Insular Empire "Red Pill Tour"

Post Date April 26, 2010

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Global Justice and Peace Movements, Guam / Northern Marianas, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Ke Awalau o Pu'uloa / Pearl Harbor

Vanessa Warheit, director of the film Insular Empire: America in the Mariana Islands just posted a new entry about her visit to Hawai’i and what she has dubbed the “Red Pill Tour”, a reference to the scene in The Matrix when Neo takes the red pill that awakens him to the violent and oppressive reality of his existence as he joins the resistance.

It was surreal standing over the map of the Pacific ocean in the Arizona Memorial visitor’s center, talking with Dr. Hope Cristobal a Chamorro leader from Guam, Lino Olopai, a Refaluwasch (Carolinian) master canoe navigator from Saipan, Terri Keko’olani and Vanessa about the “American Lake”, how the Pacific is depicted in the U.S. imperial imagination. Then Lino struck up a conversation with “cousins” from Kiribati, who happened to be visiting the memorial. In beautiful contrast, it illustrated how peoples of the Pacific see Ka Moana Nui as the medium that unites peoples.

Makua panel to air on 'Olelo

Post Date February 17, 2010

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category Action Alerts and Events, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Free Makua, Social and Economic Impacts

ALOHA this OHA/OLELO production will be shown on Thursday(s) February 17 and 24^th at 7:00 p.m. on Channel 53. You may also pick up the program by going to www.olelo.org a couple of minutes before airtime and clicking on Channel 53.

OHA #158

FEBRUARY 12, 2010

MALAMA MAKUA – LIVE FIRE OVER MAKUA VALLEY

Fred Dodge, Malama Makua

Sparky Rodrigues, Malama Makua

David Henkin, Staff Attorney, Earthjustice

Moderator: Lynette Cruz, Assistant Professor of Anthropology, Hawaii Pacific University

Citizens ask why the Army Need Makua.

Live-fire over Makua valley

Post Date February 12, 2010

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Free Makua, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Social and Economic Impacts

As the Honolulu Weekly reported below, the community turned out to protest the Army’s plan to establish an Asia-Pacific Fusion Counter-IED center at Makua. Like a pimp, the Army is soliciting other countries to use and abuse Makua. Stars and Stripes reported that in Thailand during “Cobra Gold” joint military exercises, “U.S. Army Pacific officials briefed the Thai brass on a new Asia-Pacific Fusion Counter-IED Center now starting up in Hawaii.” Time for the Army to get out of Makua.

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http://honoluluweekly.com/feature/2010/02/live-fire-over-the-valley/

Live-fire over the valley

Citizens ask why the Army needs Mākua at all

Chris Nishijima
Feb 10, 2010

Image: Chris Nishijima

Tension was high at the Waianae Neighborhood Community Center as Waianae Neighborhood Board Chair Jo Jordan opened the Feb. 2 meeting by leading a restive crowd in Hawaii Ponoi. When the song reached its traditional conclusion and most of the room started to sit, many in attendance carried on through the deeper verses of King David Kalakaua’s national anthem.

Before the meeting, Jordan offered condolences to the family and friends of her fellow board member, Michael Anderson, who died during a hiking accident the previous week. Anderson’s empty chair set a somber tone, as did the main business of the evening–the Army’s presence in Makua Valley.

Makua Valley spans more than 4,190 acres and has been the site of military training since World War II. In recent years, Native Hawaiians and environmentalists have been pressing the Army to reduce its impact in Makua, and to halt live-fire training in particular.

“Makua is a want of the Army, not a need,” said William Aila Jr., a Hawaiian cultural practitioner who is active in the community’s attempts to reduce the Army’s presence in the valley. Aila points out that the Army has not trained in Makua at any point during the past five years.

“This is the greatest indication that they don’t need Makua,” he said. “It is a need of the community.”

Others echoed Aila’s concerns, and said that the Army is not properly respecting the area as a sacred part of Hawaiian heritage.

But Army officials insist they understand the community’s concerns.

“We are not some big evil organization,” said Col. Matt Margotta, who represented the Army’s 25th Infantry Division. “We are attempting to better understand the Hawaii community.”

Margotta explained that Makua provides a unique setting which allows the Army to simulate a war zone without taking soldiers stationed on Oahu away from their families for an extended period of time. Margotta also pointed to ways in which the Army’s presence has helped improve the community. He said that the military has spent some $7 million toward repairing roads and $10 million toward protecting Hawaii’s endangered species, 41 of which can be found in Makua Valley.

“The Army recognizes that we have an impact on the community,” he said, “We are trying to change that.”

But many of those in attendance were not satisfied, and voiced concerns over the military turning the area into what they said amounts to a munitions trash heap.

