Category: Hawai’i

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Depleted Uranium Meetings planned in Hawai’i

PRESS RELEASE
Contact person: Ms. Cory Harden

Sierra Club, Moku Loa group
PO Box 1137
Hilo, Hawaii 96721
808-968-8965 mh@interpac.net
http://www.hi.sierraclub.org/Hawaii/mokuloa.html

Immediate Release

DEPLETED URANIUM MEETINGS PLANNED

FEDERAL ACTIONS QUESTIONED

May 14, 2009, Hilo, Hawai’i

As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) plans meetings in Hawai’i on a depleted uranium (DU) license for the Army, DU studies at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) are being questioned, and the NRC and another agency involved in studies have come under fire.

“…[W]hat is proposed by the U.S. Army for future studies at PTA will fall far short of providing the best information possible at this time”, said Dr. Mike Reimer, PhD, a Kona geologist, in a March letter to Army Colonel Howard Killian. “…[T]he study design…may present itself as a feel-good approach, but it is unfortunately misleading…” he adds. Reimer’s background includes chairing the environmental radioactivity section for special meetings within the American Nuclear Society; doing radiation-site contamination evaluations in Eastern Europe; and serving as guest editor for the Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry.

Dr. Lorrin Pang, a WHO consultant, said “Those in charge of the [DU] assessment…do not adequately address the… form of the material, the routes of exposure, distribution in the body of non-soluble vs. soluble compounds, target organs, nor the variations in half-life and clearance from the body…”, in a March e-mail. He added, “…their own referral agencies and advisors on this topic were those whose science was so flawed that they missed diagnosing the existence of Gulf War syndrome… the survey testing…will miss all large remnants of Spotter rounds…The surveys lack controls…to evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of the tests as well as control sites to compare to background radiation levels…The sampling scheme…is very subjective and hard to interpret…” Dr. Pang is a former Army doctor and has been listed in America’s Best Doctors. He is also director of Maui Department of Health, but speaks on DU as a private citizen.

But an Army handout says “DU present on Hawai’i’s ranges does not pose an imminent or immediate threat to human health”.

“To evaluate conflicting views, we invited the Army to participate in a forum with Dr. Reimer and Dr. Pang,” said Cory Harden of Sierra Club, Moku Loa group, “but it appears it will be several months before the Army is prepared to back up its conclusions in a forum.”

Elsewhere, actions of both NRC and another agency involved with the PTA studies–Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)–have been criticized.

The NRC’s recent decision to classify DU as Class A waste was called an “arbitrary and capricious mischaracterization” by the chair and a member of a Congressional Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, who added that “requirements for safe and secure disposal of depleted uranium are much greater than what is required for Class A waste.”

The ATSDR was criticized for using “flawed methods to investigate depleted uranium exposures” in New York State and refusing “to acknowledge a link between a cancer cluster in Pennsylvania and environmental contamination despite persuasive evidence”. The criticism came from witnesses testifying recently to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight.

Earlier, the Subcommittee said ATSDR’s “scientifically-flawed” report and “botched response resulted in tens of thousands of survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita remaining in travel trailers laden with high levels of formaldehyde” and there was “a concerted and continuing effort by the agency‘s leadership to both mask their own involvement…and to push the blame…down the line”.

“We urge the public to watch for the NRC meeting dates,” said Harden, ” then show up and insist that recommendations from Dr. Reimer and Dr. Pang be written into the Army DU license. ”

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Good Friday: Modern Day Crucifixion — Launching the Drone Wars from Hawaii to Pakistan

GOOD FRIDAY

Modern Day Crucifixion — Launching the Drone Wars from Hawaii to Pakistan

Today is Good Friday in the Christian calendar, the day Jesus was executed by the Roman Empire for the crime of sedition (stirring up the people) in occupied Palestine. One’s standpoint determines one’s viewpoint. From Jesus’ standpoint, and all those nailed to the cross of empire, there was nothing good about “Good Friday.” For the Roman Empire and their local collaborators, it was “Good Friday” indeed. They got rid of another troublemaker, or so they thought.

The Romans, like all empires, believed in a myth — that violence was a solution to problems. Jesus knew otherwise — that being willing to die, but not to kill, is the way to new life, justice and peace. His witness proved that the blood of martyrs is the seed of a new movement of non-violent resistance, what others call — the church. For over 200 years to be a member of this new church meant you refused to participate in the wars of empire. Thousands were crucified for their refusal and the church grew by leaps and bounds.

What of us today in the American Empire, after six years of war and occupation in Iraq, eight years of war and occupation in Afghanistan, and ll6 years of occupation of the Kingdom of Hawaii? The silence of “the church” today in Hawaii is deafening? Where are the voices of conscience in our local churches today speaking out for justice and peace and against war and occupation? How many Christians are refusing to participate in the wars of empire? How many churches are actively supporting the empire’s wars?

In 2 days of testimony this week about the militarization and desecration of the sacred temple of Mauna Kea, there wasn’t one church leader (Christian, Buddhist, or otherwise) who spoke in solidarity with Hawaii’s host people, the Kanaka Maoli calling out for justice and respect, and a halt to development on the mountain. The military has plans for a Pan Stars telescope on Mauna Kea for tracking “enemy” satellites to be destroyed in U.S. pre-emptive wars. A new billion dollar 30-meter telescope is also in the works. Kihei Soli Niheu says that the desecration on Mauna Kea is part of the ongoing illegal occupation of the Kingdom of Hawaii that must end.

