Category: Local Campaigns

Posted on

Of Bases and Budgets

Christine Ahn and Hyun Lee have written an excellent article in Foreign Policy in Focus tying together the social and environmental impacts of U.S. bases on the host countries with the social cost to the U.S. public and the critical developments in the Asia Pacific region.  In the article they mention the  “Peace in Asia and the Pacific: Alternatives to Militarization” conference in Washington, D.C. this weekend.  Ikaika Hussey will be a speaker at this event to discuss the situation in Hawai’i and efforts to build solidarity against the militiarization of Hawai’i and the region.  The article also mentions Moana Nui: Pacific Peoples, Lands and Economies to coincide with the APEC summit as a peoples’ alternative, in which DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina will participate.  On Thursday, November 10, 2011, a panel discussion of militarization and resistance in the Asia Pacific region will be part of the Moana Nui conference.  The panel will feature Christine Ahn, Suzuyo Takazato (a leader in the Okinawan women’s anti-bases movement), Lisa Natividad (a Chamoru anti-bases activist from Guam), Kyle Kajihiro (Hawai’i Peace and Justice and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina), Chamoru poet Craig Santos Perez, and peace activist and artist Mayumi Oda.
Of Bases and Budgets
By Christine Ahn and Hyun Lee, October 6, 2011
At 4 am on September 24, an intoxicated U.S. soldierbased at Camp Casey in South Korea broke into the dorm of a high school student, threatened her with a weapon and repeatedly sexually assaulted her. Due to the extraterritoriality of the Status of Forces Agreement (SOFA) between the South Korean and U.S. governments, Seoul must issue an arrest warrant to the U.S. Forces in Korea (USFK) to transfer the soldier to face Korea’s criminal system.This tragic incident presents a critical opportunity to question why, after 66 years, 28,500 U.S. troops still remain on 87 bases and installations on the Korean peninsula and whose security they are safeguarding. The same questions are being raised in Okinawa and Guam, islands in the Asia Pacific with large U.S. bases.Although the economic crisis facing America has called into question the bloated military budget, it is the first time in U.S. history that Congress is discussing the prohibitive costs of U.S. bases. Given growing popular opposition throughout the Asia Pacific to the ongoing presence of U.S. bases, the time is now to seize this rare political window to close down U.S. bases worldwide.

High Cost of U.S. Bases to People of Asia Pacific

As in the past, the USFK will attempt to call the rape another case of a bad apple, when in fact U.S. troops in Korea have a long history of committing heinous crimes against Korea’s civilian population.

In 1994, South Korean civil society began to mobilize after U.S. soldier Kenneth Markle brutally murdered 27-year old Yoon Keum E. whose bloody body covered with white laundry detergent was found dead with an umbrella shoved up her anus and two beer bottles in her womb. This unspeakable violence forced the Korean people to question the so-called protection provided by the U.S. military and the unequal SOFA arrangements, which enables soldiers to act in impunity.

According to the National Campaign for the Eradication of Crimes by U.S. Troops in Korea, U.S. soldiers have committed tens of thousands of crimes against South Korean civilians since the beginning of its military occupation in 1945. According to South Korean National Assembly member Kim Tae-won, 377 U.S. soldiers were arrested for committing crimes in 2011 alone. Since 2008, the number of rapes doubled, and thefts and assaults tripled.

But it’s not just interpersonal violence Koreans endure. U.S. bases have also borne significant social and environmental costs. In 2006, after nearly a 1,000-day long struggle, the South Korean government demolished the homes and fertile farmland of elderly rice farmers in Pyeongtaek for the expansion of Camp Humphreys. This past May, three U.S. veterans confessed to dumping barrels full of Agent Orange in an area the size of a football field at Camp Carroll. Today, Gangjeong farmers and fishermen on Jeju Island are fighting to save their village from becoming a naval base that will stage Aegis destroyers linked to the U.S. missile defense system.

Unfortunately, sexual violence and crimes committed by U.S. troops against civilians haven’t been restricted to South Korea. Okinawa, a prefecture of Japan, has also borne similar costs due to the ongoing presence of U.S. military bases. Although Okinawa accounts for only 0.6 percent of the entire land area in Japan, it is home to 74 percent of U.S. military facilities in Japan. Women for Genuine Security estimates that 37 U.S. bases and installations in Okinawa house 23,842 troops and 21,512 family members.

According to Suzuyo Takazato of Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, from 1972 to 2005, U.S. soldiers committed over 5,500 crimes against civilians, although many Okinawans say the number is actually much higher because women and girls rarely report crimes such as sexual violence. Only some 700 U.S. soldiers have been arrested. Since U.S. troops first landed on the island, Okinawans have been demanding their removal. In 1995, the resistance gained steam after three U.S. servicemen abducted and raped a 12-year-old girl.

