Makua: Wildfires and Military Toxins

Post Date October 05, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category Action Alerts and Events, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Free Makua, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Ho’ola Hawai’i – Environmental Justice

On September 28, a wildfire caused by an Army detonation of unexploded ordnance burned 100 acres in Makua Valley:

A fire burned about 100 acres of the Army’s Makua Valley training range Wednesday after it was started by workers who had detonated unexploded ordnance.

An Army spokesman said the detonation was part of a routine, ongoing cleanup operation. No one was injured. The fire was contained about 4 p.m.

No threatened or endangered species or native Hawaiian cultural sites were affected, according to an Army cultural resoucre official at the scene, the Army said.

This week, the court ruled that the Army failed to adequately study possible contamination of seaweed in the sea off Makua training area. The Civil Beat reports “Army Can’t say Whether Hawaii Seafood Is Safe”:

Waianae-area residents still can’t be certain whether seafood they harvest off their shore is safe from dangerous levels of arsenic and lead. A federal judge has ruled that Army tests of possible contamination have fallen short and advocates for the community say more tests likely will be necessary.

Contractors hired by the U.S. Army to test whether 80 years of military operations had poisoned local residents’ seafood attempted to test seafood including fish, limu, sea cucumbers and octopus without diving into the water to collect specimens, according to an environmental law firm that sued the Army.

But the contractors never left the beach and the testing was inadequate, said David Henkin, an attorney with Earthjustice representing Malama Makua, a local community organization.

[…]

“What’s really sad is for a community to have to get into federal court and spend over a decade to battle the military,” said Sparky Rodgrigues, president of Malama Makua and a Vietnam veteran. “I went to battle hoping I wouldn’t have to come home to battle.”

Bullets and unexploded ordnance are strewn throughout the Makua Military Reservation where the Army has been doing military exercises since the 1920s. Residents worry that chemicals such as arsenic, lead, chrome and uranium from the artillery could be leaching into the soil and entering the ocean through runoff. Rodrigues said that the chemicals could also be released into the air and absorbed into plants.

The court order supplements an October 2010 ruling in which Mollway also ruled that the Army had failed to adequately test marine resources. While the military found high levels of arsenic in a previous test of seafood, officials didn’t test whether it was inorganic arsenic, and thus highly carcinogenic, or organic, which doesn’t pose a human health risk.

The 2010 ruling also said that the Army violated a separate settlement obligation to complete archeological surveys to determine whether cultural resources could be damaged by stray shells and mortar rounds.

The military has been banned from doing live round firing since 2004 and is unlikely to be able to resume the activities until the testing is complete.

Rodrigues said the military wasn’t being good neighbors “by contaminating the water, food source and environment.”

“The military takes from our community and doesn’t really give back,” said Rodgrigues.

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Hawai'i Island Appeal for Solidarity

Post Date February 03, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category American Empire, DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Environmental Impacts, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, Media Releases, Projects and Campaigns, War and Peace

Activists from Hawai’i island issued an appeal for solidarity in the face of a massive military expansion planned for Pohakuloa. Please send solidarity statements to ja@interpac.net. Mahalo!

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For Public Release concerning U.S. military training at Pohakuloa
See list of individual signers below

Further contact: Jim Albertini 966-7622
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

Appeal for Solidarity!

We (the undersigned) appeal to all Hawaii peace, justice, environment, and independence activists, to the general public, and to local and state government officials. We ask that you stand in solidarity with us on Moku O Keawe in resistance to major U.S. military expansion at the 133,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area, and now even helicopter assault training for Afghanistan on our sacred mountains –Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.

We congratulate the Malama Makua community organization for its victory in stopping all military live fire in Makua Valley on Oahu. But Makua is still held hostage by the military and used to train for ongoing U.S. wars of aggression.

We are opposed to pushing U.S. desecration and contamination from one site to another. We want an end to U.S. occupation in Hawaii and the restoration of the Hawaii nation. We want the U.S. to stop bombing Hawaii and clean up its opala. We want to put an end to U.S. desecration and contamination of all sacred cultural sites. We do not want the U.S. training anywhere to do to others what the U.S. has already done to Hawaii: overthrow and occupy its government and nation, desecrate its sacred sites, and contaminate its air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with military toxins.