The sacred mountains of both Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa are being militarized by expanded military live-fire training at Pohakuloa, including Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) otherwise known as drone airplanes. U.S. hunter-killer drones (MQ-1 Predators and more advanced MQ-9 Reapers) are now being used widely as surveillance and missile-firing aircraft in Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan. U.S. Centcom commander General David Petraeus calls this drone form of modern crucifixion “the right of last resort” to take out “threats” (as well as innocent people who just happen to be in the vicinity). Large numbers of innocent people are now fleeing their homes due to U.S. drone attacks in Central Asia.

Good Friday is a good day to break the silence and be stirred into action

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world.
Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760.
Phone (808) 966-7622. Email ja@interpac.net http://www.malu-aina.org
Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (April l0, 2009 – 395th week) – Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

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Military ignored conditions set by state regulators on undersea warfare exercises

The Coastal Zone Management Act (CZMA) established a regulatory regime to create more consistency in regulating coastal resources, by delegating certain regulatory powers to approved state CZM agencies. This means that on matters of Coastal Zone Management, the federal government should be in accordance with the regulatory guidelines set by the Hawai’i CZM agency. However, in its 2008 annual report, the Hawaii Coastal Zone Management Program reported that in several instances, the U.S. military simply “issued a notice of intent to proceed over both the conditions and objection” of the Hawaii CZM Program. One instance involved the use of sonar and live fire exercises by the Navy undersea warfare exercises (USWEX). The other involved the Navy Hawaii Range Complex. There have been reports of massive fish kill off the island of Ni’ihau and Kaua’i and dead whales washing ashore on Ni’ihau and Kaua’i. It was reported by the Hawaii Independent that the Navy and the DARPA conducted classified exercises in the vicinity of Ni’ihau and Kaua’i during a USWEX event in the Hawaii Range Complex. Here’s an excerpt from the 2008 Hawaii CZM Program annual report:

Federal Consistency Program

The CZMA requires federal agencies to conduct their planning, management, development, and regulatory activities in a manner consistent with federally-approved state CZM programs. The informational and procedural requirements for CZM federal consistency reviews are prescribed by federal regulations.

Because there is a significant federal presence in Hawaii, federal consistency is a valuable State management tool. Federal planning, regulatory, and construction activities have direct and significant effects on land and water environments statewide.

The federal government controls vast tracts of land. The range of federal activities and permits reviewed is extensive and includes harbor projects, beach nourishment projects, military facilities and training exercises, fisheries management plans and regulations, open ocean aquaculture, and dredge and fill operations. In addition, projects funded by certain federal grant programs are reviewed for potential impacts to CZM resources.

Public notices for all federal consistency reviews are published in The Environmental Notice.

The following are noteworthy examples of federal consistency activities:

1. Makua Military Reservation Training Activities: The U.S. Army’s live-fire training exercises at Makua Military Reservation on Oahu were reviewed for impacts on resources in areas beyond the reservation. The reservation itself is a federal area that is excluded from CZM review. However, the CZM Program was concerned about the effects of live-fire training, particularly wildfire on State natural area reserves, critical habitat for endangered species, and historic and cultural resources. Federal consistency negotiations with the Army resulted in mitigation measures to ensure protection of natural and cultural resources.

2. U.S. Navy Undersea Warfare Exercises (USWEX): The CZM Program reviewed a series of USWEX, which are anti-submarine exercises involving the use of mid-frequency active sonar in waters around the State. The primary concern with sonar is its potential to harm marine mammals such as whales and monk seals. USWEX also involves land-based training exercises such as aerial bombing of Kaula Island off of Kauai and Pohakuloa Training Area on the Island of Hawaii. Operational conditions and mitigation measures were required for the sonar use for consistency with CZM enforceable policies. An objection was issued over the use of Kaula Island until a monitoring plan and baseline survey of birds is completed. In response to the Program’s consistency decision, the Navy issued a notice of intent to proceed over both the conditions and objection.

3. U.S. Navy Hawaii Range Complex (HRC): The HRC is one of the Navy’s range complexes used for training operational forces and military systems. The HRC covers 235,000 square nautical miles around the Main Hawaiian Islands, and a 2.1 million square nautical mile Temporary Operating Area of sea and airspace. The biennial Rim of the Pacific naval exercise is included as one of the major activities covered by the review. One of the primary concerns was the Navy’s use of mid-frequency active sonar and its impacts on marine mammals. The CZM Program required mitigation measures for the sonar use to be consistent with CZM enforceable policies. An objection was issued to the use of Kaula Island for bombing until a monitoring plan and baseline survey of birds is completed, and the development and operation of a directed energy (laser) weapon facility at the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kauai, until potential hazards are identified and operating procedures and safety requirements are developed. The Navy declined to agree and issued a notice of intent to proceed over the conditions requiring sonar mitigation and the objection to the bombing of Kaula Island. However, the Navy is developing a management plan for seabirds at Kaula in response to the CZM review and also agreed to submit a separate CZM review for the directed energy facility when the details are developed.

