Posts Tagged: Environmental Justice

Pagan: “We love our island. We don’t want to give it up. This proposal is going to turn it into a wasteland.”

    “We love our island. We don’t want to give it up,” says Jerome Aldan, the mayor of the Northern Mariana Islands. “This proposal is going to turn it into a wasteland.” (David Cloud, Los Angeles Times) The Navy’s plan to conduct live fire training on Tinian and Pagan islands in the Commonwealth of… Read more »

Navy Wants to Bomb the Gulf of Alaska?!

The Eyak Preservation Council, an organization formed in the aftermath of the Exxon Valdez oil spill, is dedicated to: grassroots environmental and social change organization dedicated to promoting sustainable communities and protecting and preserving wild salmon habitat and Indigenous culture in the ancestral Eyak homelands of the Prince William Sound and Copper River watersheds. They are now… Read more »

Army training burns 450 acres, Navy unexploded ordance

On October 10, Army training activity caused a brush fire that burned for 18 days and scorched more than 450 acres of the Waiʻanae mountains. The column of thick blackish brown smoke could be seen all the way from Honolulu.  In the Kona winds, the smoke blanketed the north shore for nearly a week. The news… Read more »

Two news stories on recent Makua court ruling

Here are two articles citing the recent court ruling that enjoins the Army from conducting live fire training in Makua until it has completed marine environmental impact studies as required by a 2001 settlement with Malama Makua.   The Honolulu Star Advertiser reported “Army must conduct more studies on live-fire training at Makua” (June 21, 2012)…. Read more »

Court Confirms No Live-Fire Training at Mākua until Army Completes Missing Studies

For immediate release: June 21, 2012 Contact: David Henkin, Earthjustice, (808) 599-2436, ext. 6614, dhenkin@earthjustice.org Sparky Rodrigues, Mālama Mākua, (808) 352-0059 Court Confirms No Live-Fire Training at Mākua until Army Completes Missing Studies Army ordered to report on progress in studying marine contamination, threats to cultural sites HONOLULU – Yesterday, U.S. District Chief Judge Susan… Read more »

U.S. court dismisses Puerto Ricans’ suit over arms testing

In a very bad ruling for Vieques residents seeking just compensation for environmental health damages due to the Navy bombing of Vieques for over fifty years, Reuters reported “U.S. court dismisses Puerto Ricans’ suit over arms testing” (February 14, 2012): Puerto Rican residents lost a bid on Tuesday to force the U.S. government to recognize… Read more »

EPA: toxic chemical found in Wahiawa and Aiea aquifers is a “likely human carcinogen”

The EPA released a new health assessment for the toxic contaminant tetrachloroethylene – also known as perchloroethylene, or perc, as a “likely human carcinogen.”  PERC is a contaminant found at military sites in Hawai’i including the Schofield / Wahiawa aquifer (a former Superfund site) and the former Aiea Laundry site, a Navy superfund site across… Read more »

EPA: Pohakuloa Training Area among the top 10 polluters in Hawai’i

The Hawaii Tribune Herald reported that the Pohakuloa Training Area made the EPA’s top 10 polluters list for Hawai’i in 2010: A Hilo power plant and the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area made the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s newly released list of the state’s top 10 industrial polluters for 2010. […] The Army’s training area and… Read more »

Pearl Harbor-Hickam Restoration Advisory Board (RAB)

The Pearl Harbor-Hickam Restoration Advisory Board will meet tomorrow at 7:00 pm at the ‘Aiea Library.   The Pearl Harbor Sediment Draft Feasibility Study should be of interest to many. It will deal with proposals for cleaning up the contamination in the sediment of Ke Awalau o Pu’uloa, which is substantial.  Here’s the invitation.  The meetings… Read more »