Restore the Hawaii Nation!

End U.S. Terrorism!
Military Clean-Up NOT Build Up!
Stop all the Wars! End all Occupations!

Signers
Isaac Harp, Kelii “Skippy” Ioane, Hanalei Fergerstrom,
Kihei Soli Niheu, Ali`i Sir Kaliko Kanaele, Calvin Kaleiwahea,
Lloyd Buell, Danny Li, Stephen Paulmier, Ronald Fujiyoshi,
Moanikeala Akaka, Tomas Belsky,
Samuel Kaleleiki, Jim Albertini

In the wake of the Army's Makua decision

Post Date January 21, 2011

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Author Laurel Mei-Singh

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

The Honolulu Star Advertiser did a feature article on David Henkin, an attorney for EarthJustice who represents Malama Makua in its fight with the U.S. Army. David is a friend and Makahiki brother who has done a great job as the attorney for Malama Makua. However, I disagree with his suggestion that live fire or other training is more acceptable at Schofield (Lihu’e) or Pohakuloa. The principles of aloha ‘aina and solidarity that bring thousands of people from around the world to stand with Makua must be reciprocated. The ‘not-in-my-backyard’ argument leaves unchallenged the very premise that the training is necessary and for some legitimate purpose, which, as the death toll and costs rise in Iraq and Afghanistan, we know to be a lie. As Jim Albertini writes in his January 12, 2011 leaflet: “The bottom line is this: Hawaii residents don’t want the U.S. military training to do to others what the U.S. has already done to Hawaii: overthrow and occupy its government and nation, and contaminate it’s air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with military toxins.”

Below is the leaflet issued by Malu ‘Aina followed by the interview with David Henkin:

Pohakuloa Military Expansion Opposed Unanimously!

Below is a brief report on the public hearing held Jan. 11th at Hilo Intermediate School cafeteria on plans for military expansion at Pohakuloa. The plans call for new live-fire ranges and training, and construction activities, at Pohakuloa, as well as high altitude helicopter flights and landings on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa in training for Afghanistan/Pakistan high altitude mountainous warfare.

The first hour and a half was taken up with “open house” science fair type displays by military people who knew very little about the history of militarism in Hawaii and couldn’t answer many questions asked. But the public testimony portion on Pohakuloa was powerful.

The public hearing portion started with Kumu Paul Neves and his Ohana/halau doing chants and then Paul led a Pule. Lots of young Hawaiians testified both in their native tongue and English. They spoke eloquently against the military desecration of the sacred mountains and aina. Other Hawaiians and people of all ages, testified as well. The testimony went for 2 hours. Not one person spoke in support of the military expansion plans. The PTA new commander and the Army Garrison commander from Oahu sat stoned-faced throughout the 2 hours of public testimony

Many citizens noted that no further military activity at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) should go forward. On July 2, 2008 the Hawaii County Council passed a resolution by a vote of 8-1 calling for a complete halt to all live-fire at PTA and any activities that create dust until there is a comprehensive independent assessment of the depleted uranium (DU) at PTA and a clean up of the DU present. The council’s resolution also called for 7 additional actions, none of which have been implemented.

Several people emphasized that stopping the bombing and all live-fire, construction, and other activities that create dust at PTA is key. Du particles are particularly hazardous when inhaled. People testified that the federal government should pay for the comprehensive independent assessment, testing and monitoring for radiation contamination and that federal funds should be sought through Hawaii’s congressional delegation –senators Inouye and Akaka, and representatives Hirono and Hanabusa. There has been plenty of money over the years for military build up but very little funding for military clean up. It’s time to change those priorities.

The bottom line is this: Hawaii residents don’t want the U.S. military training to do to others what the U.S. has already done to Hawaii: overthrow and occupy its government and nation, and contaminate it’s air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with military toxins.