4. Hawaii Superferry Security Zones: The CZM Program issued federal consistency concurrences for the U.S. Coast Guard to establish security zones for the Hawaii Superferry at Nawiliwili Harbor, Kauai and Kahului Harbor, Maui. The security zones were necessary in consideration of the large number of protestors who prevented the Superferry from entering Nawiliwili Harbor. The Program’s consistency concurrence ensured that public access was maintained by requiring that canoe and boating clubs, small commercial businesses, and Native Hawaiian cultural practitioners be given consideration for access to resources during the activation of the security zone. The Program also required that when the security zone is inactive, public access to and use of established public areas in and around Nawiliwili Harbor and Kahului Harbor be allowed.

The Hawaii CZM Program facilitates cooperation among government agencies in reviewing applications for federal, State, and County permits. Also, pre-application consultation is highly encouraged. Consultations occur by telephone and email, as well as through meetings involving applicants and agencies.

The CZM Program continued its involvement with the federal and State agency coordination initiative involving quarterly meetings with regulatory and resource agencies, and various branches of the military. The meetings are hosted by the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command and the U.S. Navy. This forum provides the participating agencies an opportunity to discuss and coordinate on current and future projects, activities, and issues.

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UH makes moves to seize control of Mauna Kea

The University of Hawai’i (UH) is responsible for the illegal, haphazard and destructive overdevelopment of Mauna Kea, one of the most sacred sites for Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiians).  But UH has always been the tenant of the mountain, which gave some degree of independent oversight by a separate state agency.  Kanaka Maoli have successfully fought off the massive expansion of Keck telescopes on Mauna Kea (which violated the management plan).  But UH now wants to build the largest telescope in the world – the Thirty Meter Telescope – on Mauna Kea and the Air Force wants to build the PanSTARRS telescope there.   So UH is pushing for legislation and approval of a management plan that turns the authority for Mauna Kea over to UH itself – the  proverbial fox guarding the hen house.  Time to stop the desecration! See the following article from the Hawai’i Independent about the current state of the struggle over Mauna Kea.

King of the mountain?

Posted March 18th, 2009 in Hawaii Island by Alan McNarie

It’s become a familiar pattern in recent years: a developer gets the go-ahead for a project from various state and/or county agencies. Then the developer and the government agencies get sued by citizens’ groups for not following the state’s own laws. The courts side with the activists. Then, instead of complying with the court ruling, the developer asks the state Legislature to change the law it broke.

It happened with Hokulia. It happened with the Hawaii Superferry. And now, according to some environmentalists and native Hawaiians, it’s happening again-only this time, the developer is the University of Hawaii, and the property in question is the top of Mauna Kea.

For decades, the university has been paying the state’s Department of Land and Natural Resources a dollar a year for the mountaintop, then subleasing sites there to various institutions that erect huge telescopes. The telescope consortiums pay the university a dollar plus telescope viewing time for UH Institute for Astronomy’s professors and students. For decades, activists have been complaining that the university has been damaging the mountain’s environment. They complained that the university’s own development plan had called for no more than 13 scopes on the mountain-yet that number had already been exceeded and the university was still considering applications for even more and bigger facilities. Native Hawaiians argued that the big scopes were desecrating their sacred mountain, damaging ancient cultural sites and interfering with their religious and cultural practices. Environmentalists noted that telescope construction had destroyed much of the native habitat for the wekiu bug, an endangered insect that lives only in the cindery upper regions of Mauna Kea.

The activists point to a federal environmental impact statement that found “cumulative and significant adverse impacts generated by the astronomical activities on the summit,” in violation of the state’s mandates for management of a conservation district. They note that the dollar-a-year leases violated Hawai`i Revised Statutes 171-18, which requires the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) to collect “fair market value” rents from lessees of state lands.

The campaigners won a significant victory in August of 2002, when Circut Court Judge Glenn Hara ruled that the university and the BLNR could not approve any new telescope development until the BLNR had developed a truly comprehensive land-management plan for the Mauna Kea summit area. The BLNR recently dropped its appeal of that case, but the activists’ motion for court costs is still under consideration. Meanwhile, in response to that case, a draft Comprehensive Management Plan came out last month-but it was written under the aegis of the university’s Office of Mauna Kea Management (OMKM), not the BLNR. The draft plan is currently available for review online at www.maunakeacmp.org. According to OMKM Director Stephanie Nagata, the BLNR may vote on the plan in April.

Even before the plan is approved, the university is pushing bills in the Legislature to give the OMKM the power to enforce the plan’s provisions. House Bill 1174 and Senate Bill 502 would grant agents of the university’s Mauna Kea Management Board and OMKM the right to make and enforce regulations governing visitors to the mountain, to restrict visitor access to daylight hours, to charge fees and levy fines on those visitors, and to keep the proceeds from those fees and fines in a special fund for managing the lands on the mountain top.

OMKM and its supporters claim that the bills and the management plan are simply giving the activists and the public what they’ve been asking for: better protection for Mauna Kea and its resources. But the bills’ opponents see it as a power grab by the university.

“The university and its attorney, Lisa Munger [also attorney for the Hawaii Superferry Inc.], recognize that they are unlikely to prevail on an appeal of the current laws protecting Mauna Kea. Thus, they are seeking to drastically change those laws to better favor their interests,” read a joint letter of testimony signed by plaintiffs in the court case.

“The Board of Land and Natural Resources and their staff should by law be writing that management plan-not the Board of Regents and not [UH-Hilo Chancellor] Rose Tseng,” believes Nelson Ho, who signed the letter for the Sierra Club. Ho says that if the bills pass as written, the groups will be back in court to challenge them.

