Aloha Mauna Kea – Day of Solidarity and Action

noTMT

Please support this call to action by MANA and hauMANA to oppose desecration of Mauna Kea. Actions will be happening at UH Mānoa, UH Hilo and at Mauna Kea.

E hoʻā i ka lāhui kākou – ignite into action! MANA and hauMANA are organizing an Aloha Mauna Kea, Day of Solidarity and Action. Bringin it home to UH Mānoa where the decisions to desecrate are made. In conjunction with actions at UH Hilo and the aloha ʻāina warriors holding it down on the mountain, please join us this week in a great showing of solidarity and love-for our people and for Mauna Kea. It’s time to turn up the heat! #TMTshutdown #alohaaina
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(Another) Bomb-like object found at Hapuna beach

 

Photo: Hawaiʻi State Department of Land and Natural Resources

Wreckage from the military use of Hawaiian land continues to surface. The Honolulu Star Advertiser reported“Bomblike device recovered off Big Isle” (June 15, 2013):

Army ordnance disposal experts removed a bomblike object Friday night that prompted the closure of part of Hapuna Beach State Park in West Hawaii.

A diver found the object in waters offshore from the park Friday morning and took it to the park concession area, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said. It was long and cylindrical and had a tail assembly with about 12 fins. It appeared old and was encrusted with corrosion or marine growths.

The Hawaii County Fire and Police departments were notified, and DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement officials contacted an Army unexploded ordnance unit at Schofield Barracks.

The article didn’t say if the munition was live.  Many unexploded munitions have been found in Hapuna Beach in the so-called “Gold Coast” of Kona.  It was formerly used as a training area for the U.S. military, one of hundreds of sites throughout the Hawaiian islands.

 

 

 

 

Stop Bombing Pohakuloa! Where’s the Outrage?

Stop Bombing Pohakuloa!

Where’s the Outrage?

According to military documents up to 14.8 million live rounds are fired annually at the 133,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA), the largest military training area outside the U.S. PTA is located at 6,500 feet elevation in the center of the Hawaii Island. All branches of the U.S. military train at PTA and all sorts of weapon systems are fired there, from small arms to heavy bombers. PTA is contaminated with Depleted Uranium (DU) and other military toxins. Continued live-fire training, frequent high winds, flash flooding, increasing traffic through the area, all risk spreading the contamination.
On Sunday, April 28th a cross section and mix of all ages of Big Island residents stood for 2 hours opposite the PTA main gate on Saddle Rd holding signs with a variety of messages –“Stop the Bombing,” “Shut Down PTA,” “Ground the Drones,” “Void the PTA Lease,” etc. Messages also called for more testing for Depleted Uranium contamination.

The protest began with an opening Pule (prayer) and Oli (chant) ceremony of Ti-leaf blessing of the land and people. We were blessed to have Kupuna “Uncle Sam” Kaleleiki, a 30-year Marine, retired Sergeant Major, join us. Uncle Sam is now with the Reinstated Lawful Government of the Kingdom of Hawaii. He had a large plywood sign in front of him that read “End U.S. occupation.” We stood in solidarity with protests taking place globally against U.S. drone bombings in several countries –Pakistan, Afghanistan, Yemen, etc. Shadow and Raven drones, and possibly others, train at PTA.

There is a drone airfield which can be viewed from Google Earth located close to Mauna Kea State Park –about 1/2 mile south and east of the park between the old and new Saddle Rd. It should also be noted that the military is attempting to renegotiate a long-term lease with the State of Hawaii for it’s live-fire training base at Pohakuloa. We need to oppose this illegal lease and the continuing desecration and contamination of Hawaiian Kingdom Crown and Government land. The State Board of Land & Natural Resources will be addressing the PTA lease in the next few months and we need to speak out in protest.

Kaho’olawe is a case study of the mess the military makes. It bombed the island for 50 years before protest forced it to be stopped. Over $400 million dollars was spent to clean up the island but it’s still a mess. There are lots of unexploded bombs on the island. Pohakuloa is nearly 5 times larger than Kaho’olawe plus it is contaminated with Depleted Uranium.