Stop the Bombing! Stop All the Wars!
Military Clean Up NOT Build Up Now!
End all Occupations! Restore the Hawaii Nation!

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 (Jan. 14, 2011 – 487th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office
—
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

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http://www.staradvertiser.com/columnists/20110121_David_Henkin.html

David Henkin

The lawyer for Earthjustice won a long campaign to stop the Army’s live-fire training in Makua Valley

By Dave Koga

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jan 21, 2011

David Henkin knew early in life that he wanted to protect the environment. As a child in Los Angeles, he would pick up pieces of trash during walks with his mother and wonder aloud how people could be so thoughtless.

“The interest got more sophisticated after that,” he says, “but I think for a lot of people it starts with just looking around and seeing how beautiful the world is and what a gift we’ve been given … and understanding that we all have an obligation to stewardship.”

At Yale Law School, Henkin naturally gravitated toward environmental law, which would give him “the chance to stand up for the Earth.”

“What drew me in was not just the work — the opportunity to make the world cleaner, better, safer — but that the clients are never in it for money or personal gain,” he says. “They’re in it because they have a passion for protecting resources and places for future generations. And so that’s something I’ve always been able to get up in the morning for … to keep my energy up and keep doing it year in and year out.”

Since arriving in Hawaii in 1995 to work for Earthjustice, Henkin has filed numerous cases on issues ranging from protection of the endangered Hawaiian crow to the upgrading of Honolulu’s wastewater treatment facilities.

He is best known for representing the community group Malama Makua, which has pressed the U.S. Army since 1998 to prepare environmental impact statements on its training in Makua Valley, home to more than 100 archaeological sites and 50 endangered plant and animal species.

Two weeks ago, the Army’s commander in the Pacific, Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, announced that “in an effort to balance our relations with the community and the requirements that we have for training,” the Army had abandoned plans to resume live-fire training in Makua Valley and would conduct future exercises at Schofield Barracks and the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

Henkin is pleased with the Army’s decision, which he says was too long in coming. But he says the ultimate goal remains the return of the valley to the state — and it may be a while before that issue is resolved.

QUESTION: Now that the Army is saying there will be no more live-fire training in Makua, what’s your sense of what’s going to happen next?

ANSWER: What’s important to understand is that the Army hasn’t done any live-fire training in Makua since 1998 (when Malama Makua filed suit after a series of munitions-sparked brushfires). In the last 12 years, they’ve fired rounds in only 26 exercises during a three-year period. So actually, out of the last 12 years, there have been nine years without a single shot fired. And as you know, during that period of time, particularly from 2001 onward, the Army has been deploying constantly to combat theaters and they’ve been training their soldiers elsewhere. So what Gen. Mixon said is really just an acknowledgment of reality — which is that not only can the Army get by without live-fire training at Makua, it has.

And so the Army and the people of Hawaii have to ask themselves: Is it worth sacrificing the cultural sites and the endangered species? Is it worth training within three miles of heavily populated areas? Is it worth training across the street from areas where people play with their children and gather food from the ocean when there are other options?

The first lawsuit was filed in 1998 … and in 2000 and then again in 2001, the Army came out with a very short document called an environmental assessment where they said there was no potential for training at Makua to cause any significant harm to the environment. This, against a history in which cultural sites have been destroyed and endangered species have been burned, just didn’t pass the smile test. And the judge agreed with us that they needed to do the full-blown environmental impact statement …

To me, this case is a perfect illustration of what Congress intended when it made … the environmental review law. It is, “Let’s get the facts on the table; let’s not do it based on rhetoric and supposition. Let’s get the facts on the table and make a good decision.” And we believe the decision Gen. Mixon announced last week is not only good for us, but good for the Army and good for the people of the state of Hawaii, because for so long the dialogue has been readiness versus the environment. And now we realize that you can have both. You can protect sacred places, special places, and you can also do the training.

Q: What do you think was driving the Army’s reluctance to do any kind of complete study all these years?