In 1996, Tokyo and Washington agreed that the United States would return the land used by the Futenma Air Force base and build a replacement facility in Nago City’s Henoko Bay. But Okinawans have opposed this plan through every democratic means—elections, referenda, rallies, and public opinion polls. In 1997, Nago citizens voted in a referendum opposing the construction of the new U.S. base. In a May 2010 poll, 84 percent of respondents opposed this move, which would destroy Henoko’s ecological preserve. And recently, Nago’s 60,000 people elected a mayor who strongly opposes the base.

Given the fierce opposition to the base relocation, the Japanese government signed a deal in 2006 with Washington to transfer 8,000 U.S. marines and their families from Okinawa to Guam, or Guahan in its native language Chamoru, at a price of $27 billion. According to Lisa Natividad of the Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice, the infusion of these additional marines, their families, and support workers to Guam’s population of 170,000 would grow the island population by 30 percent. “It will double the existing military presence on the island and will eclipse the Chamoru population,” says Natividad.

Since the announcement of the military build-up, Guahans actively led grassroots public education campaigns on the consequences to their culture and environment. Their organizing has begun to pay off. According to Natividad, the Pentagon received an unprecedented 10,000 comments of concern in 2009—6.5 percent of Guahan’s total population—about the planned Guam military build-up. Two civil society organizations—We Are Guahan and the Guam Preservation and Historic Trust—have filed a lawsuit to prevent the use of Pagat village as a live firing range.

Cost of U.S. Bases to America

For the first time in history, the call for closing bases and shifting priorities may actually have the ear of lawmakers on Capitol Hill as they cope with the nation’s intensifying budget crisis and take the unprecedented step of putting the Pentagon budget on the chopping block. Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) proposes to save $69.5 billion by reducing military personnel overseas in Europe and Asia. This recommendation, originally made by the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform, is aimed at reducing “the military personnel stationed at overseas bases in Europe and Asia by one-third.” Senator Coburn also recommends canceling the deployment of 8,600 U.S. Marines and their 9,000 dependents to Guam from Okinawa. To realign U.S. troops in Japan, Okinawa, and Guam would cost $27 billion.

The Sustainable Defense Task Force also proposes to cut military personnel and bases by one third in Europe and Asia and projects savings of up to $80 billion. “On the Korean peninsula, the gap between adversary and friendly conventional capabilities has grown much more favorable,” it states in Debt, Defense, and Deficits – A Way Forward, released June 2010. “Also, U.S. capacities for long-range strike and for effective rapid deployment of forces have grown greater, reducing the crisis response requirements for troops on the spot.” The Task Force does not view China as a military threat to the United States. Rather, it says, China’s integration into the regional economy means “Beijing does not seek to fracture its relationship with the United States.” It also sees Taiwan and the Mainland as “strongly interdependent economically.”

In May, three ranking members of the Senate Armed Services Committee—Senators Carl Levin (D-MI), Jim Webb (D-VA), and John McCain (R-AZ)—called on the Pentagon to “re-examine plans to restructure U.S. military forces in East Asia” because they were “unrealistic” and “simply unaffordable in today’s increasingly constrained fiscal environment.” Their recommendations include putting on hold plans to expand Camp Humphreys in Pyongtaek, South Korea to support tour normalization, scrapping the relocation of Futenma in Okinawa, and scaling back plans for base expansion in Guam. “The proposals would save billions in taxpayer dollars,” stated the letter from the Senators. Last month, during Deputy Defense Secretary Ashton Carter’s confirmation hearing, Senator Levin asked whether the closure of some bases and bringing home U.S. troops was on the table. Carter responded that indeed, it was “on the table.”

Time to Link Arms

The struggle of farmers and indigenous people against U.S. bases in Guam, Okinawa, South Korea, and elsewhere, and the struggle of working people for jobs, healthcare, and education here at home are opposite sides of the same coin. The vibrant energy and creative talents of our nation’s youth are needed here to build hospitals and schools and revitalize local communities, not on unpopular bases abroad that displace indigenous populations.

It’s time to link up our demands – shut down bases abroad and create jobs here at home. Although oceans apart, we have more at stake in each other’s struggles than we may think. And Washington’s budget debate provides an opening for us to link arms and demand a change in the nation’s priorities.

Movements for peace and economic justice across the Asia Pacific are strengthening their ties by organizing two important convenings: “Peace in Asia and the Pacific: Alternatives to Militarization conference in Washington, DC on October 21-22; and Moana Nui: Pacific Peoples, Lands and Economies gathering from November 9-11 timed with the APEC Summit in Honolulu, Hawaii.

In the long term, the U.S. peace and social justice movement must press to change the fundamental mission of the U.S. military around the world. For now, we can start by impressing on the U.S. public and policymakers the urgency of people’s struggles against U.S. bases abroad as well as the high cost of maintaining them and what that means for the American people.