“I do know that the Sierra Club has this position that the DLNR is abrogating their responsibility,” responds OMKM’s Nagata. But she maintains, “They’re not, for the very reason that they’re doing their own independent review and they’re approving the plan.”

Dodging Issues

Ho claims that the draft plan is “seriously flawed.”

“It repeats several lies again and again, in the hope that the Legislature and the BLNR see that as the truth,” he maintains. One of those “lies,” he says, is “that the industrial activities of international astronomy are not the problem on Mauna Kea. The problem is unrestricted access of people who bring up their plate lunches and leave their hamburger wrappers as debris.”
Nagata, not surprisingly, disagrees.

“I think he’s quite misguided in his interpretation of the management plan,” she says. “The major focus of the plan is a recognition particularly of the cultural significance, as well as the environmental significance of the mountain, and the plan is to provide us with guidelines for how to protect the cultural and natural resources from all kinds of uses and activities, including construction….”

The truth lies somewhere between their viewpoints. The plan does, in fact, address impacts from both observatory construction and from visitors. It requires an environmental monitor and an archeologist to be present at any future construction, for instance, with the power to halt construction if they see the need. It recommends that all visitors, telescope personnel and construction workers undergo an orientation session so that they will be more culturally and environmentally aware. It suggests a wash station to remove foreign seeds and insects from vehicles traveling up the mountain.

But the plan also deliberately avoids many of the issues that are among the sorest points for the community. Among the issues that it claims are “beyond the scope of this CMP”:
• Termination of the state lease between the university and the BLNR
• Use of ceded lands for $1 a year or nominal consideration
• Subleases between the university and the observatories
• Extension of the state lease beyond 2033
• Decommissioning [of obsolete telescopes]
• Proposed new development on Mauna Kea, including the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) and Pan Starrs
• Community benefit package with increased educational benefits
• Guaranteed employment opportunities for native Hawaiians and the people on the Island of Hawai‘i”

While the plan lists guidelines and recommendations for future construction, it leaves the question of whether more telescopes should be built to the university’s Board of Regents, with the guidance of a “2000 Master Plan” that was never approved by the BLNR.

Native Hawaiian Concerns

Among the thorniest issues on the mountain is the relationship between the university and native Hawaiians. The CMP devotes pages to the essential role that Mauna Kea plays in native Hawaiian beliefs and practices, and claims to model its recommendations on those beliefs and to consult native families with ties to the mountain. But the plan and the Legislative bills also call for university agents to have the power to regulate Hawaiian activities on Mauna Kea.

It became clear that the community had a number of issues and concerns related to past and future activities on Mauna Kea and specifically within the UH Management Areas that were beyond the scope of this CMP. These issues and concerns are cited below and policy makers are urged to consider them in their broader decision making related to Mauna Kea.

The plan calls for free access for native Hawaiian cultural uses, “except where safety, resource management, cultural appropriateness, and legal compliance considerations may require reasonable restrictions.” But it also calls for several restrictions on those practices. Hawaiians couldn’t be on the mountaintop after dark, for instance, without a special permit; they could only scatter the ashes of their dead with a special use permit. The MKMB and its Hawaiian advisory groups would have the authority to dismantle any ahu (stone cairns) or altars that it deems culturally inappropriate.

That last provision may strike an especially raw nerve with Kealoha Pisciotta, a native Hawaiian practitioner and former telescope technician who has become one of the university’s most adamant critics. Pisciotta once constructed an ahu on the mountain that contained a family pohaku (sacred stone). It was dismantled and the pohaku was hauled to the Hilo landfill.
Pisciotta see a multitude of problems with the university’s appointed officials defining and controlling Hawaiian practices.

“Now the university is determining not only when and how the ceremonies can be conducted, but who can be there…,” she notes. “I can get a permit to practice, but I can’t bring my mom or my sister or anybody else.”

Pisciotta says over a thousand opponents of the university’s plan have already sent their testimony to the legislature.

The authors of the CMP are very aware that the university has a public relations problem. The document begins by acknowledging that the “lack of cultural sensitivity engendered anger, hurt, and distrust towards the University of Hawai‘i for not being a good steward of Mauna Kea.” But the basic message seems to be, “We get it now.” The university is casting itself, through the CMP and the OMKM, as the solution.

“My interpretation of their [CMP opponents’] actions is that they prefer not to have the resources protected,” Nagata told the Independent.

But opponents obviously see it differently. For them, the bottom line is that the university continues to get free viewing time, the telescope consortiums continue to pay their one dollar rents, and if the mountain is going to be protected, all the other users will need to pay for it through fees and fines that the university gets to impose and spend. They see a “comprehensive management plan” that sidesteps some of the basic issues of planning, such as determining how many telescopes the mountain can support.

And no matter how good the plan is, many of its opponents just don’t trust the university, with its long record of ignoring its own recommendations, to police itself, much less the mountain’s other users.

“The CMP is not comprehensive. Even if it were a plan…the problem here is that they’re going to set a negative precedent with this bill by privatizing public land, putting it into the exclusive control of the developers,” believes Pisciotta.

Ho admits that if a body like OMKM were under the DLNR, it might meet some of his objections, at least “hypothetically.”