A: We’ve heard that the Army had a fear — almost like the old domino theory — that if the Army gave in at Makua, then the activists would be at the gates and they would try to push them out of Schofield and out of Pohakuloa. For Earthjustice and Malama Makua, the issue has always been Makua and whether this is an appropriate place to train. I think there were some concerns about (the Army) saving face. Maybe along the way some of the generals (who commanded Pacific forces) believed their rhetoric.

Q: What are Malama Makua’s thoughts on the Army’s plan to now turn Makua into a roadside-bomb training site?

A: Our clients’ belief, and my personal belief, is that Makua is a very sacred, special place that just is not appropriate for training. I don’t think any rational military trainer in the 21st century would look around the state of Hawaii and say, “I’m going to train at Makua” if they hadn’t been there since World War II. I think it’s a legacy of past decisions made in a different age, with different knowledge and different sensibilities.

So I guess the short answer is there are other places where they can do this kind of training. To do the convoy exercise you basically need a road. There are plenty of roads on Army land at Schofield and Pohakuloa.

Now, the specifics of what’s being proposed are pretty much unknown at this point. My guess is that it is substantially less of an impact on the cultural sites and the endangered species than what they had been doing before, but to get back to my theme, information is vital and there hasn’t really been disclosure. I can just say, based on what I do know, that there are other places they can do it and Makua really ought to be returned to the people of the state of Hawaii for appropriate cultural and civilian use.

Q: Are you confident of that happening?

A: Before (the government’s 65-year lease for Makua expires in) 2029? My approach to the type of work that I do is that you have to be optimistic and idealistic, because that’s what keeps you going. But at the same time, you have to be realistic and keep your expectations low because that’s what keeps you from becoming discouraged. When you’re doing public interest environmental work, it’s always a long-term battle, it’s always an uphill battle, it’s never really over. So I do envision a return of Makua to the people of Hawaii as soon as possible. But I don’t expect it. I hope to be pleasantly surprised.

You have to remember that when Makua was originally taken for training in 1941, the families who lived there, the families who were evicted, were told that their land would be returned six months after the end of hostilities. They’re still waiting. So really, Makua has a history of very profound broken promises to the individual families and in a larger context to the people of Hawaii.

Q: Does Earthjustice have any problem with live-fire training at Pohakuloa?

A: My understanding is that the Army has started an environmental review process, where from the beginning they’ve admitted the need for an environmental impact statement — so there’s been progress over the years — and that they’re doing a review of locations of alternate training facilities to Pohakuloa. It is hard to find a place in the state of Hawaii to do live-fire military training that is not going to cause damage. It is by its very nature a destructive activity. You’re practicing war.

Am I OK with them training at Pohakuloa? That’s not really the lens that I look at it through. I look at it through this lens: If the Army is going to do a certain type of training, where can they do it with the least impact?

Q: As far as returning Makua to Hawaii and having it open to civilians again, do you have a sense of how much unexploded ordnance might still be there and how much clean-up it would take?

A: Well, one of the things we were able to secure through a settlement agreement in 2001, is an obligation for the Army now to be clearing unexploded ordnance from the valley. Normally, the Army has a policy that live training ranges don’t get cleaned up until they’re actually closed. But as part of our settlement we said, “We don’t want you to wait until you’re ready to leave, we want you to start cleaning up now.” So there have been 1,000-pound bombs, 250-pound bombs, a lot of heavy ordnance that has already been pulled out of there. Now they tend to find a mortar round here, a mortar round there.

Compared to Kahoolawe, the entire military reservation’s about 4,100 acres. The flat lands where people would want to carry out cultural activities, maybe start farming again, is a much, much smaller area. So I think it would be manageable.

A partial win for Makua, but struggle far from over

Post Date January 14, 2011

Comments 0 Comments

Author Laurel Mei-Singh

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

Secretary of the Army statements about Makua insults community

Post Date May 09, 2010

Comments 0 Comments

Author Laurel Mei-Singh

Category DMZ-Hawai'i / Aloha 'Aina In the News, Free Makua, Hawaiian Sovereignty, Land, Culture & Human Rights, War and Peace

So, the Secretary of the Army stops in Hawai’i, makes some remarks about the Army’s need to train in Makua and the military’s respect for Hawaiian culture and the environment.