Posted on

US Seeks to Establish Naval Base on Jeju Island in Spite of Protests

Here’s an interesting article about the political and economic interests behind the push to build a naval base in Jeju island:

On beautiful Jeju Island, south of the Korean peninsula, the South Korean Navy is building a base that will soon harbor some of the world’s most advanced weapons.

But the mystery is: who inspired the base to be built on this island of pristine waters and stunning volcanic peaks in the first place?

Peace activist Bruce Gagnon says all one needs to do is call the South Korean embassy in Washington and ask.

“We have had four of our people tell us when they called the (South Korean) embassy to protest the naval base, they were told, ‘Don’t call us, call your own government,’” said Gagnon. “The US is forcing South Korea to build this base so to harbor Aegis destroyers. The base is a key part of Obama’s ‘Forward Base’ strategy for missile defense. This is a very provocative act.”

John Lasker, the author of the article, discusses some myths ab0ut “missile defenses”:

The Pentagon has spent over $100 billion researching missile defense technology that has never proven itself in real combat. This $100 billion technology can also be deceived by balloon decoys that look like warheads, a fatal flaw the Pentagon has desperately tried to keep secret. While billions were being pumped into so-called missile defense during the past three decades, many high-ranking officers from the US military and US Congressmen publicly stated the nation that controls space, controls earth.

Lasker also explains how missile defenses fuel a new arms race between the U.S. and China:

There is no doubt, says Gagnon, that Sino-American posturing in the Pacific has ignited an arms race for the 21st century, as the US continues testing its missile-defense arsenal in the Pacific.

Recall in 2007, when China shot down one of its own satellites. The US followed suit in 2008 by using an Aegis-class destroyer to shoot down an apparent “malfunctioning” satellite as it orbited over Hawaii. WikiLeaks would later reveal the Bush White House essentially had lied about the sputtering orbiter.

The real story, as told by a once secret US cable that was exposed by the elusive Assange, is that the US shot down its own satellite as a direct response to China’s display of space weapon capability the year before in 2007.

Meanwhile, construction of the naval base in Jeju continues, threatening an ancient archaeological site that could shed light on the origins of Korean civilization:

A prominent Korean historian held a press conference yesterday to announce that prehistoric ruins dating back as far as the Bronze Age had been discovered within the Jeju naval base construction site in Gangjeong.

Halt to construction urged

“During the excavation investigation period, all construction must stop,” said Hwang Pyung-woo, director of the Korea Cultural Heritage Policy Research Institute. ”Relics dating from the Bronze Age to the Joseon Dynasty are scattered widely.”

Revealing the beginnings of Jeju civilization, the excavated ruins at Gangjeong are a landmark archaeological discovery, Hwang stated.

Posted on

Opposing paradigms converge on Hawaii

Opposing paradigms converge on Hawaii
Hawaii is center stage for a meeting between the all-business APEC and international environmental conference Moana Nui

Jon Letman    Last Modified: 07 Oct 2011 10:36

Speaking earlier this year on US National Public Radio, Intel CEO Paul Otellini suggested that the global power shift that occurred from the United Kingdom to the United States at the beginning of the 20th century is now replaying itself, as power moves away from the United States to the Asia-Pacific region, specifically China.

If that’s true, then Hawaii is well poised to serve as the place where the proverbial baton is handed off. This November (8-13), Honolulu will host the APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) 2011 summit where 21 member economies will discuss region issues.

Read the full story here.

Posted on

MOANA NUI: PACIFIC PEOPLES, LANDS AND ECONOMIES, November 9-11, 2011

Moana Nui 2011 – Pacific voices against the APEC agenda.

There will be a Panel on “MILITARIZATION AND RESISTANCE IN THE PACIFIC”

Thursday, November 10, 2011

2-5:30 PM,

CHURCH OF THE CROSSROADS

featuring Suzuyo Takazato(Okinawan Women Act Against Military Violence), Christine Ahn (Korea Policy Institute), Lisa Natividad (Guahan Coalition for Peace and Justice), Kyle Kajihiro (DMZ-Hawaii/ALoha AIna and Hawaii Peace and Justice), Bruce Gagnon (Global Network Against Weapons and Nuclear Power in Space), Mayumi Oda (Artist and activist), Craig Santos Perez (Chamorro Poet), Ikaika Hussey (Hawaii Independent, Moderator)

Making Waves:  “APEC: The Real Deal”

Pua Mohala I Ka Po
in collaboration with the
International Forum on Globalization

presents

MOANA NUI: PACIFIC PEOPLES, LANDS AND ECONOMIES

[ NOVEMBER 9-11, 2011 HONOLULU, HAWAII]

The Asia-Pacific region; nations of the Pacific rim which include Australia and the American and Asian nations, including Pacific Island nations are an increasing focus of geopolitical competition and economic stresses. Struggles for national sovereignty and cultural viability bring about rapidly expanding campaigns toward economic self-sufficiency. These campaigns challenge the legacies of colonialism, continued militarism in the region, growing trade and development conflicts, and corresponding environmental degradations. Whose interests are advanced in these struggles? Whose views are served? What are the dominant economic interests in play? How do we take control of our future? Which is the best way forward—convergence or resistance?