Following the protest we had a pot luck lunch at Mauna Kea Park. Our radiation monitor, which we had operating throughout the entire protest picked up 2 spike readings at the park of over 30 counts per minute. Normal background readings are between 5-20cpm. The winds were coming from the south — from the direction of the training ranges known to be contaminated with DU. We have plenty of work to do to return Pohakuloa to a place of peace and healing. Please join in this effort. We need you. We owe it to future generations and the earth itself. As we have said, “We pray that the U.S. not do to others what the U.S. has already done and continues to do to Hawaii: unlawfully occupy its government and nation, desecrate its sacred sites, contaminate its air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with military toxins.”

Return Pohakuloa to a Place of Peace and Healing!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622.  Email
 ja@malu-aina.org   http://www.malu-aina.org

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (May 3, 2013– 606th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org

Aloha ‘Aina – Stop Bombing Pohakuloa!

Announcement of a demonstration at Pohakuloa by Malu ʻAina:

Aloha ‘Aina

Stop Bombing Pohakuloa!

Stop the desecration & contamination of Hawaiian Kingdom crown Lands at Pohakuloa

Sunday, April 28, 2013

10AM till Noon

Pohakuloa Main Gate

Pot Luck Picnic at Mauna Kea Park following the protest

 

(car pools leave Hilo bayfront parking lot makai/Hamakua side of Pauahi St. Kamehameha Ave. intersection at 9AM sharp. Bring water, sunscreen, and be prepared for cool, possibly wet, weather) This is a peaceful, non-violent protest, in solidarity with global anti-drone protests taking place throughout the month of April. Please show respect to all, even those that disagree with us.

      Pohakuloa is the largest U.S. live-fire training area outside the U.S. It is 133,000-acres, nearly 5 times the size of Kaho’olawe. The base is known to be contaminated with Depleted Uranium (DU) and other military toxins. Continued live-fire, and other activities that create dust, risks spreading the radiation and other toxic contamination.

      Pohakuloa is also used for Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (Drone) training. The U.S. is using drones in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, etc. for surveillance and targeted assassinations. Thousands of people, including many innocent children, have been terrorized and killed by missiles and bombs from U.S. drones resulting in increasing hatred of the U.S. around the world.

      We pray that the U.S. not do to others what the U.S. has already done and continues to do to Hawaii: unlawfully occupy its government and nation, desecrate its sacred sites, contaminate its air, land, water, people, plants, and animals with military toxins.

Ground the Drones!

Void the Unlawful Military Lease

Pohakuloa is a Place for Peace & Healing!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, etc.
5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone 
(808) 966-7622.  Emailja@malu-aina.org   http://www.malu-aina.org

 

Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (April 26, 2013– 605th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

 

Army seeks regulatory exemption for DU in Hawaiʻi as Hawaiʻi Doctors find uranium in people’s urine

Hawaiʻi island peace activists reported that elevated levels of uranium have been found in residents’ urine and demanded that the State of Hawaiʻi Department of Health take more aggressive measures to investigate the cause of this contamination.  After falsely claiming that the Army had not used Depleted Uranium (DU) in Hawaiʻi, the Army now admits to DU contamination in Schofield (Līhuʻe, Oʻahu) and Pōhakuloa Training Area. The Hawaiʻi County Council passed a resolution calling for a moratorium on live fire training in Pōhakuloa as long as DU contamination is present.

On December 5, 2012, the peace organization Malu ʻĀina staged an action at the state Department of Health offices:

A group of 2 dozen Big island residents, many wearing Hazmat type suits, dramatically urged the State Health Department (DOH) to stop being bystanders and become pro-active advocates of public health over the issue of Military Depleted Uranium (DU) radiation contamination at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA). In a protest organized by Malu ‘Aina at the Hilo DOH Environmental Health Office, citizens prodded the DOH to follow the Hawaii County Council’s action call in Resolution 639-08 to stop all live-fire and other activities that create dust until there is a clean up of the uranium contamination at PTA. There were several signs with the well known radiation symbol. Other signs read “Test For Radiation; Why Uranium in Urine?; No More Radiation; Peace thru Poison?, Time to Aloha ‘Aina; Time to Mother Earth; DU equals Dirty Bomb, Sacred Mountains under Siege.” There was even the appearance of a well known Hilo resident, playing the role of Governor Neil Abercrombie.