“What you need to do is go back to Kahoolawe and clean it up!” said Shirley Nahoopii of Waianae. “You have not fulfilled your promise to clean up there after you were finished with it! Is Makua going to end up the same way?”

Concerns about the dangers of unexploded ordnances, or UXOs, left over from Army training are widespread in areas surrounding the Makua Valley. That’s why Apple, Inc., is donating more than 300 Apple MacBook computers, each equipped with a unique question-and-answer system, to select public schools.

“The students will be required to answer one question regarding UXOs before signing in,” said Tom Burke of the Hawaii Veteran’s Society, who announced the program at the meeting.

Despite these efforts, some found the program itself, which features a caricatured version of a Native Hawaiian, to be controversial.

“If this is a native, I think it is rather tasteless,” said Johnnie-Mae Perry, a member of the board.

The Army has yet to release a date to resume training in Makua. Another meeting with representatives of the 25th Infantry will announced by the Waianae Coast Neighborhood Board within 60 days.

Mosquitoes of Makua

Post Date January 06, 2010

Comments 1 Comment

Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Free Makua, Social and Economic Impacts

War of the small,

War of the flea,

Where the strongest bomb is human

Who is bursting to be free.

The moon will be my lantern,

And my heart will find the way

To sow the seeds of courage

That will blossom into day,

To blossom up a garden

So green before they came,

Our joy will be the sunshine,

And our tears will be the rain.

– Chris Iijima and Nobuko Miyamoto, War of the Flea

In the following article from the Honolulu Weekly, Sparky Rodrigues of Malama Makua compares the group’s approach to a mosquito biting an elephant. The metaphor evokes the classic description of guerrilla warfare as a “war of the flea”, where small resistance forces utilize asymmetry to their advantage. But the guerrilla strategy relies on mobility, improvisation, the ability to “hit and run” and the support of the community. The Army’s efforts to generate pro-military sentiment in the Wai’anae and Native Hawaiian communities seeks to remove the environment from which the Makua movement draws its support and suggests that the military is applying counterinsurgency methods to its public relations strategy as well as training mission in Makua. It challenges the Makua movement to evaluate how well we are applying these lessons in our strategies and tactics in the social and political arena.

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http://honoluluweekly.com/feature/2010/01/the-mosquitos-coast/

The mosquito’s coast

Is the Army committed to changing its tune in Mākua, or is it just paying lip-service?

Catherine Black

Jan 6, 2010

A clash of cultures, and some dialogue as well. Image: Davd Henkin

When Malama Makua, represented by Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund, filed suit against the U.S. Army in 1998, it was a David and Goliath-type facedown, though the group’s president Sparky Rodrigues says its preferred metaphor is “a mosquito biting a rogue elephant as it crashes through the forest. We’re tiny, but we’ve been able to make it stop to itch.”

The Waianae non-profit organization’s original demand was that the Army conduct an Environmental Impact Statement, after a series of fires set off by its live-fire training exercises burned thousands of acres of environmentally and culturally sensitive land. In a 2001 settlement, the Army agreed to do the EIS and has not conducted any live-fire exercises (simulations of combat scenarios using “live” munitions) since 2004.

In July of 2009, however, it seemed as though the valley’s recovery period would end: The Army completed its EIS and issued a Record of Decision advocating a return to live-fire training in the valley.

Yet the mosquito bit again: in August, Malama Makua filed a claim contending that two studies required by the 2001 settlement were poorly conducted and not released for public comment, as mandated. The Army requested that the court dismiss this claim, but in November, U.S. District Court Judge Susan Oki Mollway denied the Army’s request, upholding Malama Makua’s argument that the studies’ methodologies were insufficient to test possible contamination threats to subsurface archeological remains and marine life.

“We have serious concerns about the adequacy of the EIS itself,” says Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, “but before dealing with that larger question, we are asking the court to resolve a threshold issue regarding these studies, which are inadequate. It’s basically a continuation of Malama Makua’s struggle with the Army since 1998, trying to force the Army to do an honest appraisal of the effects of training in a valley full of endangered species and cultural sites, and to address the question of why they can’t do this somewhere else and still accomplish their mission?”

Service, or lip-service?

The Army’s policy is to not comment on ongoing litigation, but local Army Garrison spokesman Dennis Drake signals a number of proposed mitigations to lessen the impact of training at Makua.

These include identifying and protecting culturally sensitive sites; eliminating some of the areas previously used for training such as Kaena Point and one of the valley ridges; investing in native species restoration efforts (the Army spends 10 million dollars annually on environmental protection in Hawaii, and contracts 28 biologists at Makua alone); and a cultural sensitivity training program for soldiers in Makua so that archeological sites–totaling more than 120, including at least two known heiau–are not damaged. The Army also recently launched a new Military Munitions Response Program to engage the community in the process of cleaning up unexploded weapons along the coastline.