Organized by a partnership of scholars, community and political activists and Hawaiian and Pacific Islander cultural practitioners, Moana Nui is intended to provide a voice and possible direction for the economies of Pacific Islands in the era of powerful transnational corporations, global industrial expansion and global climate change. This conference will issue a challenge to Pacific Island nations and communities to look for cooperative ways to strengthen subsistence and to protect cultural properties and natural resources. The timing of this conference is intended to overlap the next meeting of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) in Honolulu, and hopes to call public attention to the critical importance of maintaining sound and productive local economies in the Pacific Islands both for their own sake and food security in the world. Invited speakers will include Native economists, farm and fishery practitioners, advocates for political and economic sovereignty, specialists in media, public education, environmental studies and law. The conference will be open to the public and the conveners will seek to facilitate the attendance of practitioners from other Pacific Islands. All of the proceedings will be documented by video and a published collection of the presentations is anticipated.

For further discussion and information, find us on facebook at Moana Nui 2011 or contact admin@moananui2011.org

 

Posted on

Company from Waikele bunker explosion faces $415,000 fine for numerous violations

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports:

The company that employed five men killed in a fireworks bunker explosion in April could face a $415,200 fine for allowing almost a dozen unsafe working conditions and work practices that may have caused the blast, the state Department of Labor and Industrial Relations said today.

The state reported that it identified 11 violations of health and safety laws:

The alleged violations include failure to use anti-static materials, provide ample exits, and keep employee cars, which can produce sparks, beyond 50 feet of the bunker entrance.

While the state investigation is complete, federal agencies are still awaiting lab tests on the composition of the fireworks and metallurgical testing of the tools used.

But there is no mention of the fact that the industrial activity being conducted in Waikele was not permitted under City of Honolulu zoning laws.   As we reported earlier on this site, environmental activist Carroll Cox broke the story that the City had issued a notice of violation against Ford Island Ventures, the company that leased the tunnels to Donaldson Enterprises.  Waikele Gulch became “Preservation II” zoning once the Navy decided that it would lease the land to a private company for non-military activities.   However, the Navy stepped in and told the City to drop its notice of violation because the land was still under Navy jurisdiction.   The City withdrew its notice of violation in December 2010.  Four months later, five men died because of non-permitted activity that the City and Navy allowed to occur in the Waikele tunnels.  Who is responsible for this tragic accident?

Posted on

Environmental and cultural groups call on governor to rescind order suspending laws

Several environmental and cultural groups joined the call for Governor Abercrombie to rescind his emergency proclamation suspending 25 laws for five years in order to expedite the clean up of unexploded ordnance on public lands.  The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports:

The Sierra Club Hawaii chapter and several other environmental and cultural groups urged Gov. Neil Abercrombie on Monday to withdraw an emergency proclamation that he made to help the Army Corps of Engineers remove unexploded ordnance, but the governor declined.

The environmental and cultural groups say Abercrombie misused his emergency powers in June when he suspended nearly two dozen state land use and environmental regulations for five years to help the corps access and remove discarded military explosives.

The groups said that Abercrombie’s decision was “ill advised and undermined transparency, accountability and community involvement.”

This is not the first time Abercrombie has  evoked emergency powers to suspend laws:

In April, Abercrombie also proclaimed a civil defense emergency and suspended more than two dozen state procurement, public works, land use and environmental laws for five years to help relocate a nesting colony of more than 400 Hawaiian nene geese near Lihue Airport on Kauai.

While the nene relocation has been previously reported by the news media, it was not apparent that Abercrombie had invoked his emergency powers under the state’s civil defense law. The governor cited the potential for collisions between the nene and aircraft as a threat to public safety.

“Plainly, it’s a broader fear that the justification here — to protect the public, essentially — could be utilized for just about any circumstance,” said Robert Harris, director of the Sierra Club Hawaii chapter, which sent the appeal jointly with the Conservation Council for Hawaii, Friends of Lanai, Hawaii’s Thousand Friends, KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance, Life of the Land, Malama Kauai and Na Kupuna Moku o Keawe.

“Using that rationale and logic is basically saying the executive has all-encompassing power regardless of what the Legislature has done,” he said.