Jim Albertini, of Malu ‘Aina said “DOH action is needed to investigate what’s causing uranium showing up in Big island resident’s urine. Is it uranium weapons that have been fired at PTA or something else? Three MDs and a Naturopathic doctor have patients who have tested high for uranium in urine, including levels exceeding three times the upper expected limit.” Albertini said, “it’s likely that far more uranium weapons have been used at PTA than the 700 hundred or two thousand Davy Crockett DU spotting rounds from the 1960s. Comprehensive independent testing and monitoring is needed to determine the full extent of radiation contamination at PTA and other sites throughout Hawaii. The DOH should be offering free uranium urine tests for Big Island residents, especially people who work at PTA, or travel the Saddle Rd..”

On December 12, 2012, the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held a conference with the Army over the Army’s application for a license to “possess” DU at Schofield and Pōhakuloa.  In a submittal to the NRC, the Army requested an exemption from NRC oversight for the DU contamination in its ranges:

Request an exemption for the US Army from licensing residual Davy Crockett M101 DU on its operational ranges under the provisions of 10 CFR § 40.13(c)(5) or 10 CFR § 40.14(a).

Hawaiʻi island activist Jim Albertini issued the following statement on the NRC meeting with the Army (12/12/2012, 10 am – 1 pm HST). The public could listen in and make comments/ask questions at the end of the meeting:

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) will be issuing a license for the mongoose to guard the hen house in Hawaii. The Army will be issued an NRC license to possess Depleted uranium (DU) in Hawaii at Schofield Barracks and the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA). In effect, the NRC is licensing Hawaii nuclear waste dumps and allowing those dumps to be bombed, spreading the nuclear dump debris wherever the wind takes it. The State Dept. of Health made no comment, nor did it ask any questions, following the meeting. It is a fact that DU exists at Schofield Barracks and PTA, and perhaps other present and former military sites in Hawaii, including Kaho’olawe and Makua Valley. How much is not known. A minimum of 700, perhaps more than 2000, DU Davy Crockett spotting rounds have been fired at Pohakuloa. Less than 1% of PTA’s 133,000-acres have been surveyed. DU cluster bombs, and more than a dozen DU penetrating rounds, DU bunker busters, etc. may also have been fired at PTA and elsewhere. All branches of the US military use DU weapons today. It’s clear to me that we cannot rely on so called regulators to fix the problem. Nuclear regulators are just as much part of the problem as bank regulators. The DOH is also part of the problem. Where have our health officials been all these years on the issue. The military in Hawaii has lied and use deception repeatedly. The US military mission goes before concern for the health and safety of its own troops and Hawaii’s people and land. Uranium is now showing up in Big Island residents’ urine. Is it related to PTA, Fukushima or what? The people have a right to know. Is the military above the law? What’s needed is a peoples’ movement of non-violent resistance to stop the bombing to protect the people and land of Hawaii against attacks by the U.S. military.

Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O.
Box AB Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email
ja@malu-aina.orgwww.malu-aina.org

Stryker brigade isle bound?

The Hawaii Tribune Herald reports “Stryker brigade isle bound?” (October 25, 2012)  that the Army is considering stationing some Stryker combat vehicles on Hawaiʻi island to be closer to training sites at Pōhakuloa:
Courtesy photo

A Stryker armored fighting vehicle fires a tow missile in this file photo suppled by the U.S. Army.

Courtesy photo

Army spokespeople are adamant that the idea of Stryker armored vehicles being relocated to the Big Island is just that: an idea. It’s a long way from becoming a reality, they insist.

