteract any misinformation Albertini and his supporters handed out.

“I don’t know anyone who’s died from DU,” said a picketer who refused to give his name. “We have some dying from cancer but they’ve lived other places to.”

IS DU BAD FOR YOU?

It’s true the long-term effects of DU radiation are largely unknown, and while some contend DU is the cause of Gulf War Syndrome there are no tests or reports to support it. Since DU goes airborne under extreme heat, some citizens are concerned that the live-fire and bombing training missions still conducted on PTA are aerosolizing DU and not only putting down-wind communities at risk, but active PTA soldiers as well.

Albertini said he won’t be satisfied until the Army allows independent scientists to conduct their own DU tests on PTA. He also wants all live-fire and bombing sessions on PTA halted until an independent DU test can be conducted.

“We have to know the extent of the health risks,” he said.

Hawaii County Council passed a resolution calling for the halt of live-fire and bombing that may spread airborne DU, however, the Army continues to do so. They said it is highly unlikely that DU will move off PTA and into the community due to military live-fire training.

“The Army has completed most of the DU investigation, but is continuing to monitor the water and air qualities at Schofield Barracks and PTA,” Egami said.

The Army is also awaiting a decision from NRC regarding their license to possess DU.

Military Closed Door Meeting at Pohakuloa with politicians Protested!

Post Date February 24, 2010
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Category Depleted Uranium, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights

Below is a press release from Malu ‘Aina and Hawai’i Island peace movement activists about an action that took place today at Pohakuloa, where the Army held a closed door meeting with the Hawai’i Island Mayor Billy Kenoi and State Representative Faye Hanohano and other officials.  State Representative Josh Green sent a communication to organizer Jim Albertini that “Please alert your list that I didn’t and don’t exclude people.”

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Military Closed Door Meeting at Pohakuloa with politicians Protested!

On Wednesday, Feb. 24, 2010 more than 30 Big Island residents set up a picket line outside the Pohakuloa training Area (PTA) to protest a closed door meeting between military, county, state, federal officials, and special interests. The secret list of invitees was not released upon request. What ever happened to openness in government? Transparency? The consent of the governed? We the people…

Retired Army Colonel, Ann Wright, requested to attend the meeting to represent the interests of Malu Aina peace organization but was denied entry. Col. Wright then joined the picket.  Among the attendees seen entering PTA were Mayor Billy Kenoi and State Representative Faye Hanohano.

On Feb. 21, 2010, a letter from Malu Aina (on the web at www.malu-aina.org) was sent to the commanding officer at PTA and to all county and state elected officials. The letter states: “We do not believe in ‘Democracy by invitation only.'” The letter said that “we are angry that the military continues to conduct bombing missions and live-fire without a complete independent assessment of the Depleted Uranium (DU) radiation present at PTA and without cleaning up as called for in Hawaii County Council resolution 639-08. The military has been stonewalling the community’s concerns about health and safety for years. The Davy Crockett DU weapons may just be the tip of far more widespread DU contamination.”

The letter listed eight questions and asked the elected officials to ask the questions of the military and to “Please Get Answers.” Some of the questions asked included: Why hasn’t the Army stopped all live-fire and bombing missions ? Are there more forgotten hazards? Why is there plenty of money for new military projects, but little to clean up… When will all of the 50-plus present and former military sites, totaling more than 250,000-acres on Hawaii Island, be cleared of unexploded ordnance, toxins, and other hazards? Why won’t the military participate in public forums on community concerns about health and safety over depleted uranium and other military toxins? What’s the Army afraid of? How much Hawai’i Island land is the military planning to take? Where and when?”

The letter concluded with the following statement: ” If the U.S. stopped spending several $billion/per day on imperial wars there would be more money for county and state budget needs, jobs, and funding human needs. We urgently request that you–as public officials–speak up on these critical issues of War, Militarism and the Health of our island citizens.” With gratitude and aloha.

Military Clean-up NOT Build-up!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.

Phone (808) 966-7622. Email ja@interpac.net http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (Feb. 26, 2010 – 441st week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Depleted Uranium: Residents accuse Army of covering up contamination

Post Date January 14, 2010
Comments 2 Comments
Author
Category Depleted Uranium, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice

http://www.westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2010/01/14/local/local02.txt

Residents accuse Army of covering up contamination

DEPLETED URANIUM: ‘The burden should be on the Army’

By NANCY COOK LAUER

WES T HAWAII TODAY

ncook-lauer@westhawaiitoday.com

HILO — Four Hawaii residents charged the U.S. Army with trying to cover up its discovery of depleted uranium and then taking a cavalier attitude about cleaning it up during a five-hour hearing Wednesday before a panel of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission. The Army is seeking an after-the-fact license to possess the radioactive material that was used in weapons training at Schofield Barracks on Oahu and Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island. The DU spotting rounds were used in the 1960s and have been emitting low levels of radiation since.