It seems that Governor Abercrombie’s “New Day” includes accruing imperial powers for the executive branch. Given the high stakes involving land and economic development in Hawai’i, this prospect is extremely troubling.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

 

Posted on

Governor Abercrombie secretly declares a “civil defense emergency” and suspends 25 laws in order to find unexploded ordnance

Last week, environmental investigator Carroll Cox uncovered alarming revelations that in June, Governor Abercrombie had secretly issued a proclamation declaring a “civil defense emergency” due to the presence of unexploded munitions on hundreds of thousands of acres throughout Hawai’i and suspended 25 laws without notifying anyone, including lawmakers.  On his September 11, 2011 radio program he discussed the proclamation and posted it on his website.

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reported:

Gov. Neil Abercrombie declared a civil defense emergency earlier this summer in a largely unpublicized move that gives the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers sweeping authority to bypass state laws to investigate and remove unexploded ordnance.

With a proclamation on June 14, Abercrombie used emergency powers to suspend for five years statutes regarding public access of coastal and inland recreation areas, forest reserves, aquatic resources, fishing rights, ocean recreation and air, water and noise pollution.

Abercrombie said in the proclamation that the need for immediate ordnance removal does not allow the state or counties “adequate time to comply with Hawaii’s environmental and land use laws while also ensuring the protection of public health, safety and welfare.”

For that reason, Abercrombie said he invoked the civil defense emergency powers,, which allow him to “take possession of, use, manage, control and reallocate any public property.”

Environmental activist Carroll Cox recently raised concern about the proclamation, and state House and Senate leaders said Tuesday they had not been aware of the governor’s decree.

“Whatever the logic — it may have been a needed item — the problem is, why wouldn’t he have notified the public if he declared an emergency?” Cox said in an interview. “Nothing (here) rises to the occasion of an emergency — none of this.”

Cox, discussing the proclamation on his radio show, likened it to the governor declaring martial law.

“This is cause for alarm. Now, under the suspension of the statutes, the governor is free to do anything he wants with state resources without consulting anyone,” Cox said later in a news release.

The purported reason for the proclamation is to expedite Army Corps of Engineers’ cleanup of unexploded ordnance from state and county lands:

“This is a priority of our state’s leaders. In order for the Corps to clean up old munitions, it needs rights of entry,” the Corps said in a statement Tuesday.

The issue of “right of entry” was discussed late last year by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. At the time, an increase in the department director’s authority was sought to issue entry rights.

The Dec. 9, 2010, report said “it is in the state’s best interest to support and facilitate the (Defense Department’s ordnance) investigation and remediation efforts,” and noted “time critical” entry requests.

“Experience has shown that, with so many moving parts to be coordinated in each project, the (Army Corps) cannot always submit ROE (right of entry) requests far in advance of annual funding opportunities, and delays to ROE issuance can result in loss of funding.”

A recommendation was made that the Board of Land and Natural Resources should find ordnance remediation efforts exempt from state environmental assessment. How the entry issue evolved into a civil defense emergency order was unclear to Abercrombie’s office Tuesday. The state Attorney General’s Office referred calls to the governor’s office.

The clean up of military munitions and contamination should be a high priority.   The Army Corps of Engineers Formerly Used Defense Sites program is one of the better programs for cleaning up military hazards.    However, the suspension of laws sets a dangerous precedent for the abuse of executive powers.   And it creates a dangerous situation where no one is minding the store to even confirm that provisions of the proclamation are being followed.

Just in time for APEC? Rail?

Carroll Cox also points out that this suspension of laws coincides with the enactment of  Senate Bill 1555 allowing the state to create a nonprofit corporation for the development of public lands:

This, along with senate bill 1555 introduced by State Senator Donovan Dela Cruz allowing the state to transfer public land to a corporation for generating revenue, could devastate both our public and private property rights. We wonder, what’s coming up with APEC and the rail project in the works?

In his September 18, 2011 program, he examines Department of Land and Natural Resources Chair William Aila’s actions regarding the suspension of laws.    Cox has called on Abercrombie to rescind the proclamation.

Hawai’i lawmakers were unaware of the Governor’s proclamation, but they were rather timid in their denunciation of the move.   This is not the first time in recent years that the legislature was upset at the governor’s abuse of emergency powers:

The law is meant to give the governor sweeping authority to quickly respond to emergencies such as a terrorist strike, a hurricane, a tsunami, a massive oil spill or a nuclear accident. Lawmakers, however, have discouraged governors from using the emergency powers to respond to periodic or longstanding societal problems.

Three years ago, the state House and Senate voted to restrict the governor’s emergency powers after then-Gov. Linda Lingle issued and later extended an emergency proclamation to help build homeless shelters on the Leeward coast. Lingle vetoed the bill. The Senate voted to override the veto, but the House chose not to attempt an override, so the bill failed.

At the time, lawmakers said governors should not use their emergency powers to circumvent legislative oversight of public policy issues such as homelessness. Lingle’s proclamation had declared the Leeward coast a disaster area and suspended state procurement and environmental review regulations.