On Wednesday, Honolulu media reported that the U.S. Army seeks to cut costs and is considering repositioning Stryker vehicles at the Pohakuloa Training Area — either from existing stock at Schofield Barracks on Oahu or those remaining at the end of the Iraq War and the U.S. involvement in Afghanistan slated for 2014.

[. . .]

“Right now, it’s just an idea that our headquarters is considering,” he said. “At this point, there’s not even a feasibility study, or a cost analysis study, which are the very earliest beginning stages to doing anything like this. This idea is still in its infancy.”

A total of 4,800 soldiers stationed at Schofield Barracks in Honolulu are supported by 233 Strykers, said Lt. Col. Kate Guttormsen, deputy public affairs officer for the U.S. Army Pacific. A number of those vehicles are occasionally transported to Pohakuloa Training Area, along with their crews and support personnel, for training exercises.

Most recently, she said, a task force of 800 soldiers traveled to Pohakuloa with 25 Stryker vehicles for a 30-day training exercise, costing the Army approximately half a million dollars.

[. . .]

Jim Albertini, a well-known critic of military operations at PTA and president of the Malu Aina Center for Nonviolent Education & Action, said Wednesday he would oppose any plan to station the vehicles on the isle.

“My initial reaction, of course, is to oppose it,” he said.

Albertini said he has long railed against any kind of live-fire exercises at PTA that could create dust and risk spreading radiation from depleted uranium shells.

The Army has admitted to using the area in the past to test rounds made from depleted uranium, a weak radioactive heavy metal. Several years ago, the Army worked to find and remove the rounds at PTA to make the area safe for Stryker training. A number of studies undertaken by the Army about the potential health risks posed by the rounds at PTA have come up showing no risk is apparent.

Albertini and others, however, claim that the Army has misrepresented the dangers. They point to a resolution passed by the Hawaii County Council in 2008 that recommends the Army stop all activity at PTA until further study and clean-up efforts can be completed.

 

Military cyberwarfare testing off Kauai might jam up civilian GPS across the Hawaiian islands

The Honolulu Star Advertiser reports that the U.S. military has been conducting classfied, i.e. secret, tests that could disrupt civilian GPS systems – “Military testing off Kauai might muck up civilian GPS” (September 4, 2012):

A unit of the U.S. Strategic Command is conducting classified Global Positioning System tests in waters off Kauai that could disrupt civilian GPS systems on land and sea.

The tests are designed to “assess the capabilities and vulnerabilities of joint coalition forces in a degraded and denied environment” — meaning military test subjects will have their GPS units affected as if they were driving through a tunnel, said Navy Lt. Cmdr. Stephanie Murdock of the U.S. Strategic Command, based in Omaha, Neb.

Murdock declined to describe how or where the tests are being conducted by the Joint Navigation Warfare Center — or what the tests are trying to determine.

“For security reasons, we can’t discuss that,” she said.

Apparently, if your GPS is malfunctioning and you suspect it is caused by the military tests, you can complain, but you won’t know if the government did anything with your complaint:

The Coast Guard, however, does ask people experiencing any GPS problems to contact its Coast Guard Navigation Center in Virginia at 703-313-5900 or by completing a GPS problem reporting form on the center’s website at www.navcen.uscg.gov.

Petty Officer 2nd Class Eric Chandler, a Coast Guard spokesman, could not say whether GPS owners who contact the Coast Guard will have their problems resolved — or whether the Coast Guard is merely collecting data for the tests.

“There’s nobody in the Coast Guard that can speak on that,” Chandler said.

The Navy and Coast Guard were passing the buck for explaining the tests.  Reporter Dan Nakaso did some good follow up investigating to understand the nature of the tests:

THE Coast Guard announced the series of tests to be conducted from Aug. 19 to Sunday in a news release that initially referred to a point of contact with the Navy.

But the Navy said it didn’t know anything about the operation. A second Coast Guard announcement listed another Navy contact, who also knew nothing about the tests.

The Navy referred questions about the GPS tests back to the Coast Guard.

Murdock finally responded to questions on Friday.

