Army ordered to report on progress in studying marine contamination, threats to cultural sites <\/em><\/p>\nHONOLULU \u2013 Yesterday, U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway issued an order confirming that no live-fire training may take place at M\u0101kua Military Reservation (MMR) on O\u2018ahu until the Army completes new studies of potential military contamination of marine resources at M\u0101kua and new surveys of Native Hawaiian cultural sites at risk of destruction from military training.\u00a0 Judge Mollway previously found that the Army\u2019s failure to carry out these studies violated two court-ordered settlements with M\u0101lama M\u0101kua, a Wai\u2018anae Coast community group that first sued the Army in 1998 to secure comprehensive review of the impacts of military training at MMR.<\/p>\n
\u201cLast year, the Army said it wanted to keep open the option of conducting live-fire training at M\u0101kua,\u201d said Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who represents M\u0101lama M\u0101kua.\u00a0 \u201cYesterday\u2019s order makes clear that the court will hold the Army to the promise it made in 2001 that it would first complete these important studies before any live-fire training can occur.\u201d<\/p>\n
In October 2010, Judge Mollway determined that the Army violated its obligation under a 2001 settlement with M\u0101lama M\u0101kua to complete comprehensive subsurface archaeological surveys to identify cultural sites that could be damaged or destroyed if mortar rounds, artillery shells, and other ordnance go astray during training exercises, as they have in the past.\u00a0 Despite the passage of nearly two years since that ruling, the Army failed to take any steps to carry out the required surveys.\u00a0 In yesterday\u2019s order, Judge Mollway instructed the Army to file quarterly progress reports to \u201cupdate the court on the progress of these surveys.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Army also must report on its progress on studies of contamination of limu (seaweed) and other marine resources in M\u0101kua\u2019s nearshore waters on which Wai\u2018anae Coast families rely for subsistence.\u00a0 In her October 2010 order and in a separate order following a June 2011 trial, Judge Mollway concluded the Army had violated the terms of a 2007 settlement with M\u0101lama M\u0101kua when it failed to conduct these marine studies.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have been waiting over a decade for the Army to make good on its promises to conduct meaningful studies to let us know if military training at M\u0101kua is poisoning the food that we put on the table to feed our keiki (children) and to identify cultural sites that military training threatens to destroy,\u201d said M\u0101lama M\u0101kua president Sparky Rodrigues.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re pleased that the court will be now be keeping tabs on the Army to make sure we finally get accurate information about the harm to public health and cultural sites that military training at M\u0101kua can cause.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/wbr>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/wbr>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/wbr>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/wbr>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/wbr><\/span><\/p>\nM\u0101lama M\u0101kua is a non-profit, community organization based on the Wai\u2018anae Coast of O\u2018ahu.\u00a0 Formed in 1992 to oppose the Army\u2019s open burn\/open detonation permit application to the EPA, M\u0101lama M\u0101kua has continued to monitor military activities at M\u0101kua and has participated in a number of community initiatives to care for the land and resources at M\u0101kua.<\/p>\n
Earthjustice is the nation\u2019s leading non-profit environmental law firm. The Mid-Pacific Office opened in Honolulu in 1988 and represents environmental, Native Hawaiian, and community organizations. Earthjustice is the only non-profit environmental law firm in Hawai\u2018i and the Mid-Pacific and does not charge clients for its services.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For immediate release: June 21, 2012 Contact: David Henkin, Earthjustice, (808) 599-2436, ext. 6614, dhenkin@earthjustice.org Sparky Rodrigues, M\u0101lama M\u0101kua, (808) 352-0059 Court Confirms No Live-Fire Training at M\u0101kua until Army Completes Missing Studies Army ordered to report on progress in studying marine contamination, threats to cultural sites HONOLULU \u2013 Yesterday, U.S. District Chief Judge Susan … <\/p>\n
Continue reading “Court Confirms No Live-Fire Training at M\u0101kua until Army Completes Missing Studies”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[2407,48],"class_list":["post-10484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-oahu","tag-environmental-justice","tag-makua"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10484"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10484"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10485,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10484\/revisions\/10485"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.dmzhawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}