Yet according to Rodrigues, “their cultural sensitivity is less than zero. They say they’re doing cultural sensitivity training, but what we’re finding is that it’s not about Hawaiian culture or the community’s culture, but the Army’s culture. Their talk about sensitivity is more for the sound bite, the news report, the press release.”

A changing strategy

The main question at issue is whether the Army’s live fire training–which involves mortar, artillery, anti-tank weapons, grenades and mines–can be done elsewhere. According to Drake, the Army’s new focus for Makua Valley training is in preparing soldiers for the type of situations that might be found in the current wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“We’re not doing force on force fighting now, but counter-insurgency training. The big one is defense against IEDs, because that’s the weapon that’s killing the most soldiers right now. So convoy live fire training is a critical task, because if you’re in a convoy and one of your convoy hits an IED and your convoy stops, they could be sitting ducks for an ambush situation.”

The Army recently announced plans to transform Makua Valley into a counterinsurgency training site over the next decade, though it defends its argument, outlined in the July Record of Decision, for conducting up to 32 combined live-fire exercises (what Makua Valley has been traditionally used for) and 130 convoy live-fire exercises (the newer counter-insurgency exercises) per year.

Henkin says, however, that the proposal makes clear it is both reasonable and feasible for the Army to move all of its combined arms training out of the valley.

“The Army should simply do that, rather than try to think of new training it can conduct at Makua,” he says. “After all, the Army has never satisfactorily answered the core question: why it thinks any training whatsoever at Makua is appropriate or vital for national security. No rational planner in the 21st century would decide to conduct military training in the midst of Makua’s biological and cultural treasures.”

Ultimately, Malama Makua and Earthjustice argue that the price for the Army’s live-fire training, which involve potential fire hazards, physical damage to historic sites and toxic waste contamination in an ahupuaa of rich historical, cultural and environmental resources (the area is home to 48 endangered plant and animal species, including the ‘elepaio bird and the endangered Oahu tree snail) is too high, even with the proposed mitigations.

The Army argues that 4,190-acre Makua valley is the only place on Oahu where soldiers can get the type of training they need in order to be prepared for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan without spending large amounts of money on transportation off-island or cutting into soldiers’ already reduced time at home with their families between deployments.

Although the military’s 133,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on the island of Hawaii has been suggested as an option, “that alternative is not at all preferable for us,” says Drake. “It’s impractical and costly for small units to deploy to PTA and return each time they desire to train. A battalion or brigade deployment to PTA should occur only when their company-sized units are proficient to the level where they can integrate into a larger exercise.”

As long as Makua is a viable option for smaller-scale exercises, the Army’s reasoning “just makes common sense” says Drake. Doing the training off-island would require more money to ensure that soldiers get the same degree of combat preparation. Drake insists that as long as the Army needs to prepare soldiers for potential combat, there will be a need for a local training area for soldiers stationed in Hawaii. While these reasons don’t eliminate other ranges as possibilities, they do make Makua the most attractive one as long as the costs don’t outweigh the benefits.

A slow shift

This is all part of a larger, ongoing debate over the military’s impact in Hawai’i. For many environmental and cultural stakeholders the costs are too high, and as Rodrigues explains, the Waianae Coast’s military presence is a health and quality of life concern for the region’s already underserved, largely Hawaiian population.

Malama Makua’s outreach has helped to broaden the debate regarding military use of Waianae and state resources, and one positive outcome of the 2001 settlement is that the group has brought thousands of people into a valley that was previously off-limits to the public. They have been leading cultural accesses twice a month since 2002, including overnight Makahiki ceremonies, Christmas vigils and Easter Sunrise services.

“We take everybody back there, students, neighbors, people from other parts of Oahu, even military personnel…in fact it’s good to take people who don’t agree with us,” says Fred Dodge, one of the group’s directors. This, along with participation in many of the coastline’s community organizations, is how Malama Makua is attempting to educate the broader public about the valley’s cultural and ecological importance.

Ultimately the question comes down to how worthwhile it will be for the Army to maintain its training at this particular site. In the coming months, Judge Mollway will likely hear arguments from both sides on whether the Army complied with the settlement agreement, or whether it can return to live-fire training. In the meantime, the soldiers, the community and the valley itself await an outcome that will determine which vision of Makua will prevail.

To view the Army’s EIS, visit [garrison.hawaii.army.mil]

Malama Makua will host a fundraiser yard sale Sat 1/9 & Sun 1/10 at 86-024 Glenmonger Street in Waianae.