The first of three tests, which overlap, began Aug. 19 and runs from 3 to 8 p.m. and from midnight to 4 a.m. through Sunday. That testing is being done within a radius of about 70 miles from a point about 55 miles north-northwest of the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands.

The second test, which also began Aug. 19 and ends Sunday, and is being conducted between the hours of 8 p.m. and 4 a.m. in a radius of 342 miles around Barking Sands. That extends all the way to Hilo.

The third began Aug. 20 and is being conducted from midnight to 4 a.m. through Sunday within a radius of about 490 miles from a point about 20 miles northwest of Barking Sands. That covers all major Hawaiian Islands.

All the cyberwarfare stealth begs the question: are they preparing for an attack on Iran?

Ann Wright: Green-Washing War, Sinking Ships, Drones from Submarines — Largest International War Games around Hawaii

Ann Wright wrote an excellent article in Op Ed News on the RIMPAC exercises in Hawaiʻi, the Pacific “pivot” and protests from Okinawa to Pohakuloa:

Green-Washing War, Sinking Ships, Drones from Submarines — Largest International War Games around Hawaii

By  

Reflecting the Obama administration’s “pivot” to Asia and the Pacific, the United States military is now hosting in the Pacific waters around Hawaii, the largest and most expensive international maritime war games in the history of the world.

Called Rim of the Pacific, or RIMPAC, war games, for 36 days during July and August, 22 countries, 42 ships, six submarines, more than 200 aircraft and 25,000 personnel are conducting amphibious operations, gunnery, missile, anti-submarine and air defense exercises, counter piracy, mine-clearance operations, explosive ordnance disposal, diving and salvage operations and disaster-relief operations in the Pacific.

Australia, Canada, Chile, Colombia, France, India, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, South Korea, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Thailand, Tonga, the United Kingdom and the United States are participating in this year’s RIMPAC exercise.

RIMPAC began in 1971 and is held every two years. According to the US Navy the purpose of RIMPAC is to “provide a unique training opportunity that helps participants foster and sustain the cooperative relationships that are critical to ensuring the safety of sea lanes and security on the world’s oceans.”

22 Countries in RIMPAC War Games — But Not China

This year, pointedly excluded from the Pacific war games, is China, the largest country in Asia and the Pacific. China was invited in 2006 to observe part of the Valiant Shield war games off Guam and in 1998, a small Chinese contingent observed the RIMPAC military exercises. However, since 2000, direct military to military contact by the U.S. with China has been prohibited under the National Defense Authorization Act of 2000.

The Chinese Communist Party newspaper, the Global Times, wrote, “Watching from afar, China is feeling uncomfortable. But it should be forgotten soon. The exercise is nothing but a big party held in the U.S. which is in a melancholy state of mind due to difficult realities.”

However, China was concerned in early July, when the U.S., South Korea and Japan conducted three-day joint exercises in the area of Jeju island, south of the Korean peninsula, where the Korean government is constructing a controversial naval base to homeport Aegis missile destroyers, a part of the US Missile Defense System. According to Hawaii’s Star Advertiser, a Chinese navy representative said those exercises were aiming to “threaten North Korea and keep China in check.”

Russia included for first time; but Kiwi vessels not allowed into Pearl Harbor

America’s cold war rival and major Asia and Pacific player, Russia, is participating in RIMPAC for the first time. Three Russian naval vessels, a destroyer, tanker and salvage tug, initially were allowed to dock inside the huge U.S. Naval Base at Pearl Harbor.

However, the U.S. ally, New Zealand, had to dock its two naval vessels outside U.S. naval facilities. For 30 years, New Zealand has had a “no nukes” policy and has refused to allow U.S. naval ships into Kiwi waters as the United States will neither confirm or deny whether its military ships carry nuclear weapons. In a tit-for-tat move, the U.S. refused to allow New Zealand military ships into Pearl Harbor.  New Zealand sailors are not upset by the U.S. decision to exclude them as the two Kiwi naval ships are docked at Aloha Towers in the commercial harbor of Honolulu in midst of a busy tourist area.