“But I would want to see the specific charges of that body, because, in fact the Board of Land and Natural Resources is that body, and they should be overseeing the writing of that plan,” he adds.
There is much in the CMP for its opponents to like. It does establish some guidelines for better supervision of telescope construction. It does endorse Hawaiian values in managing the mountain, and gives some Hawaiians a say in its management-if only Hawaiians appointed by the university. It does set up a framework for protecting Hawaiian cultural sites and the island’s wild denizens. But all of that may come to naught, because the plan doesn’t seriously address perhaps the biggest question of all: Should the University be king of the mountain?

Alan McNarie is a Hawai‘i-based journalist.

Source: http://www.thehawaiiindependent.com/hawaii/hawaii-island/2009/03/18/king-of-the-mountain/

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Pohakuloa Depleted Uranium studies “fall far short”

The Sierra Club Moku Loa chapter has been doing excellent work bird dogging the Army over its handling of the DU contamination at Pohakuloa.   Cory Harden posted the following letter and attached review of the Army’s studies by an independent scietist.

“I am particularly concerned that what is proposed by the U.S. Army for future studies at PTA will fall far short of providing the best information possible at this time, or for that matter, provide any information that can be used to develop a real rather than a speculative risk assessment.” From Mike Reimer, PhD, Kona geologist, retired

Michael Reimer
75-6081 Ali`i Drive RR-103
Kailua-Kona, HI 96740
March 6, 2009

Colonel Howard Killian, Deputy Director
U.S. Army Installation Management Command
Pacific Region
132 Yamanaga Street
Fort Shafter, Hawaii 96858-5520

Dear Colonel Killian:

I have had an opportunity to review the reports released from DU studies at Schofield Barracks and Pohakuloa Training Area. I also spoke with Dr. Lorrin Pang, some members of the Community Advisory Group, and met contractor Dr. Jeff Morrow.

I agree with your statement that you mentioned in a previous communication we had, and that is to let the science speak.

In that light, I am particularly concerned that what is proposed by the U.S. Army for future studies at PTA will fall far short of providing the best information possible at this time, or for that matter, provide any information that can be used to develop a real rather than a speculative risk assessment.

DU is an issue of evolving study results and knowledge. There are some points that are immutable fact. We know that DU is present at Schofield and Pohakuloa. As I recall, the Army does not dispute the point of potential health risk. Therefore, we must take the best information we obtain today and use it to address the concerns about the level of health risks from potential exposure to DU.

The citizens of the Big Island are concerned. This is a natural, often fearful, reaction anytime the word radiation is mentioned in our society. Yet, we live in a world with ubiquitous and unavoidable natural radiation, from cosmic rays to the foodstuffs that provide our sustenance. According to the position of the U.S. EPA, any and all ionizing radiation has the potential of causing cancer. Thus, there has to be a reasoned balance between unavoidable exposure and elective exposure.

The past use of DU on the Big Island places exposure to that type of radioactive material in the “unavoidable exposure” category. This brings forth the question then of how much additional risk does it pose to the people of the Big Island including the military personnel stationed and working at Pohakuloa.

I believe that with adequate study, this question can be answered with reasonable assurance. As I mentioned, I do not believe the currently planned study has the capacity to answer that question. The reason for my belief is that the study design is to measure total uranium and to show that it is below standards set by World Agencies for regulated exposures. This may present itself as a feel-good approach, but it is unfortunately misleading even with the rudimentary information we have today about the form and occurrence of uranium in the natural environment. In other words, the study as currently planned still leaves the door wide open on determining excess health risks, if any.
The attached commentary contains suggestions on what additional information could be collected to help determine the risk. It is fair to assume that the information about the use of DU is as accurate as it can be. That is, the only use was in the Davy Crockett spotting rounds, no use of penetrating munitions occurred, that is the 20mm or 30 mm rounds from various Gatling configurations, smaller caliber rounds, or larger caliber armor penetrating munitions. It assumes that DU does not remain from any breach of containment if used as ballast or armor reinforcement, or any other possible presentation of DU.

My comments are intended for a reasonably informed individual about DU issues; it is not overpoweringly technical but does use various standard abbreviations, chemical, isotopic, and radiological inferences and acronyms. For example, I use DU for depleted uranium and its various components, and natural uranium or NU for naturally occurring uranium. I am not suggesting that the uranium has a chemical, physical, or radiological difference. However, it is different in form and that is a significant difference for risk assessment. In addition, unless specifically mentioned, I do not separate radioactive decay into the three common particles, alpha, beta, and gamma radiation. Of special note is my use of the term “form” in describing uranium. Unlike the Hawaii Department of Health presentation (November 2007), I use form not to refer to the element uranium (and isotopes) but to describe its occurrence in a matrix – natural, alloy DU, or oxidized DU.

This is a commentary; it is not a formal, peer-reviewed technical report although it may in some instances give the appearance of a peer review for the program. I do not duplicate information that can be found elsewhere and except in unusual or compelling circumstances, I do not provide references. For detail not presented here, I am sure various contractors you have will be able to address and clarify the concepts more fully. However, I am also willing to further explain my commentary for those issues that might be seen as some in a gray area of meaning.