The emergency that nobody knew was an emergency  

According the Honolulu Star Advertiser, Governor Abercrombie’s office said that the failure to notify the public was simply an “oversight”:

Gov. Neil Abercrombie should have notified the public after declaring a civil defense emergency in June to help the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers contain unexploded ordnance, the governor’s spokeswoman said Wednesday.

The Honolulu Star Advertiser editorial “Governor’s decree shows contempt for transparency” was refreshingly sharp in its criticism:

The past three months in Hawaii have not seemed like a disaster emergency, but Gov. Neil Abercrombie has indeed proclaimed a civil defense emergency with the sound of silence, using all the might of his behind-closed-doors authority.

State legislators and their constituents — the general public — have been left in the dark to the governor’s proclamation, as Abercrombie took the unacceptably secretive step on June 14 to suspend nearly two dozen environmental laws for five years, apparently to provide for federal removal of unexploded military ordnance.

[…]

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources reported in December that the Corps of Engineers cannot always submit requests for munitions removal far enough in advance to assure funding. The department’s governing board was suggested to allow ordnance remediation to be exempt from state environment assessments, and to increase the DLNR director’s authority over issuing land entry rights.

How that discussion devolved into Abercrombie’s civil defense emergency in June is unclear — even, apparently, to the governor’s office and the Attorney General’s Office, who were unable to supply answers when asked.

So why didn’t the public — along with their legislators — learn of this emergency program three months ago? Environmental activist Carroll Cox calls the delay “cause for alarm. Now under the suspension of the statutes, the governor is free to do anything he wants with state resources without consulting anyone.”

Quite true — and that is why, barring a true emergency, a public process based on governmental transparency must rule the land.

Meanwhile, the Army Corps of Engineers removed several pieces of unexploded ordnance from Hapuna beach, the first activity conducted under Abercrombie’s emergency suspension of state laws:

A hand grenade found Sept. 2 and a 57 mm Japanese mortar round discovered Thursday at Hapuna Beach State Recreation Area on Hawaii island have been detonated by the Army Corps of Engineers as an ordnance cleanup continues there, officials said.

The work being done there by the Army Corps since Sept. 2 represents the first application of a controversial exemption from state law that Gov. Neil Abercrombie granted on June 14, according to officials.

 

 

Posted on

…Yes, DLNR will let the Army violate Mauna Kea

Marti Townsend of KAHEA reported:

Another disappointing day at the BLNR.

After five hours of testimony (the majority in opposition), the Land Board voted to accept the finding of no significant impact in the final environmental assessment. The vote was:

Pacheco: No
Edlao: yes
Alia: yes
Goode: yes
Agor: yes
Gon: no

Then after that they voted to approve the right of entry permit, along the same vote lines. The logic expressed by Agor and Edlao was that it was a short time period, an EIS will be required next time, and tho there may be an impact if we limited our actions based on what “may” happen then nothing would ever happen.

Pacheco spoke strongly in support of protecting the Palila habitat. Gon spoke strongly in support doing a more comprehensive cultural impact assessment. Aila didn’t say anything.

Posted on

Marines Expose an Untold Number of People to Radiation at the Kane’ohe bay sandbar

Autumn.  Low tide. A group of people wading in shallow water in a row dangling line over the water.  Must be oama (baby goatfish) season, right?

Wrong. These guys are not fishing for oama. These men are workers from the state of Hawaii Department of Health absurdly conducting a radiation screening of Ahu o Laka (Kane’ohe Bay sandbar) with radiation monitors hanging over the surface of the water.  The state admits that its radiation monitors are not the right tool for surveying underwater contamination.

Photo: Carroll Cox/ carrollcox.com

Why are they screening for radiation at the popular recreational site?

In March, a Marine Corps helicopter crashed on the sandbar, killing one crew and injuring several others.  What the Marines never reported was that the helicopter components included a radioactive isotope Strontium-90, the same bone-attacking radiological substance spewed over the Pacific by the meltdown at the Fukushima nuclear power plant in Japan.   You see, Strontium-90 is chemically related to Calcium, which it mimics when ingested into the body.   Once inside bone tissue, the nasty little particles of radiation emitted from the decay of the isotope can wreak havoc on tissue, cells, and genes in very close proximity over a sustained period of time.

When another CH-53D Sea Stallion helicopter crashed into a university in Okinawa in 2004, Okinawan public safety crews and media and residents were forcefully excluded from the vicinity of the crash.   Many were concerned that Depleted Uranium often used as counterweights on the rotors were a public health hazard.  However, it appears that depleted uranium is used in the CH-46 Sea Knight helicopter, but only Strontium 90 is used in the CH-53 Sea Stallion.