Green-Washing War Games Extremely Expensive

In an attempt to green wash the largest naval war games in the world, the United States is using 900,000 gallons of 50/50 biofuel and petroleum-based marine diesel or aviation fuel blend and calling the armada the “Great Green Fleet.” The nuclear aircraft carrier USS Nimitz carried some of the biofuel to refuel aircraft and Destroyers Chafeee and Chung-Hoon, Cruiser Princeton and Oiler Henry J. Kaiser used bio fuel. E-2C Hawkeye early-warning radar aircraft and helicopters gassed up with biofuel.

In support of the 2012 RIMPAC “green” war games, in December, 2011, the Pentagon purchased 450,000 gallons of biofuel for $12 million, the largest US government purchase of biofuel in history and the most expensive. While the Navy generally pays $4 per gallon for petroleum bases fuel, biofuel ended up costing $26 per gallon but dropped to a mere $15 per gallon when blended with petroleum. The difference in price between petroleum bases fuel and biofuel had some Congressmen challenging the rationale of “greening” of war games during times of economic stress. U.S. Representative Randy Forbes told Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus that “I love green energy, but it is a question of priorities.” Most of the biofuel came from restaurant cooking oil, through a contract with Tyson Foods, Solazyme and Dynamic Fuels.

SINKEX — Environmental groups protest sinking of three ships in target practice   

As a part of the mammoth war game, despite outcries from the environmental community, including the Sierra Club, Earthjustice, the Center for Biological Diversity and Basel Action Network, the US Navy resumed using old war ships for torpedo and bomb target practice and sinking them. On July 22, the last of three ships to be sunk as a part of the RIMPCAC exercises was sent to the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. The USS Kilauea, a decommissioned ammunition ship, was sunk by a torpedo from an Australian submarine, in 15,500 feet of water, 63 miles off the coast of Kauai. The USS Niagara Falls and the USS Concord were sunk off the northwest coast of Kauai earlier in the war games.

The EPA gave the US military an exemption from Federal pollution laws that prohibit dumping in the ocean, under the proviso that the military “will better document” toxic waste left on the ships. According to EPA guidelines, the ships had to be sunk in at least 6,000 feet of water and at least 50 miles offshore.

US Navy sinks twice as many ships as recycles them

The U.S. has six approved domestic ship-breaking facilities, but since 2000, the Navy has gotten rid of 109 US military ships by sinking them off the coasts of California, Hawaii and Florida. During that period only 64 ships were recycled in domestic facilities. The Navy claims that only 500 pounds of PCBs were on the ships that were sunk.

Submarine Launched Drone

During the war games, the U.S. Navy will test a submarine-launched unmanned aerial vehicle (drone) and blue-laser underwater communications technology. The Navy will attempt to launch a drone called the “Switchblade,” which has previously been used by US Army and US Marine ground troops in Afghanistan. The Navy’s version of the “Switchblade” drone is enclosed in a special launch canister and fired from one of the submarine’s trash chutes at periscope depth. The canister floats to the surface, opens up, the electric-motor unfolds the folded-wings and the drone launches itself.

“Tiger Balm” Army War Games on Land in Hawaii

Not to be left out as the huge naval war games take place off Hawaii, the U.S. Army is training Singaporean soldiers on Oahu in a military exercise called “Tiger Balm.” Using the U.S. Marine’s $42 million Infantry Immersion Training facility on Oahu built to simulate a southern Afghanistan village, the joint US-Singaporean task force practices clearing the village of enemy fighters.

The U.S. Army Pacific command plans on 150 multi-lateral military engagements with Pacific and Asian countries in 2012.

U.S. Marines in Hot Water in Hawaii and Japan over Osprey Helicopter

While a battalion of U.S. Marines from Hawaii were sent recently to Okinawa and a smaller detachment sent to Australia, those remaining in Hawaii are in hot water. Increasing administration emphasis on Asia and the Pacific has emboldened the Marines to attempt to increase the number of MV-22-tilt-rotor Osprey, Cobra and Huey attack-utility helicopter training helicopter flights in the Hawaiian Islands

Last week, Hawaiian activists on Molokai forced the Marines to back down from increasing from 112 to 1,383 the number of helicopter flights into the tiny airport that serves the National Park at Kalaupapa and the home of the surviving patients of Hansen’s disease.