He did not dare to have a public audience in Hawai’i. The Army canceled a reception with its hand-picked Native Hawaiian leaders because of the possibility that he would be embarrassed by the opposition to Army activities in Hawai’i.

It is outrageous that the Army is now contemplating using Makua to train unmanned aerial vehicles, the drones that have inflicted so much death and suffering on civilians in Afghanistan and Pakistan.

McHugh says the Army wants to use Makua for “full spectrum training”, presumably to pursue the delusional doctrine of “full spectrum dominance”.

McHugh’s remarks illustrate the arrogance of the military in Hawai’i. It will only anger the community that has been working peacefully and productively for decades to have the land returned to peaceful and sustainable uses. As with many of the military occupied sites in Hawai’i, the Army took Makua valley during WWII with a promise to return the land 6 months after the war. It is long overdue that the military make good on its promise to clean up and return Makua.

Remaking the Army’s image to be greener and more friendly to the natives does not solve their problem. Their problem stems from the fact that the mission the U.S. military is training for is illegal and immoral – the invasion and occupation of other countries and the destructive means that pacify resistance as effectively as gasoline douses fire.

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http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20100509_Army_chief_cites_value_of_Makua_for_training.html

Army chief cites value of Makua for training

By Gregg K. Kakesako

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, May 09, 2010

New Army Secretary John McHugh supports the continued use of Makua Valley for military training, emphasizing that closing it would mean the 11,000 soldiers stationed here would have to spend more time away from their families preparing for wartime deployments.

McHugh toured a portion of the 4,000-acre Makua Military Reservation by helicopter and truck Friday morning with Lt. Gen. Benjamin Mixon, commander of all Army troops in the Pacific and former commanding general of the 25th Infantry Division.

McHugh said retention of Makua allows the Army to offer the “full spectrum of training” here without having to send soldiers to southern California. “I think it’s in the interest of the soldiers, the Army and the United States of America to have these forces continuing to be in position to grow, to be fully trained as they are now to go forward to do the nation’s business.”

He added that the Army should continue “making every effort and expending those resources to protect the culture, the heritage and the very unique environmental challenges that exist here.”

McHugh said 25th Division soldiers now spend several months at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in the Mojave Desert to complete their training for Iraq or Afghan combat missions.

“Coming out of Hawaii, that’s like another deployment,” McHugh added. “It impacts very significantly on the amount of time soldiers have to recover and spend with their families.”

Mixon said the Army plans an environmental study on converting the valley to “a non-live-fire training range” that would focus on programs dealing with the use of drones, helicopter laser and convoy operations and ways to defuse roadside and homemade bombs.

Since 2001 Earthjustice and Malama Makua, a Leeward Oahu group that believes the valley is scared to native Hawaiians, have been fighting the Army over the use of Makua. No live-fire infantry exercises have been held in the area since 2004 because of the court cases.

Both sides agree that more than 50 endangered plant and animal species and more than 100 archaeological features are found in the valley area.

McHugh said at a Friday news conference that the Army has spent $10 million a year to ensure the safety of the endangered plants and animals and provide access to cultural and historical sites. Proponents have argued that is not enough.

Earlier this year Mixon said the Army plans to spend $37 million to convert Makua Valley into a roadside-bomb and counter-insurgency training center.

“It’s obviously an incredible, beautiful part of the island,” McHugh told reporters after his first visit to the islands and Makua Valley. “My first impression visually was that the Army has done a more than credible job in preserving its historic nature and preserving its environmental nature.”

McHugh said he believes the military can share the valley with the community.

Mixon has said that over the next decade much traditional infantry and artillery training can be shifted to the Big Island’s Pohakuloa Training Area.