Sincerely,

Michael Reimer, Ph.D., geologist, retired
GeoMike5@att.net

Distribution: Sherry Davis, Corey Hardin, Hawaii County Council, Pete Hendricks, J. Morrow, Ph.D., L. Pang, M.D., LTC Richardson, S. Troute

Read Dr. Reimer’s full comments on the Army’s Pohakuloa Depleted Uranium study

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Action Alert from KAHEA to Protect Mauna Kea!

Please take action to Protect Mauna Kea!

Your help is needed right now. Lobbyists for the University of Hawaii, backed by powerful foreign telescope-developers, are pushing hard to take control of Mauna Kea’s public trust resources and override the conservation laws currently barring further development on our sacred summits. If successful, they will use this authority to write their own rules, approve their own permits, and shut-out the public. Public trust resources cannot be protected if the developers are allowed to police themselves. Don’t let the politics of special interests undermine the public’s best interests. Take action now to help prevent the University’s power-grab.

Click Here to Take Action!

You can help stop UH’s land-grab on Mauna Kea’s sacred summit. After 40 years of mismanagement, tell the State Land Board and the Legislature that enough is enough!
“The University’s lobbyists will say anything to get their way. I heard them tell Legislators they had community consent. I am from the community and tell you what, they have nothing of the sort.” — Kukauakahi Ching, Native Hawaiian Practitioner.

Our sacred summits — Mauna Kea and Haleakala — are protected by law as conservation districts. These are public trust ceded lands–Hawaiian lands–held by the state in trust for the people of Hawaii. Yet, today Mauna Kea’s public lands are exploited by foreign corporations and the University, who are profiting from telescope activities on the summit at the public’s expense.

“The rent from the foreign telescope-owners is 30 years past due–they have paid only $1 a year to misuse Mauna Kea. If the state had been collecting the $50 million dollars a year from these foreign telescope-owners, like we suggested to them years ago, we would not have these budget shortfalls now. Remember, $50 million in 1 year is $100 million in just 2 years. They owe the people of Hawaii for 30 years of back rent. How dare they suggest to short-change the taxpayers now.” –Kealoha Pisciotta, President Mauna Kea Anaina Hou.

Forty years of uncontrolled telescope construction has desecrated cultural sites, contaminated the ground above the primary aquifer, and destroyed 90% of the endemic Wekiu’s habitat. Today, developers are vying to build two new telescopes (along with roads, parking lots, office buildings, and gift shops) on undeveloped habitat around the summit area. One of them — owned by the California Thirty Meter Telescope Corporation — is larger than all the current telescopes combined and will bulldoze the last pristine peak near the summit.

The only thing stopping them is the law. That is why the University is working hard to overturn the laws that currently protect our sacred summits and limit telescope construction. Two courts of law and two state audits have already found that the telescope industry violated the state and federal laws meant to protect Mauna Kea. The only way their future telescope construction plans can go forward is for the University and the telescope developers to change and exempt themselves from these protective environmental laws.

This latest bid to take over Mauna Kea has two fronts:

1. Pressure the Land Board to adopt an illegitimate management plan that limits public access, dictates religious ceremony, and allows UH and telescope developers to pocket public money,

2. Lobby the Legislature to pass one of four bills that will hand-over authority for managing Mauna Kea to the primary developer of the summit, the University of Hawaii.

All of it comes down to the University’s same, long-sought goal: make it easier to exploit Mauna Kea for money. The latest proposal on the table would allow the University to restrict public access (including how and when Hawaiians may worship at the sacred summit), pocket all the money made on Mauna Kea, and exempt themselves from public oversight. This is a public policy and legal nightmare!

“The University wants to gate the road to Mauna Kea–the road was paid for by taxpayers, it’s a public road. The University wants to require Hawaiians to get a permit to worship–Mauna Kea belongs to Ke Akua, they cannot lock the people out of the temple. Even if Hawaiians could get a permit, it would mean they couldn’t bring their non-Hawaiian friends and ohana to ceremony. This is discrimination! Who is the University to say who can and cannot worship?” — Paul Neves, Alii Ai Moku, Royal Order of Kamehameha I.

Your voice can help preserve the sacred temple and delicate ecosystem of Mauna Kea. Take action now to tell the Legislature and the Land Board that Mauna Kea is still not for sale.

Mahalo nui,
Us Guys at KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance

1149 Bethel St., #415
Honolulu, HI 96813
www.kahea.org
blog.kahea.org

local ph/fx: 808-524-8220
toll-free ph/fx: 877-585-2432
email: kahea-alliance@hawaii.rr.com

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Thousands march to protest U.S. Occupation of Hawai’i and the Sale of Stolen Land

On the 116th anniversary of the U.S. invasion and overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom, thousands of Kanaka Maoli and allies marched through Waikiki and held a rally to protest the continuing U.S. occupation and to resist the state’s attempts to sell the stolen Crown and Government lands of the Hawaiian Kingdom.  From From Top to Bottom: Top: Hawaiian independence was an overriding demand.  Second: Blowing the pu to begin the march. Third:  Many threw their rubber slippers at the giant puppet of Gov. Lingle in homage to the Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at President Bush to protest the U.S. occupation of Iraq. Fourth and fifth: The DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina delegation. Photos by Kehau Watson.

There were also protests in Hilo and Kaua’i. 