The activists also build a “kuahu,” or stone alter on July 15 on the site of the proposed Marine helicopter fuel depot at Hoolehua, next to the Molokai airport “topside,” on the mesa above Kalaupapa. “It’s a statement that we have cultural significance there, that they cannot disregard what the people have been telling them. We represent people who do not want any military presence on Molokai,” said Molokai resident Lori Buchanan.

On the island of Oahu, residents around the Marine base in Kaneohe on July 16 at a Windward Neighborhood meeting, opposed flights of the Osprey from the base citing safety and noise concerns.

Protests in Japan over the arrival of the Osprey

In Japan, on July 23, the first 12 Osprey’s arrived to protests. The Ospreys will be on the Japanese mainland at Iwakuni Air Base only briefly, but opposition there has been “unusually strong, with both the mayor and the governor saying they do not support even temporarily hosting the aircraft. Opposition to the large military presence on Okinawa is deep-rooted. Protesters on July 23 held a sit-in outside the base where the Ospreys are to be sent.”

The US Embassy in Toyko countered on July 23 by stating that the 12 Ospreys are critical to defending Japan,   “Deployment of these aircraft in Japan is a vital component in fulfilling the United States’ commitment to provide for the defense of Japan and to help maintain peace and security in the Asia-Pacific region.”The next day, on July 24, Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda told the Japanese Parliament that no Osprey flights would take place until investigations into the Oprey’s April crash in Morocco and the June crash in Florida were completed and Japan was satisfied the aircraft are not a safety hazard.

The deployment of the Osprey to Okinawa is a political headache for Japan because of intense local opposition. Half of the 50,000 US troops in Japan are located in Okinawa. The deployment of the aircraft has become another rallying issue for base opponents.

Protests of RIMPAC on Oahu and the Big Island

On Oahu

On July 2, 2012, activists in Honolulu held their first protest of the RIMPAC exercises. In front of the two New Zealands ships easily accessible at Aloha Tower in Honolulu’s commercial harbor, one activist held a sign saying: “Mahalo (Thank you) New Zealand for anti-nukes; No Aloha for RIMPAC war games.”

RIMPAC protesters in front of two New Zealand ships at a commercial dock at Aloha Towers as US government would not allow Kiwi ships into Pearl Harbor Naval Base

More protests occurred at Pohakuloa military training base on the Big Island of Hawaii

On July 15, 2012, 30 protesters challenged the desecration of Hawaiian lands in a protest against RIMPAC war games. As they gathered opposite the main gate of Pohakuloa Military base, a red flag flew over the base indicating that live fire and bombing was taking place. Concerned citizens from Hilo, Kona, Waimea and   Na’alehu, included old time Kaho’olawe Island “Stop the Bombing” activists (Kaho’olawe Island was used for bombing practice for over 50 years and only stopped in 1990 after a decade of protests by the Hawaiian community Members of the Ka Pele family who several years ago led a peace gathering to pray and build an ahu (stone altar) at Pu’u Ka Pele on Pohakuloa in opposition to the bombing found that access to the ahu and pu’u has been blocked by concrete barricades and chain linked barbed wire fence.

 

Opposition to MV-22 Ospreys grows

Photo: Walter Ritte

From different sectors of the community there is growing opposition to the proposed stationing of MV-22 Osprey and Cobra attack helicopters at Marine Corps Base Hawaii Kaneohe Bay and their plans to train across the islands.

Molokai residents are mobilizing against the Marine Corps proposal to station Ospreys tilt-rotor aircraft and Cobra helicopters in Hawaiʻi. The proposed plan would include flight training and landing on most of the islands, including Hoʻolehua and Kalaupapa on Molokai.  In the photo above, a kuahu (shrine) was built in Hoʻolehua as a protest against the military expansion.