Judge sustains Makua complaint

Post Date November 21, 2009

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Free Makua

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20091120_Judge_sustains_Makua_complaint.html

Judge sustains Makua complaint

The ruling reveals doubt about whether Army environmental surveys were sufficient

By Gregg K. Kakesako

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Nov 20, 2009

A federal judge has sided with Hawaiian activists who want the Army to stop training in Makua Military Reservation, putting the military on notice that it will have to show that maneuvers in the Leeward valley would not contaminate ocean resources or damage cultural sites.

U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway’s actions keep alive a request by the organization Malama Makua to have the court set aside the Army’s environmental impact statement until it completes more marine contamination studies and archaeological surveys.

The Army completed the EIS in June, and in August filed a motion seeking to dismiss Malama Makua’s complaint.

In denying the Army’s motion Wednesday, Mollway wrote that the Army does not have the sole right to determine what qualifies as a survey.

“Taken to its logical conclusion, the Army’s argument would allow the Army to satisfy its burden by poking a stick into the ground and calling that action a ‘survey,'” the judge wrote.

Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who has represented Malama Makua since 2000, said that he hopes that Mollway will act early next year to permanently bar further training in Makua before the Army resumes any operations using live ammunition.

The Army, which conducted both a survey of cultural sites and several scientific studies on possible water and soil contamination, has said it had met all terms of their October 2001 settlement agreement with Malama Makua.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Army was required to conduct studies to determine the potential for training activities to contaminate fish, shellfish, limu and other marine resources off Makua beach. The Army was also required to prepare subsurface archaeological surveys to identify cultural sites that could be damaged or destroyed by training.

“At the hearing on this motion, the Army argued that it was entitled to summary judgment because the settlement agreement only required it to do a study, which it did,” Mollway wrote. “The Army contended that what kind of study it did was in its sole discretion. At the hearing, the Army went so far as to argue that it could have satisfied the ‘study’ requirement by simply having a luau, serving food from the area and seeing whether anyone got sick.”

Malama Makua President Sparky Rodrigues said: “For years we’ve been insisting that the Army tell the community the truth about the threats that training at Makua poses to irreplaceable subsistence and cultural resources. Now the court has told the Army that it can’t get away with junk science.”

Said Earthjustice attorney Henkin: “To make a rational decision about whether to allow training at Makua, it’s vital that decision-makers and the public have accurate information about the harm to public health and cultural sites that resuming training at Makua could cause. This ruling puts the Army on notice that the court will not allow the Army to pass off woefully inadequate studies as meaningful.”

Dennis Drake, an Army spokesman, yesterday said it is Army policy not to comment on ongoing litigation: “We will abide with the dictates of the court.”

In August Col. Matthew Margotta, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said the Army hoped to resume live-fire training before the end of summer since it believed that the environmental statement completed in June fulfilled its legal obligations. However, no training with live-fire ammunition has taken place.

The Army has said that it needs to rebuild several dirt roads and firing ranges in the training area damaged by heavy rain last year. The Army stopped live-fire training in the 4,190-acre valley in 2004, pending completion of the EIS.

Military Bases Hickam and Pearl Harbor Merge

Post Date August 27, 2009

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category Ke Awalau o Pu'uloa / Pearl Harbor

Military Bases Hickam and Pearl Harbor Merge

Written by KGMB9 News – news@kgmb9.com

August 26, 2009 06:58 PM

The military has signed a deal to combine the neighboring bases of Hickam and Pearl Harbor.

Hickam will keep it’s mission as an Air Force facility, but the new joint base will be under the control of the Navy.

They’ll combine 46 functions in order to make them more efficient.

Everything from maintenance, and emergency services, to housing, food and legal support.

This is one of 12 such deals mandated by congress.

The Navy says the new joint-base will be fully operational by october 2010.

Source: http://kgmb9.com/main/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=20568&Itemid=40

Marchers take to the streets to protest 'Fake Statehood' and demand independence

Post Date August 22, 2009

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category 'A'ole Stryker, Free Makua, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Projects and Campaigns, The Military in Hawai'i (All Islands)

Photo: Kyle Kajihiro

Today, the 50th anniversary of Hawai’i’s ‘admission’ to the United States was marked by protests on nearly every island and several cities around the world. In Honolulu, around 400 people marched from Ala Moana Park to the Convention Center, where the “official” statehood commemoration conference was taking place. Although the overall tone of the commemoration was more reflective than celebratory, the mood of the marchers was colorful and spirited, a celebration of resistance. There were protesters from kupuna in their wheelchairs to infants. And marching with us were the ancestors.

A centerpiece of the event was a towering puppet of Uncle Sam, riding on a camouflaged Stryker armored assault vehicle that was decorated with bombs bearing the names of places the U.S. military has bombed: Kaho’olawe, Vieques, Bikini, Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Makua. Walking behind the puppet, Andre Perez on the bullhorn delivered comic commentary: “Why we going so slow? Uncle Scam! What’s holding us back? Uncle Scam! Who’s blocking our way? Uncle Scam! Somebody, kick him in the ass! Kanaka’s on the move!”