Here’s an article from the Honolulu Star Bulletin about the march in Waikiki:

www.starbulletin.com

Thousands march through Waikiki over ceded lands dispute

Organizers estimated the crowd at 10,000 people

By Gene Park

POSTED: 03:09 p.m. HST, Jan 17, 2009

Thousands of native Hawaiians and residents marched through Waikiki today against the state government’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a ruling that bars the sale or transfer of ceded lands.

The march coincided with the Jan. 17, 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and ceremonies marking the anniversary.

Police closed down Kalakaua Ave. for the protest march.

The state Supreme Court last January ruled last January that the state may not sell or exchange ceded lands until outstandng Hawaiian claims are addressed. Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation’s highest court is due to hear the arguments Feb. 25.

Earlier this week, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs proposed land swaps to settle a dispute over income from former Hawaiian kingdom lands. But the proposed land swap will not address future claims.

OHA and state lawmakers are also working on legislation to block the state from selling or exchanging ceded lands until the native Hawaiian claims are resolved.

Thousands of native Hawaiians and residents marched through Waikiki today against the state government’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court of a ruling that bars the sale or transfer of ceded lands.

The march coincided with the Jan. 17, 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and ceremonies marking the anniversary.

Police closed down Kalakaua Ave. for the protest march.

The state Supreme Court last January ruled last January that the state may not sell or exchange ceded lands until outstandng Hawaiian claims are addressed. Gov. Linda Lingle’s administration appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court.

The nation’s highest court is due to hear the arguments Feb. 25.

Earlier this week, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs proposed land swaps to settle a dispute over income from former Hawaiian kingdom lands. But the proposed land swap will not address future claims.

OHA and state lawmakers are also working on legislation to block the state from selling or exchanging ceded lands until the native Hawaiian claims are resolved.

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Army continues to bomb Pohakuloa despite Council moratorium

http://westhawaiitoday.com/articles/2008/12/31/local/local04.txt

PTA live fire continues despite council

DU results pending

by Jim Quirk
West Hawaii Today
jquirk@westhawaiitoday.com

Wednesday, December 31, 2008 9:01 AM HST

HILO — Testing on depleted uranium levels at Pohakuloa Training Area is completed, and although the results will be unavailable until spring, the U.S. Army continues live fire exercises at PTA.

The Hawaii County Council last spring and summer debated Puna Councilwoman Emily Naeole’s resolution requesting the military halt live fire training exercises at PTA until it was determined if depleted uranium was there.

The resolution, however, did not carry the weight of law. It had no effect on military training at PTA, said Howard Sugai, public affairs officer with the military Installation Management Command.

“The Army could not jeopardize training and preparedness of soldiers,” he said.

Some of the radioactive material was discovered at PTA in 2006, and it was later determined it came from spotting rounds fired from Davy Crockett weapons systems in the 1960s.

Sugai said PTA played an essential part, as members of the Hawaii National Guard recently trained there to prepare for their deployment to Kuwait.

However, no training is taking place near areas suspected of containing depleted uranium, he said.

The nearest training to suspect areas is 3.1 miles away, Sugai said, adding only dummy bombs made of concrete are being used.

Sugai stressed “there is no imminent danger to any soldier training there or to residents in adjacent communities.”

He said the Army conducted a survey of the area where depleted uranium may exist in November and early December, but even that was accomplished in a way that did not require military personnel to walk or drive into the potentially affected area.

Technologically advanced survey equipment was carried via helicopter to areas possibly contaminated with depleted uranium, Sugai said.

Some council members and residents feared that some of the military exercises could help stir up any depleted uranium at PTA and contaminate the air.

Most people who testified on the resolution said they favored it, and the council approved it July 3.

Connecticut company Cabrera Services, which is “regarded as industry experts in remediation of radiation and other radioactive materials,” conducted testing, Sugai said.

Sugai said he and Army Col. Howard Killian anticipate attending a council meeting sometime in February to provide a further update on the depleted uranium survey.

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Saddle Road Realignment: Another military highway

SADDLE: BIG ISLE ROAD CONNECTION

Officials hail island link for Hilo and West Hawaii

By Rod Thompson

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 12, 2008

HILO » Federal, state and county officials opened a rebuilt, widened, 9-mile stretch of the 49-mile Saddle Road between Hilo and West Hawaii yesterday, part of a two-decade-long process of unifying the two sides of the Big Island.

A previous segment was completed last year. To date, 17 miles of the project have been finished at a cost of $126.4 million, said project manager Dave Gedeon, of the Federal Highway Administration.

“This is not just a road project. It’s part of building a community,” said state transportation Director Brennon Morioka. The island is “one big home rather than two separate regions,” he said.

Mayor Billy Kenoi echoed the idea. At a time when some people in West Hawaii are resentful of Hilo, the road connects the community as a whole, Kenoi said.

Walter Kunitake, head of the advisory Saddle Road Task Force, said he is happy with the current pace since construction began in 2004. “It’s wonderful, the speed. We’re on a roll now,” he said.

The road bed for another 7-mile segment routed around the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area is already complete.

Paving is expected to start soon after New Year’s and to be completed roughly in September.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye’s representative, Jennifer Goto Sabas, said $30 million is allotted for further construction, but Gedeon said more will be needed.

Sabas emphasized that much of the justification for the project has been military need for access to Pohakuloa.

“The vast majority of the dollars are defense dollars,” she said.

That will change to nonmilitary highway dollars as the east and west ends of the road are constructed, Gedeon said, but the funding will still be almost 100 percent federal.

