STAR-BULLETIN / 2001 Community group Malama Makua is accusing the Army of rushing through environmental contamination studies in order to justify continued live-fire exercises in Makua Valley. A soldier aimed his M-240 B machine gun for suppressive fire during live-fire exercises last October.

Critics accuse Army
of rushing Makua review

Malama Makua says the timetable
does not allow proper analysis
of environmental data

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
gkakesako@starbulletin.com

A community group says the Army is rushing air, soil and water contamination studies required under a court-ordered environmental impact statement needed to justify continued live-fire operations in Makua Valley on the Waianae coast.

In statement released yesterday, Malama Makua said geochemistry, hydrology, soil science, air pollution and civil engineering experts hired under a special court-approved settlement say the Army is not setting aside enough time for the environmental report. Their comments came at the end of a 60-day period for the public to comment on the methodology the Army will use to prepare the report.

In response, Col. David Anderson, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii, said, "We understand the community's concerns presented during the comment period, and we are reviewing these concerns to determine the appropriate changes to make to our soil, water and air studies."

Troy Griffin, Army spokesman, said two community meetings to explain the sampling process and two on-site visits were conducted in addition to the requirements of the settlement agreement. The Army declined to address at this time the individual specific complaints raised by Malama Makua.

University of Hawaii soil scientist Goro Uehara, who is doing pro bono work for the Waianae group, said that as currently designed, the proposed studies "will not enable decision-makers to render a decision on the impact of military activities on long-term environmental health."

The Waianae group maintains that "a major flaw in the ground-water and surface-water contamination studies is timing."

Malama Makua maintains that although the settlement gives the Army until October 2004 to complete the EIS, the Army plans to finish the environmental report 1 1/2 years early in April. Only half of the planned ground-water sampling would be completed, the group said.

Under its current schedule, the Army says it will take additional public comment after the draft report is released in April.

William Meyer, hydrologist and former head of the U.S. Geological Survey's Hawaii District Office, said in the release that the proposed schedule reflects "a nearly complete disconnect between time allocated for the collection of field data and the planned use of this data for characterizing field conditions in the MMR (Makua Military Reservation)."

After a nearly three-year court battle, the Army and Malama Makua reached an out-of-court settlement, and the Army was allowed to resume training in the 4,190-acre valley last October with certain restrictions while it drafted an EIS. It has three years to complete the report.

On the issue of surface-water contamination, Meyer said "it is highly possible that there will be no runoff events prior to the release of (the final EIS) or that what runoff events that do occur will not be of a significant nature."

As for studying possible soil contamination, University of Hawaii geochemist Eric De Carlo said the Army's plan is "inadequate to characterize MMR" and "that the locations of said sampling will not provide an objective evaluation of the extent of contamination throughout MMR."

Air pollution expert Andrea Ferro faulted the Army's air sampling and analysis plan for excluding potentially significant "sources of air pollutants directly related to the training conducted at MMR," such as controlled burns, grass cutting, road grading and soil re-suspended by low-flying helicopters.