Photo: Kyle Kajihiro

Uncle Sam carried M-16 assault rifles in each hand inscribed with “imperialist”, “genocide”, “military”. Photo: Jon Shishido

While the overriding message was independence for Hawai’i, the demonstration also addressed American imperialism as a a global threat. On his red-white-and-blue stovetop hat he had stuck “feathers” of his conquests: First Nations, Guam, Puerto Rico, Cuba, and the Philippines. Photo: Jon Shishido

At the end of the march, Uncle Sam’s hat was knocked off…

…and the feather trophies representing the colonized nations were “liberated” from the hat. Photos: Kyle Kajihiro and Jon Shishido

Photo: Jon Shishido

Photo: Hawaii Independent

An American flag was taken out of the fallen hat and the 5oth star was cut out and burned. An exorcism to break the spell.

On Kaua’i, there were demonstrators at the entrance to the airport.

Kaua’i photos: Cairene

Army Makua study opposed

Post Date August 13, 2009

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category Free Makua

Army Makua study opposed

Wai’anae group asks court to order new one, delay live-fire training

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

A Wai’anae community group yesterday asked the federal court here to reject an environmental study prepared by the Army and require it to do a new one before soldiers are allowed to resume live-fire training at Makua Military Reservation.

Malama Makua, represented by Earthjustice attorney David Hen-kin, said the Army failed to adequately prepare contamination studies and archaeological surveys that are part of a settlement agreement between the group and the Army.

Malama Makua made its request to the U.S. District Court in Honolulu. The group is asking the court to set aside, or annul, an environmental impact statement prepared by the Army for training at Makua.

The military has not conducted live-munitions training in the 4,190-acre valley since 2004 while the Army addressed community demands that the training not harm archaeological and cultural sites, and the environment. The Army has been hoping to return to combined-arms, live-fire exercises involving helicopters, artillery and mortars.

The Army yesterday issued a statement saying it “has satisfied its obligations required in the previous settlement agreements.” The statement, issued by U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said the public has the right to challenge the process and that “it is standard Army policy not to comment on potential or ongoing litigation, and to allow the courts to reach a decision before responding.”

U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii spokesman Loran Doane said the Army has not set a date to resume live-fire training at Makua. He said any such training would not begin until the appropriate mitigation measures and conditions identified in the final environmental impact statement have been implemented.

Last month, Col. Matthew Margotta, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said he was confident that the Army would be able to balance cultural and biological resource protection in Makua with its training needs for soldiers.

Henkin said the Army has not complied with its end of the settlement agreement, even as Malama Makua agreed to permit limited Army training in Makua while the environmental impact statement was being prepared.

“We put on the table that we wanted to make sure that the Army would tell people if the food they put on the table is being poisoned by the military training,” Henkin said. “And we wanted complete information about the archaeological and cultural resources that could be lost forever if the Army returned to training at Makua.

“The Army promised to give those to us as part of the bargain. We didn’t get it. We’re back in court.”

Henkin said the Army was required to indicate the likelihood of past military training in the valley contaminating fish, shellfish, limu and other sea life area residents gather and eat.

Instead, he said, the Army conducted two questionable studies on fish and shellfish, only studied limu (seaweeds) that are not eaten by people, and did not study other sea life in the area at all.

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090813/NEWS01/908130335/Army+Makua+study+opposed

Group calls on judge to reject report on Makua

Post Date August 13, 2009

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category Environmental Impacts, Free Makua, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights

Group calls on judge to reject report on Makua

Army surveys lack critical valley data, Malama Makua says

By Gregg K. Kakesako

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 13, 2009

As expected, Malama Makua asked a federal court judge yesterday to set aside the Army’s environmental impact statement justifying the continued use of the Makua Valley on the Waianae Coast for live-ammunition training.

Earthjustice, which has been representing Malama Makua since 2000, said the Army failed to prepare contamination studies and archaeological surveys of Makua Valley.

“The only studies of subsurface archaeology and marine contamination the Army did were so poorly designed that even the Army admitted they didn’t provide any meaningful information,” said Earthjustice attorney David Henkin. “This wasn’t what we agreed.”

Schofield Barracks officials declined to comment on the ongoing litigation, adding in a written statement that the Army “has satisfied its obligations required in the previous settlement agreements.”

At a briefing in Makua Valley last month, Col. Matthew Margotta, commander of U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said the Army hoped to resume live-fire training at the end of August. However, the Army would not say yesterday whether it is still looking at the end of the month as a start-up date, noting that the range and its roads need to be repaired since they were heavily damaged during storms in December.