Environmental investigator and activist Carroll Cox received a tip that radioactive substances were released by the crash and that rescue and salvage workers and public users of the bay may have been exposed to the hazardous material without their knowledge.   He notified state officials, who were  unaware of the public health hazard, as well as the media.  Media reports on the radiation contamination can be read here, here, here and here.

Carroll writes on his blog:

Sources alerted The Carroll Cox Show, that civilian employees within the United States Marine Corps Environmental Department knowingly and intentionally withheld critical information about the presence of the radioactive isotope from the state, the workers at the crash site, and the public. Their actions caused the possible exposure of an untold number of people to radiation as they retrieved parts, looked for clues to the crash, contained leaking fuel, removed the aircraft from the site and assessed environmental impact, because they were working without protective gear.

The civilian support staff made the decision to not tell the workers even though the marine squadron that assigned the helicopter advised them that the aircraft contained IBIS units and they should treat the site as a hazardous waste spill.

Cox sent a series of questions to the Marine Corps and received a canned response. Here’s the correspondence between Cox and Marine Corps Public Affairs Officer Major Crouch:

Questions we asked the Marine Corps:

Did the aircraft contain radioactive materials as part of its cargo? If yes, what was the material and the quantity?

Did the aircraft’s rotors contain deicers or a safety In-flight Blade Inspection System (IBIS)? If yes, how many were there? Were all of the IBIS’s recovered? If yes, when were they recovered?

Were any of the radiated materials recovered and placed in a survival raft at the crash site? Were geiger counters used to recover the IBIS’s? Where were the IBIS’s stored once they were removed from the crash site?

How much strontium-90 is contained in each IBIS unit? Were any of the IBIS units damaged? If yes, what degree of damage was noted? Did any of the strontium -90 get released into the environment? if yes, how much?

Did your agency inform the public, first responders and all recovery personnel that the downed aircraft contained IBIS with strontium-90? If yes when and how was this accomplished? If not, why?

Why did your agency representative, Mr. Randall Hu, not disclose that the IBIS units contained strontium-90 during his appearances on television and other news accounts, and only expressed concerns about the fuel that the craft contained?

Did the location and recovery of the IBIS units cause the Marines to delay the removal of the downed aircraft?

In several news accounts it was reported that “the Marines were to comb the bay looking for any metal scraps and inspect the area for any environmental damage”. Were these Marines wearing the proper safety gear to search and retrieve strontium-90, the IBIS units or other radioactive materials?

What was the final disposition of the IBIS’s or strontium-90?

Is it the opinion of the United States Marine Corps that the presence of strontium-90 aboard aircrafts that have crashed are not an environmental hazard requiring public reporting? If no, why not?

Did your agency meet with management of the Honolulu Fire Department to discuss the failure of your agency to notify them of the presence of strontium-90 aboard the downed aircraft? If yes, please provide a copy of their concerns and the Marine Corps’ response?

Were members of the recovery teams screened for exposure to strontium-90? If yes, when and by whom? If no, why not?

Is the Marine Corps conducting any type of monitoring for the presence of strontium-90 at and around the crash site? If yes, what are the results? If no, why not?

Did The Marine Corps notify the Hawaii State Department of Conservation or other agencies that the downed aircraft was equipped with IBIS’s or other parts containing strontium-90?

If yes, when and how were the each of the agencies notified? Please provide copies of the notification.

———————————————————————————————————————

The answer we received from Major Crouch:

Subject: CARROLL COX SHOW – QUERY RE: CH-53D MISHAP

From: “Crouch Maj Alan F” <alan.crouch@usmc.mil>

Date: Thu, September 01, 2011 4:34 pm

Aloha Mr. Cox, Marine Corps Base Hawaii takes its obligation to protect personnel, the public and the ‘āina very seriously. Our first responsibility after the tragic mishap on March 29 was the rescue of personnel in the downed helicopter. Rescue responders included the Marine Corps Base Hawaii Waterfront Operations, aircraft from the U.S. Coast Guard and Army and the Honolulu Fire Department, as well as another CH-53D from MCAS Kaneohe Bay.

Almost immediately, base personnel placed a floating containment boom around the site to prevent the spread of petroleum fluids. Shortly thereafter, base and squadron personnel, with assistance from Navy, Coast Guard and state personnel, began the process of recovering the remains of the helicopter while an aviation mishap board conducted its investigation.

During the recovery efforts, some aircraft components were found to have a low level of contamination. All materials found to be contaminated were decontaminated or appropriately contained here on base. All personnel involved in the handling of any contaminated material were screened to verify they were not contaminated.

The low levels of radiation previously detected pose no significant health or environmental risk and were not of a reportable quantity. The site on the sand bar where the helicopter rested was inspected both during and after the salvage and recovery of the aircraft as a precautionary measure. No radiological contamination was found at the site.