The Marines have been engaged in a process to consult with Native Hawaiian individuals and entities to establish a programmatic agreement for the treatment of cultural sites and artifacts under Sec. 106 of the National Historic Preservation Act. But the process has been extremely frustrating to the Native Hawaiian participants because the military is essentially ignoring the key recommendations being put forward by the cultural practitioners.  Basically the military is reserving its authority to define what is and is not culturally significant.  This is the same problem with the Army and its expansion plans in Lihuʻe (Schofield) and Pohakuloa.  The military is ignoring Native Hawaiian input, and in some cases, buying more favorable Native Hawaiian input by assembling their own Native Hawaiian group that supports the military’s plans.

A Kāneʻohe Neighborhood Board member Bill Sager wrote in the Hawaii Independent:

Without exception at all official EIS review meetings, Windward Neighborhood Board meetings and spontaneous community meetings, fears have been expressed concerning the impacts of the proposal on Koolaupoko.

People have expressed concerns ranging from the increased noise, impacts of noise on student learning, potential dangers posed by the safety record of the Osprey and the impacts of added personnel requiring housing in the Kailua and Kaneohe communities. Hawaiian groups have expressed concern over the impact of construction activities on graves and other cultural features.

Because noise has been the overriding community concern, aircraft noise and it’s impacts on our community is the focus of this statement. The bottom line is that the noise models used in the EIS are flawed and our community will not be able to evaluate noise impacts until we actually hear them.

[. . .]

·       The model used to determine noise levels did not have mountains in model at end of takeoff end of runway. We know from experience that the cliffs surrounding Kaneohe reflect, echo and amplify aircraft noise.

·      The model used 737-700 when the P8A(replacement for P3) produces approximately 10 times more noise when using a short takeoff runway.  http://www.naval-technology.com/projects/mma/

·       What is the dBAs for 737-800 during a full power brake release take off?  I have read in a Boeing briefing that at break release the noise level at 8.9nm is around 85dbs. This does not match the numbers in the final EIS, Annex D.

·       Believe the dbBA numbers have been average over 24hours which will give MUCH lower readings. Therefore, the numbers for schools might look ok but as the studies show average over ONE HOUR!  What is important is not the average noise, but it is the peak noise generated during landings and takeoffs.

The length of runway at Kaneohe Marine Base will required the P8A to use full military power to take off.  Source is article from Whidbey Island, WA were an elected official, Angie Homola is quoted.  Her website is:  https://fortress.wa.gov/ga/apps/sbcc/Page.aspx?cid=898

·       King Intermediate School and 4 other schools are close to being at end of runway.  http://public-schools.findthebest.com

NOISE LEVEL EFFECT ON CHILDREN   Annex D.3.7 covers school effects on children in schools.

·       The following is quoted from Annex D.3.7.1,  Effects on Learning and Cognitive Abilities.   “The ANSI acoustical performance criteria for schools include the requirement that the one-hour-average background noise levels shall not exceed 35dBA in core learning spaces smaller than 20,000 cubic-feet and 40dBA in core learning spaces with enclosed volumes exceeding 20, 000 cubic-feet.  This would require schools be constructed such that, in quiet neighborhoods indoor noise levels are lowered by 15 to 20 dBA relative to outdoor levels.  In schools near airports, indoor noise would have to be lowered by 35 to 45 dBA relative to outdoor levels(ANSI 2002).”

Paragraph 6 of Annex D.3.7.1    “ Similar, a 1994 study found that students exposed to aircraft noise of approximately 76 dBA scored 20% lower on recall ability tests than students exposed to ambient noise of 42-44 dBA(Hygge 1994).  “The Haines and Stansfeld study indicated that there may be some long-term effects associated with exposure, as one-year follow-up testing still demonstrated lowered scores for children in higher noise schools(Haines, et al. 2001a and 2001b).

Representative Cynthia Thielen (R) has been working with constituents from the Kāneʻohe area to oppose the Osprey.  She submitted comments on the Marine Corps environmental impact statement (EIS) that were critical of the noise studies. Her comments can be viewed here:  Rep Thielen comments on Navy FEIS 7 10 12