Once training resumes, the military will not be using ammunition like tracer bullets and rockets, which were major causes of brush fires that initiated lawsuits from Malama Makua a decade ago.

The Army stopped live-fire training in the 4,190-acre valley in 2004, pending completion of an environmental impact statement. In June the Army completed the final version of the environmental statement.

But the advocacy group says the report falls short.

“The Army’s decision to resume training before completing the studies that are needed to find out the true cost of training at Makua is putting the cart before the horse,” Henkin said.

In a written news release, Malama Makua member Leandra Wai said: “I’ve observed training at Makua and many times have seen mortar rounds missing their targets and landing in places we know are full of ahu (shrines), petroglyphs, imu (earthen ovens), and other cultural sites. If the Army doesn’t live up to its promises and do a comprehensive survey of Makua’s cultural sites, we’ll never know what we stand to lose if the Army returns to training.”

However, last month Laurie Lucking, U.S. Army Hawaii cultural resource manager, said Army historians have identified 121 archaeological sites in the valley, including heiau, house platforms, agricultural terraces, enclosures and walls. There are also more than 40 endangered plants and animals that live there, mainly on the ridges of the Waianae Mountains.

“There is a continuous effort to find more sites so they can be identified,” she added.

Mākua range re-opening cause for legal conflict and military outreach

Post Date August 05, 2009

Comments 0 Comments

Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category Environmental Impacts, Free Makua, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights

http://www.oha.org/kwo/loa/2009/08/story07.php

NŪHOU / NEWS

Since World War II, soldiers, marines, reservists and members of the National Guard have trained for combat at Mākua. KWO archive photo.

Mākua range re-opening cause for legal conflict and military outreach

By Liza Simon / Ka Wai Ola Loa

The U.S. Army is set to resume live-ammunition training in O’ahu’s Mākua Valley under a plan that military officials say scales back operations and decreases the risk of hazardous impacts. The claim is being disputed by community opponents who vow to continue their legal challenge that resulted in a 2001 court ban on combat exercises in the valley pending a complete environmental examination of the 4,190-acre Wai’anae Coast site.

Eight years after the ban was put in place as part of the Army’s legal settlement with community group Mālama Mākua, the Army in June released the court-ordered final environmental impact study. In a subsequent “record of decision” made public on July 24, Army officials said the EIS provides information that shows the military can effectively balance training needs with stewardship at Mākua by following a plan that it says rolls back the scale of an earlier “preferred alternative,” which called for an annual 200 Convoy Live Fire Exercises (LFX) and 50 Combined Arms Live Fire Exercises (CALFEXES).

“Rather, the Army has decided on a greatly reduced option to 32 CALFEXs and 150 convoy-live fire exercises per year without the use of tracer ammunition, anti-aircraft Tube-launched, Optically-tracked, Wire-guided- or TWO missiles, 2.75-caliber rockets, or illumination munitions of any kind,” said Loran Doane of the Army Garrison Media Relations in an email response to Ka Wai Ola Loa. “The elimination of these weapons systems greatly reduces the risk of range fires and environmental threats to endangered species and cultural sites, yet allows small units to train locally without the costly burden of additional deployments to Pōhakuloa (Hawai’i Island) or elsewhere,” Doane added.

At Mākua, a series of brushfires started by munitions explosions has spurred legal action to stop the Army from training in the valley. KWO archive photo

Doane also stressed that the Army followed guidelines of the National Environmental Policy Act (NEPA) in involving the local community in finalizing the Mākua Environment Impact Statement, or EIS. He said Native Hawaiians and their organizations participated in eight public meetings and gave oral and written comments, which were incorporated into the EIS. “(This) allowed for a full and fair discussion of significant environmental impacts. By providing means for open communication between the Army and the public, the procedural aspects of NEPA promote better decision-making,” Doane wrote.

But Wai’anae Harbor Master William Ailā Jr., a member of Hui Mālama O Mākua – an organization for cultural stewardship of Mākua Valley (and a supporter of Mālama Mākua, the group that filed the Mākua lawsuit) – said the EIS and decision to restart live-fire operations at the Mākua Military Reservation are flawed. “Based on my observations, the (soldiers) overshoot mortars beyond target areas. (Mistakes) are the nature of training exercises, but these adjacent areas have not been surveyed for either cultural sites or endangered species, so the EIS has no directions for mitigating those occurrences or any associated damage,” said Ailā.

As one of four Army training areas in Hawai’i, the military says Mākua offers unique topographical features and a perfect size that is strategically important for coordinated maneuvers of all military branches in Hawai’i.