Regards,

Maj. Alan Crouch Director,

Public Affairs Office

Marine Corps Base Hawaii

(808) 257-8840/-8870

In other words, the Marine Corps dodged nearly all the questions.

But it gets even worse.  The Marines lost the raft containing the radioactive parts.  The raft drifted around Kane’ohe Bay for some time before it was found by residents near the bay:

On Sunday, September 4, after our broadcast we learned the raft used to hold and transport the IBIS units and radioactive waste came lose from its mooring at the crash site, floated around Kaneohe Bay, and ended up by Kamehameha Hwy. A number of citizens came in contact with the raft.

Here are the questions Mr. Cox sent to the Marine Corps about the lost raft:

September 5, 2011

Major Alan Crouch

United States Marine Corps

Dear Major Crouch;

It has been brought to our attention that the life raft used at the site of the US. Marine Corps CH53 helicopter crash on March 29, 2011, broke loose from its mooring and drifted from the crash site to a residential area along Kamehameha Hwy at Kaneohe Bay. It is our understanding that the U.S. Marine Corps used the raft to store and transport radioactive materials containing Strontium-90 from the helicopter. We also learned, and as you have confirmed, the raft containing the radioactive material was transported to the water ops pier at the Kanoehe Bay Marine Corps Base and stored for a period of time. Reportedly it leaked radioactive materials onto the pavement of the pier area, causing some 65 square feet of cement to be excavated. We would like to ask you the following questions regarding the raft:

1. What date did the raft become dislodged from the crash site and the Marines lose custody of the raft?

2. How many days was the raft adrift?

3. How did the marines learn the raft was missing?

4. Did any of the civilians who had the raft in their possession during the time it was adrift remove any of the materials contaminated with radiation or the IBIS components?

5. Did you screen the individuals for radiation contamination? If yes, what were the results?

6. Did the Marine Corps screen the area along Kamehameha Hwy where the raft was recovered from? If yes, what was the level?

7. We have a picture showing a civilian towing the raft by boat. Did you screen that individual for radiation contamination?

8. After the marines retrieved the raft from the civilian did the marines immediately take it the water ops area on the base?

9. Did you notify the surrounding community and the individuals that came in contact with the raft that it contained radioactive Strontium-90?

10. Will there be charges brought against any of the civilians for handling the raft and materials?

11. Did the Marine Corps notify the U.S. Coast Guard, the Dept. of Health, DLNR, or other agencies that the raft was missing for several days? If so, when and to whom was notification made?

I would appreciate it if you would please provide answers to my questions by Thursday, September 8.

Sincerely,

Carroll Cox

He has not yet received an answer. READ THE FULL ACCOUNT ON CARROLLCOX.COM.

Photo: Carroll Cox / carrollcox.com

In the photo above of the downed helicopter, you can see the orange life raft that was used to contain the radioactive IBIS parts.   This raft broke loose some time after this and drifted across Kane’ohe Bay, eventually reaching residential areas along the bay shore.

A contact who lives on the shores of Kane’ohe Bay in Kahalu’u saw the raft adrift while working on a canoe.

This incident underscores the hazards of such intensive military activity in Hawai’i, the inability of the military to manage the risks and the secrecy and lack of honesty of the military when dealing with the public.  To paraphrase our friends in Vieques, Puerto Rico, history does not permit us to trust what the military says.

This incident also highlights why we must stop the proposed expansion of helicopter and Osprey facilities and activities at Mokapu (Kane’ohe Marine base).

Posted on

Peace in the Pacific – Stop Missile Testing!

Peace in the Pacific

Stop missile testing!

US plans test missile launch from California to the Marshall Islands on Sept 21, World Peace Day

Route of Sept 21 ICBM test launch

Join a discussion of the militarization of the Pacific with guest speaker MacGregor Eddy of the Global Network against Weapons and Nuclear Power Space, and Save Jeju Island, Korea.

7 pm      Sept. 21 , 2011

2426 Oahu Avenue, Honolulu

Vandenberg Air Force Base in California routinely tests hydrogen bomb delivery systems, Intercontinental Ballistic Missiles (ICBMS), over the Pacific to Kwajalein atoll in the Marshall Islands in violation of the US commitment to disarmament under the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty.

The  US and its allies  use the few, short range  launches by North Korea as a pretext for military buildup on Guam, Okinawa, and Jeju Island South Korea.  Barking Sands on Kauai is key to the tracking of missile launches.

MacGregor is on the International committee to Save Jeju Island (Korea) www.savejejuisland.org for details, and coordinates peace protests and Vandenberg Space Command. www.vandenbergwitness.org

Sponsored by Hawai’I Peace and Justice

For more information call Sandy Yee at  808-988-6266

DOWNLOAD PDF OF LEAFLET HERE

Proudly powered by WordPress