Residents want assessment
of tests done at Makua

By Suzanne Tswei
Star-Bulletin

Waianae community leaders plan to ask for an evaluation of environmental tests of Makua Military Reservation because of concern for possible contamination of nearby fishing ponds, a spokesman said.

Roger Furrer, a community activist, said the leaders will request in writing for Mary Masters, a civil engineer, to review tests done in 1993 and give them her opinion on whether the tests were adequate in determining the existence of contamination and the possibility of runoffs carrying contaminants out into brackish water ponds and the ocean.

Masters works for Technical Outreach Services for Communities, a program by the research and development division of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. The program provides scientific evaluations for communities that cannot afford independent tests.

During a tour of the military reservation Tuesday, community leaders said they were concerned the Army does not have complete records of weaponry and chemicals that were disposed at a four-acre site, known as the open-burn, open-detonation site.

Furthermore, the leaders said they believe the 1993 tests were not thorough or adequate in detecting contamination on the site and the possibility of runoffs contaminating areas outside the military reservation.

An Army spokesman told the leaders during a tour of the reservation Tuesday that only conventional weaponry and hospital chemicals were disposed at the site. An Army spokesman yesterday also disputed the leaders' claim that hospital wastes were disposed at the site.

"We want to go on the record that no hospital wastes were disposed there," said Maj. Dave Luders.

But Furrer said the Army simply is using a different terminology.

"What we have is a game of definition ... The community, in our shorthand, have called it hospital wastes ... whether it was chemicals or other things. We are just worried about what's been burned on that site," said Furrer.

Furrer is vice president of Malama Makua, a community group seeking for the return of the reservation to civilian control. Malama Makua and Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund filed suit alleging that the Army failed to complete an environmental impact statement on the use of Makua Valley. Despite the disagreement over the Army's use of the reservation, the community leaders said they were encouraged by the Army's willingness to listen to their concerns.