[ OUR OPINION ]

---

The Army needs you
to comment on plan

THE ISSUE The Army has issued its draft environmental impact statement on the proposed Stryker Brigade Combat Team.

The SHEER magnitude of a plan to transform the Army in Hawaii promises welcome economic rewards, but significant environmental concerns.With the clock already running on the 45-day comment period, residents should be reviewing the draft of an environmental impact statement and voicing any concerns.

The proposed Stryker Brigade Combat Team will involve up to 28 projects costing as much as $693 million and include acquisition of 1,400 acres of land on Oahu and 23,000 acres on the Big Island. It will encompass construction of training facilities, airfield improvements, six new ranges, roads, more than 49 miles of trails on the two islands, land transactions and operational deployments of other Stryker units from out of state training in Hawaii.

Targets for changes include Schofield Barracks, Dillingham Military Reservation, Wheeler Army Airfield, the Kahuku and Kawailoa training areas on Oahu and the Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

The draft statement acknowledges that the project will result in disturbance and destruction of habitat for sensitive and endangered species from training-related fires and construction and increases of dust levels by more than 50 percent at Schofield and Pohakuloa. The EIS also considers adverse effects on water, land and biological resources as well as archaeological and cultural sites. The human impact of 480 more soldiers who with their families will increase the local population by about 1,500 also is measured.

The Army says the transformation is an important move toward making it more responsive, agile and lethal to fill in an operational gap between slower heavy forces and more easily deployed units like light infantry. It is designed so that a brigade can be placed anywhere in the Pacific Rim within 96 hours or an entire division within five days. The Pentagon has approved funds for four Stryker units with Hawaii and Pennsylvania being considered for two more. The Hawaii unit is proposed to be operational in four years.

Environmentalists are displeased that the Army has allowed such a short comment period on a project of this scale.EarthJustice attorney David Henkin told the Star-Bulletin's Diana Leone, "The public is being asked to wade through a mountain of paper in the bare minimum of time that regulations require," he said.

Forty-five days is indeed a brief amount of time, especially given the acrimony generated over the years and revived recently when a "controlled burn" at Makua Valley ran amok, consuming 2,500 acres when 500 acres were targeted.

Nonetheless, now is when members of the public should make known their objections, questions or support of the plan. At the same time, the Army should consider extending the comment period. The continuing conflict over Makua should be a lesson learned.

---

BACK TO TOP
|

Improve measures
to keep airports safe

THE ISSUE A transit official has said that airport baggage screeners have been rehearsed on the answers to most questions on their final exams.

FEDERAL transportation security officials have gone to great lengths since the government took over baggage screening from private companies to make sure that people with criminal backgrounds are not hired as screeners. They have been less thorough -- some say a dismal failure --in determining whether the applicants can perform the job. The public needs to know that screeners are thoroughly trained and tested in order to feel safe when flying to their business or vacation destinations.

The Transportation Security Administration hired more than 55,000 baggage screeners a year ago to replace private companies. A covert team from the congressional General Accounting Office found last month that the agency "collects little information regarding screener performance in detecting threat objects," performing fewer tests than the Federal Aviation Administration conducted before the terrorist attacks of 2001.

Clark Kent Ervin, the TSA's acting inspector general, has found that the written tests that have been conducted were absurdly simplistic and "that most of the questions were rehearsed before the final correct answer." Applicants' final exam consisted of 25 questions, 19 of which were identical or nearly identical, and three others were similar, to those given along with the answers in prior quizzes.

For example, potential screeners were asked to choose the answer to "How do threats get aboard an aircraft?" from (a) In carry-on bags; (b) In checked-in bags; (c) In another person's bag; and (d) All of the above. The correct answer is (d).

"When you read the test, you'd think it was written by Jay Leno's scriptwriters rather than a testing agency," said Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., who asked for the inspector general's investigation.

The reason for replacing the privately employed screeners working for low-bid companies contracted with airlines with better-paid government employees was to improve security at airports. "The ludicrousness of this test undercuts everything Congress was trying to do in that regard," Schumer said.