Ailā argues that the fact that military has functioned efficiently for the last several years without Mākua is the “best indicator” that the Mākua Military Reservation is not so strategic. Ailā said the military should fulfill a promise it made to withdraw from the valley. The military facility is comprised of ceded lands classified by the state as a conservation district, and was set aside in World War II by the then-territorial government for military training purposes until 2025.

Once a thriving agricultural boon for Native Hawaiians, Mākua Valley is now littered with unexploded munitions. KWO archives photo

Terms of the 2001 legal settlement required the Army to cease firing mortars and artillery in Mākua until completing surveys of more than 50 endangered plant and animal species and 100 archeological sites in the valley. A history of accidental wildfires sparked by the combat training was one of the main drivers in keeping the court decision in place. A 2003 brush fire destroyed several thousand acres of valley vegetation. A fire associated with Mākua Army training in 1994 got out of control and jumped Farrington Highway, burning down makeshift beach encampments that were home to several Wai’anae families.

The final EIS evaluated fire and other hazards of military training pertaining to four alternative plans, each one varying in intensity and scope of proposed weaponry uses and number of exercises. Along with an assessment of impacts, each alternative was appraised for the capacity to provide the most realistic training and preparation for the types of threats that soldiers in Hawai’i would expect to encounter in combat situations in Afghanistan and Iraq. Three of the four alternatives describe different training levels based in Mākua; the fourth is situated in Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai’i Island. The EIS also analyzes the cost and logistics of mitigating impacts of training that violate state and federal laws protecting endangered species, archeological sites and human health.

But the EIS information does not satisfy Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who has represented Mālama Mākua in the nine-year-old lawsuit against the Army at Mākua. “The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service has been allowed access to the training area and has concluded that there will be destruction to the native forest (with the resumption of training), but it is their kuleana to make sure there is no extinction and they have concluded they have proper measures to achieve this, but this is not the same thing as avoiding damage to irreplaceable cultural and environmental treasures, which is too high a price to pay for military training at Mākua,” said Henkin, who also disputes that the Army’s newly announced plan for Mākua marks a decrease in training. “The proposal is to use the same company level of training that existed when litigation started up in 1998.” Henkin said the Army played a “common trick” on the public by first selecting an alternative using weapons systems banned for decades. “Then they ratcheted back from the horrendous to the awful and expected the public to see this as responsive.”

Henkin called the Army’s “record of decision” a violation of the 2001 legal settlement and said he will represent Mālama Mākua in federal district court as early as this month in asking Judge Susan Oki Mollway to set aside the EIS and continue the injunction against live-fire training in the valley on O’ahu’s Leeward Coast. He says that the Army did not give serious consideration to alternative plan four, which would have moved the training maneuvers to the roomier and more remote Pōhakuloa Training Area. Army claims that this would incur cost and impose the hardship of extended separation on military families are exaggerated, Henkin said.

The Army said it would not comment on the proposed litigation. Army spokesperson Doane said that the lead expert in mitigation measures at Mākua could not be reached for comment in time for Ka Wai Ola Loa publication. The final Mākua EIS summarizes regulatory and administrative steps for mitigating risks associated with the live-fire activities; this includes the conservation recommendations of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which has authority to enforce regulations under the Endangered Species Act. In addition, Army officials have said they have plans to spend $6 million in Mākua on cultural and environmental site management.

The fact is that the Army is dedicating resources to staying at Mākua stems from fear of giving up property in Hawai’i, according to Ailā. “That was their foregone conclusion going into the EIS and that has swayed the results,” said Ailā, who traces his Native Hawaiian roots back several generations in the valley.

A live fire training area since World War II, Mākua is the preferred site for simulated combat maneuvers before deployment to the Middle East. KWO archive photo

“It has concerned me that the largest pieces of land were taken from and/or are near the largest population centers of Native Hawaiians,” said Ailā, referring to the demographic makeup of O’ahu’s Leeward Coast. “The ongoing conflict over Mākua is an environmental justice issue,” Ailā added.

Ailā said he agrees with a conclusion shared by the Earthjustice attorney Henkin that the EIS does not contain adequate information on below-ground testing for archeological sites and did not finish a marine resources study to meet the community’s satisfaction. Ailā said the question of whether the military activities are resulting in harm to limu and fish from watershed runoff from Mākua Valley was never determined, because the EIS investigators “gathered the wrong species of limu from near beaches.” In addition, he said the EIS study identified arsenic and an estimated 40 other contaminants in fish from the Wai’anae Coast but did not determine if the elements were from a natural source or associated with the live-fire exercises.

Meanwhile, Nānākuli resident Bill Punini Prescott, a retired sergeant first class, said the legal challenge and opposition to Mākua military presence does not have widespread support from Native Hawaiians, including himself. “My main concern is that our soldiers are adequately trained so that they are not in harm’s way when they are fighting for our country,” said Prescott. “My neighbor just spent one year away from his family in Iraq. Now he is being sent to Fort Hood for training, when he could have gone right down the road to Mākua,” said Prescott.

