Kahoolawe poses
liability problems
for state
WAILUKU -- With a little more than a month to go before the state takes over management of Kahoolawe island, federal cleanup goals have been met while other issues such as what to do with ordnance discovered after the Navy leaves are still under discussion, officials said.
The state Kahoolawe Island Reserve Commission is scheduled to take control of access to the island from the Navy on Nov. 11.
"Once the Navy leaves the island, that's where the real transition begins for us," said Stanton Enomoto, acting executive director of the Kahoolawe commission.
Kahoolawe, six miles southwest of Maui, was used by the Navy as a target and training area from 1941 until 1990, when former President George Bush ordered a halt to the exercises after years of protests and lawsuits by native Hawaiian groups.
In 1993, Congress agreed to spend up to $400 million through November 2003 to clear the ordnance and required Kahoolawe's return to local control.
Funding could be an issue in continuing restoration and cultural activities on the island, and liability is potentially a big concern for the state.
The commission has about $30 million in federal funds in trust to manage the island, and Enomoto said the agency also will pursue grants, donations and state allocations to continue its operations. The state Health Department already has granted the commission $400,000 to pay for two years of reforestation efforts.
More than 8 million pounds of metal and 11,000 tires have already been removed from the island, said Lt. Cmdr. Jane Campbell, a Navy spokeswoman.
The Navy, which has been overseeing cleanup operations, will remain on the island for four months of work after the transition.
To date, 19,709 acres of the 28,800-acre island have been at least surface-cleared of ordnance, with 2,522 acres cleared to a subsurface level, Campbell said. Those figures exceed the goals to which the Navy committed when it set up a contract for the cleanup in 1997.
Campbell said there will be no more of the comprehensive clearance, which includes removal of ordnance, shrapnel and all other metal. Instead, the Navy plans to conduct quality checks and return to already cleared areas that need more work.
The Navy also will do some "risk reduction" in places that haven't been cleared, leaving scrap metal but removing any unexploded ordnance that may be found, Campbell said.
Enomoto said access and activities would gradually increase through 2004 while the commission sets up its personnel, equipment, communications systems, procedures and other operations.
The commission plans to keep activities on the island to a minimum while the Navy's contractor, the Parsons-UXB Joint Venture, concludes its work. Access would be limited to a few groups with a history of visiting the island, such as the Protect Kahoolawe Ohana.
Dealing with the leftover ordnance remains an issue.
The commission has taken the position that the Navy and the federal government are ultimately responsible for cleaning it up.
Enomoto said he's hopeful that an agreement can be reached before the Nov. 11 transfer.
"I think the remainder of the island will need to be cleaned another day," he said. "We're continuing to pursue that remedy. It's just going to be a longer-term remedy than we've experienced over the past 10 years."