The Army contends the radiation is too low to pose a safety hazard.

“We’ve been open, transparent and we believe accountable with the steps we have taken,” said Lt. Col. Kent Herring, representing the Army’s Environmental Litigation Division. “The Army has kept the public informed. …There’s no purposeful withholding.”

But the Army’s contention is disputed by the petitioners, Kurtistown resident and peace activist Jim Albertini; Cory Harden, representing the Sierra Club; and two Native Hawaiians: Isaac Harp, of Waimea, and Luwella Leonardi, of Waianae, Oahu.

They say the Army has never proven the radiation is not harming those who live and travel near the military installations and they criticized the Army for sampling less than 1 percent of the 133,000-acre PTA installation off Saddle Road between Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.

“The burden should be on the Army to prove no harm. The Army says there is no harm because they haven’t looked and don’t want to look,” said Albertini. “A license to possess depleted uranium is a nuclear waste dump.”

The three-member Atomic Safety and Licensing Board grilled the Hawaii residents, Army staff and NRC staffers alike. A decision on whether the petitioners have standing to participate in the license application will be made next month.

The petitioners participated by videoconference from a cramped video booth at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, while the federal officials participated from a Rockville, Md., hearing room.

Both the Army and NRC staff attorneys contend the petitioners didn’t prove they have a right to intervene in the license application process. Just living nearby is not enough, they said. Nor did the residents prove there is greater health risks to them because of the Army’s actions.

“Their claims cannot be entirely speculative,” said NRC staff attorney Kimberly Sexton.

Harp was hesitant to believe the Army’s position that there was no health hazard associated with the DU contamination. He noted that the military has a long history of conducting biological and chemical warfare experiments on the Big Island under code names such as Blue Tango, Yellow Leaf, Green Mist and Tall Timber.

“No one knows how many may have become ill, disabled or died from these experiments because only the military and their partners knew about them,” Harp said.

Harden produced documents showing the government knew about the DU at Schofield as early as 1996, not 2005 as the Army claims.

“I think if it was gold and not radioactivity, I think they would have found a lot more of it,” Harden said.

Even the administrative judges weren’t completely satisfied with the Army’s position that it was using a conservative estimate of how many rounds were even used at the two sites. The Army can account for 714 rounds — containing 299 pounds of DU — shipped to Hawaii. But it doesn’t know if that’s all that was sent to the state, because the records have been lost.

“I’m still troubled by the uncertainty of the numbers,” said Judge Anthony Baratta.

Herring said the Army is not dumping any DU contaminated soil off-site, but it has started collecting some of it into 55-gallon drums that are being stored at Schofield.

And Herring said all live round exercises now under way at the two sites do not fire high explosives into the contaminated areas, but they do use 50-caliber machine guns, spotting rounds that have just enough explosive to create a puff of smoke and 120 mm mortar rounds.

“No high-explosive rounds will be fired into DU areas,” Herring said.

NRC faced angry citizens on DU in Hawaii

Post Date August 30, 2009
Comments 0 Comments
Author
Category Depleted Uranium, Projects and Campaigns

http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/08/28/18620043.php

NRC faced angry citizens on DU in Hawaii

by DLi
Friday Aug 28th, 2009 11:40 AM

Last night the Nuclear Regulatory Commission held a meeting in Hilo, Hawaii on the Army’s application for a license to deposit unknown amounts of Depleted Uranium(DU)at the Pohakuloa Training Area on Mauna Kea, considered by many native Hawaiians as a sacred temple. Over 50 concerned citizens confronted the NRC on its checkered past in safeguarding health & safety of citizens from the nuclear industry, as well as its rubber-stamping of the Military’s mishandling of DU. It was revealed that the NRC had never turned down an application from the U.S. Military.

But the bulk of the citizens’ anger was focused on the Army’s willful non-compliance of Hawaii County Council’s resolution to demand a stop to all live fire exercises at PTA until an assessment and cleanup of DU has been completed. Dozens of citizens from the environmental, kanaka maoli, Peace and scientific communities all testified on the U.S. Military’s sordid history of stonewalling, disinformation and illegal dumping of toxic wastes on the revered aina of Hawai’i.

The consensus from the community? Stop all bombings and live fire at Pohakuloa! And Stop desecrating the land while training troops for foreign invasions! As in the previous night’s meeting in Kona, citizens are united in demanding that the NRC do its job and deny any license for the Army to leave DU and other toxic substances in place. All citizens agree that they will not accept a nuclear dump site to be established up at Pohakuloa or any other community in Hawai’i. And the Public is asked to write to the NRC(website: http://www.nrc.gov) before October 13, 2009 to demand a formal hearing to be held.

CORRECTION:

To review the application and other documents, visit http://www.nrc.gov/reading-rm/adams/web-based.html

Click on “begin ADAMS search”.

Select “Advanced Search”

Enter docket number “04009083”

Comments may be sent to: john.hayes@ncr.gov

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