Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 23, Number 1, 1 January 2006 — Army seeks to resume live-fire training at Mākua range [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Army seeks to resume live-fire training at Mākua range

By Sterling Kini Weng Publicatiūns Editor On Nov. 30, the Army filed a motion in federal court to resume live-fire training in Mākua Valley for the first time in 14 months, even though a settlement agreement prohibits the exercises. The Army is requesting the court to amend its 2001 agreement with the community group Mālama Mākua that establishes the number of exercises and the types of training allowed in the 4,190-acre valley. The Army said it needs to conduct about 30 separate exercises to prepare 7,000 soldiers for deployment to Iraq next suimner. Lt. Col. Mike Donnelly, an Army spokesperson, told the Honolulu Star-BuIIetin that training in Mākua will "ultimately

save lives. It's the right thing to do, and it's our responsibility." The 2001 agreement, however, prohibits the renewal of live-fire training in the valley until the Army completes a comprehensive environmental study of the impact of training in Mākua. The final study is more than a year overdue, and Army officials say it won't be completed until the spring. David Henkin, an attorney with the environmental law group Earthjustice, whieh is representing Mālama Mākua, said the group is opposing the Army's motion on the grounds that the Army could deploy other units or train the soldiers at a different location. "The Army is creating a crisis in order to resume their environmentally and culturally

destructive training in the valley," he said. "They knew the consequences of not completing the [environmental impact statement], and they've had total eontrol over the situation." Henkin also noted that the Army took less time to complete the more involved environmental study for the Stryker Brigade, whieh included every training facility in the state except Mākua. Environmental and Native Hawaiian groups oppose live-fire training in the valley because they believe it threatens the 40 endangered species and more than 100 archaeological sites in Mākua. Since military operations began in Mākua in 1920, live-fire training has caused hundreds of fires, and in July 2003, the Army lost control of a purposefully ignited

burn that ended up scorching half of the valley. In 1998, a misfired mortar triggered a fire that burned 800 acres of the valley. As a result, a series of lawsuits filed by Earthjustice on behalf of Mālama Mākua stopped training in the valley until after the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, when the settlement agreement was reached.

According to terms of the settlement, the Army agreed to complete the environmental study by October 2004. In return, the Army was allowed to conduct up to 37 live-fire exercises in the valley over a three-year period. The draft the environmental study was completed in July, and the Army accepted puhlie eomment on it until September. S

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HūWūiian and environmentol groups protested at Mōkua in 2003 after an Army "prescribed burn" got out of confrol and scorched half of the valley's 4,1 90 acres. - Photos: KW0 archive