Prescott said he is also has concerns about the taxpayers money that Congress is giving to rebuild and make accessible Mākua cultural or environment sites. Heiau, stone terraces and water springs are found elsewhere on the Leeward coast, he said. “Practitioners are giving many different opinions on what is sacred. It does not sound like Mākua is the only place that they can observe their traditions,” he said.

Prescott said he believes a majority of Native Hawaiians are more concerned about loved ones who have gone on active duty deployment in the Middle East wars than with the task of making Mākua safe for public use again. “The cost is prohibitive. During World War II, the valley was the central training area for troops landing on (O’ahu’s) beaches. In support of these operations, there were preparatory landings from ships, and bombing by air and land artillery. As a consequence, there are unexploded munitions not only in the valley but on the mountain sides, as evidenced after heavy rains. Additional live firings during the Korean and Vietnam wars also added more unexploded weaponry, thereby adding to the cost for clean-up,” he said.

The 2001 court settlement has allowed for 26 non low intensity training events in five years on the condition that the Army would continue to work on the EIS, but last December’s heavy rains wrecked valley roads that function as legally required firebreaks. No training has taken place since then. This prompts Earthjustice attorney Henkin to suggest that the lack of effective fire suppression coupled with current dry weather conditions raises the risk for brushfires and will prevent the Army from immediately implementing its “record of decision.”

But Army spokesperson Doane said road repairs will move along quickly with a recent infusion of $6 million in federal aid. While acknowledging that firebreak road repairs must be done before live fire training starts up again, Doane said other types of combat-readiness exercises may begin immediately.

The resumption of flying bullets and exploding ordnance at Mākua coincides with a major Army outreach campaign to Native Hawaiians. The Army has briefed the Council on Native Hawaiian Advancement and Alu Like Inc. on the military in local economic development and employment issues, said Doane.

Earlier this year, Army Col. Matthew Margotta hired Annelle Amaral as the Army’s new Native Hawaiian liaison. Amaral, who said she has served as a mediator at oft-times contentious public meetings on the military’s plan for the Stryker Brigade in Hawai’i, said that Margotta epitomizes a new generation of military leaders who value cultural sensitivity. “He has said many times that ‘this is not your father’s Army,'” said Amaral, a former member of the Honolulu Police Department and a former elected official. She added that the new command this year has poured $1 million into ensuring that Mākua valley’s Hawaiian cultural sites are accessible

At the Army’s request, Amaral last month organized a helicopter tour of the Mākua range for Hawaiian leaders. “The idea was to invite those with large constituencies so they can inform others about the work that has been going on in the valley,” said Amaral, adding that the invitees asked many probing questions. “I was proud that they took this tack.”

Those who made the trip included Hawaiian business executive Chris Dawson and Hawaiian Civic Club leader Leimomi Khan.

Mākua Military Reservation critic William Ailā was not invited on the tour and neither were any other members of Hui Mālama O Mākua or Mālama Mākua. “I am disappointed that the people in the trenches working on the restoration of the valley were not there to give some historical context,” said Ailā. “As cultural practitioners, our access to the valley has been limited to about 20 percent of what it used to be,” he added, explaining that a new Pentagon policy prevents people from going anywhere in the valley where ground has been checked to a depth of 12 inches for unexploded ordnance. “They say it is about liability, but I am willing to sign a waiver. There’s an ongoing problem of access and just another reason to look forward to the promised return of Mākua to the community.”

The training site that is bordered by the ridge of the Wai’anae Coast mountains and continuous white sand beaches was once renowned as Hawai’i’s breadbasket, Ailā said, adding that “more than 100 years ago, Mākua had a reputation on the U.S. continent for supplying the sweetest melons, abundant sweet potatoes and mountain apple.”

Kahu Kaleo Patterson, who took the Chinook helicopter ride into the valley last month, said the Army guides had “a lot of good things to say about wanting to reach out the community. “I would say it’s important to take the military up on its offer and reach back. Request the education (about their environmental work) they say they want to offer. Go see for yourself and don’t just jump on one side, based on what you hear second-hand.”

Patterson said that at the end of the tour he found himself standing next to Col. Margotta at on a high ridge overlooking the expansive ocean bay. “I told him that so many of our island families have buried loved ones or scattered their ashes out there. We’ve honored our loved ones by floating leis on the waves out there,” he said. “This is a reminder that this valley is not just filled with cultural resources and endangered species. It is very sacred and activity that takes place here should take this into consideration. If this place is eventually restored as an ahupua’a, it could have importance to all the world.”

“It’s too bad there is no section in that EIS that talks about spiritual impacts,” Patterson said.