Makua Valley, with proper funding and support, could become a training center on gathering intelligence, Mixon has said. The center could provide training on homemade bombs used in all parts of the world, especially important given the growing threat in the Philippines, India and the rest of Asia. Soldiers from Pacific basin countries could also be sent here for such training at Makua.

He also said that Makua is a good place to train with unmanned aerial vehicles.

McHugh was in the islands on the last leg of a weeklong visit to Army bases in Japan, South Korea and Hawaii. The former Republican U.S. House member is the Army’s 21st civilian leader. He assumed the post in September.

Makua panel to air on 'Olelo

Post Date February 17, 2010

Comments 0 Comments

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.

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.

Army Makua study opposed

Post Date August 13, 2009

Comments 0 Comments

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

Comments 0 Comments

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.

Op Ed: Army doesn't need Makua Valley for live-fire exercises

Post Date June 19, 2009

Comments 0 Comments

Author Laurel Mei-Singh

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

HonoluluAdvertiser.com

June 19, 2009

Army doesn’t need Makua Valley for live-fire exercises

Troops have trained elsewhere for years; other option needed

By David Henkin

“Let them train!” has been the rallying cry of Sen. Daniel Inouye and others who want the Army to resume live-fire exercises in Makua Valley.

It’s an emotionally compelling plea. Who would want to send our young men and women into battle without adequate preparation?

Unfortunately, it’s a highly charged, even deceptive, plea that serves to deflect attention from the real issue. It’s not whether the Army should train, but where.

Is a valley sacred to Hawaiians the best place to fire mortars and artillery – activities that have already damaged petroglyphs and other ancient cultural sites there?

Is the home to nearly 50 endangered and threatened species the best place to fire tracers and illumination rounds – the same weapons that have already sparked hundreds of fires, destroying the native forest and threatening rare plants and animals with extinction?

Is an area just three miles from Makaha’s homes and businesses, across the street from a public beach, the best place to stage a mock battle – using very real weapons and live ammunition?

Many don’t think so, which is why Malama Makua and Earthjustice have spent 11 years in court to compel the Army to give an honest accounting of the price we pay when soldiers train at Makua and to explore alternatives that would accomplish the Army’s mission without sacrificing Makua’s cultural and biological treasures.

The Army’s recently released environmental impact statement confirms Makua is not the only option. The Army admits it would be both feasible and reasonable to conduct its training at Pohakuloa on the Big Island, with much less risk of environmental damage. Indeed, the Army has already been using Pohakuloa to train troops for deployment and has emphasized the added benefit of giving soldiers based on O’ahu a realistic opportunity to practice deployment.

The Army has not trained at Makua since June 2004, and has conducted no live-fire training there in eight of the last 11 years. Yet even without Makua, it has successfully prepared its soldiers for battle.

How can Army officials, or Sen. Inouye, validly claim Makua is essential when the military’s own actions over the past decade have proven otherwise?

Quite simply, they can’t, because it isn’t.

Makua, which was pressed into service following the attack on Pearl Harbor, has had its day. As Congressman Neil Abercrombie has pointed out, based on his years of service on the Armed Services Committee, Makua is best suited for training soldiers for the trench warfare characteristic of WWI, not to meet the needs of the 21st century.

Makua was never intended to be a permanent training site. The Army promised to return it upon the cessation of hostilities with Japan, but 64 years later, the people of Hawai’i are still waiting.

Of the options identified under the EIS, Makua Valley and its resources are the most fragile, vulnerable and irreplaceable. Yet the Army has chosen Makua as its preferred alternative for the highest conceivable level of training, employing some of its most destructive weapons.

While we might expect this sort of environmental and cultural insensitivity from the Bush administration, it’s not a good fit with Hawai’i-born President Obama, who has a special understanding of the Islands.

But no matter who occupies the White House, using Makua Valley as a mock battleground doesn’t make sense. Not when Makua is unique – but its training opportunities are not.

Yes, let them train. But there’s no need to sacrifice Makua to do it.

David Henkin is a Honolulu-based Earthjustice attorney who has been involved with the Makua case since 1998. He wrote this commentary for The Advertiser.