A proposed state project would link the west end of Saddle Road to a new state highway down to the West Hawaii coast. Federal money might also pay for 80 percent of that, Gedeon said.

HILO » Federal, state and county officials opened a rebuilt, widened, 9-mile stretch of the 49-mile Saddle Road between Hilo and West Hawaii yesterday, part of a two-decade-long process of unifying the two sides of the Big Island.

A previous segment was completed last year. To date, 17 miles of the project have been finished at a cost of $126.4 million, said project manager Dave Gedeon, of the Federal Highway Administration.

“This is not just a road project. It’s part of building a community,” said state transportation Director Brennon Morioka. The island is “one big home rather than two separate regions,” he said.

Mayor Billy Kenoi echoed the idea. At a time when some people in West Hawaii are resentful of Hilo, the road connects the community as a whole, Kenoi said.

Walter Kunitake, head of the advisory Saddle Road Task Force, said he is happy with the current pace since construction began in 2004. “It’s wonderful, the speed. We’re on a roll now,” he said.

The road bed for another 7-mile segment routed around the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area is already complete.

Paving is expected to start soon after New Year’s and to be completed roughly in September.

U.S. Sen. Daniel Inouye’s representative, Jennifer Goto Sabas, said $30 million is allotted for further construction, but Gedeon said more will be needed.

Sabas emphasized that much of the justification for the project has been military need for access to Pohakuloa.

“The vast majority of the dollars are defense dollars,” she said.

That will change to nonmilitary highway dollars as the east and west ends of the road are constructed, Gedeon said, but the funding will still be almost 100 percent federal.

A proposed state project would link the west end of Saddle Road to a new state highway down to the West Hawaii coast. Federal money might also pay for 80 percent of that, Gedeon said.

Source: http://www.starbulletin.com/news/hawaiinews/20081212_Officials_hail_island_link_for_Hilo_and_West_Hawaii.html

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Monitoring Depleted Uranium

Note: This is an old article, but it is still relevant. The Army is refusing to clean up the DU contamination in Schofield Barracks.

Monitoring depleted uranium
Protecting the public against exposure

By Kristine Kubat
Wednesday, February 28, 2007 9:10 AM HST

While weapons made with depleted uranium can penetrate any substance known to man, the issues surrounding the use of this radioactive, heavy metal are having a much harder time sinking in.

Here in Hawai`i, Linda Faye Kroll is a retired nurse who has dedicated her life to educating the public about the dangers of military toxics. When Representative Josh Green introduced H.B. 1452 this legislative session, he created a forum for Kroll and others to voice their concerns.

“Don’t believe anything I tell you,” Kroll cautions, “look into it for yourself.” Advice that seems to be gaining momentum at the local and state levels as U.S. Senator Inouye once again pushes for an increase in the military presence here and citizens are raising concerns about the increase of pollution that, inevitably, comes with the deal. “Make no mistake, everything having to do with preparing and making war is toxic,” says Kroll.

In fact, the U.S. Department of Defense is the single largest producer of pollution in the world.

H.B. 1452 originally called for testing soil outside the military’s live-fire ranges in the state of Hawai`i to determine if DU is present. The bill passed out of the Energy and Environmental Protection Committee and was heard for the second time last Saturday, this time by the Finance Committee chaired by Marcus Oshiro. Here it was amended to include air and water testing. The only opposition to the bill thus far has come from the Department of Health, which has taken the position that it can’t afford the testing, estimated by DOH at $5 million per year. Rep. Green believes the federal government should share the cost because “any DU we’re being exposed to must have come from the military.”

All decision makers at the hearing voted in favor of passage, there were 17 ayes. Now H.B. 1452 is headed for the senate.

Depleted uranium (DU) is the by-product of the process that yields nuclear fuel. For decades, the U.S. government has been quietly converting stockpiles of it into weapons. The use of DU munitions in our own country is prohibited, a fact which does not keep the Pentagon from deploying them abroad, primarily in Iraq. They have also been used extensively in Serbia and Bosnia.

The Pentagon claims that the low levels of radiation emitted from DU weaponry pose no health risks. Many scientists disagree with the way this conclusion is drawn. The military looks only at how the trillions of healthy cells that comprise the human body are affected by exposure to low dosages when handling the munitions. They ignore the fact that as DU munitions are exploded, they burst into flames and vaporize.

Dr. Helen Caldicott is the co-founder of Physicians for Social Responsibility, an organization of 23,000 doctors committed to educating their colleagues about the dangers of nuclear power, nuclear weapons and nuclear war. She also founded an international umbrella group called International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War, which won the Nobel Peace Prize in 1985. Caldicott herself was personally nominated for the Nobel Prize by Nobel Laureate, Linus Pauling.

According to Caldicott, up to 70% of the uranium released when DU munitions are exploded is converted into microscopic particles that can be inhaled or ingested immediately or when air, soil and water get contaminated. Once inside the human body, these particles kill or mutate the cells they come in contact with. Photographs of DU particles in living lung tissues show them as tiny sun-like, radiating objects. The half-life of this radioactive substance is 4.5 billion years.

Over 375 tons of DU was released into the Iraq environment during the first Gulf War. Since that time, scientists, doctors and soldiers have been trying to understand how a war that lasted 100 hours and left 148 killed in action could have resulted in 10,324 veterans dead and another 221,502 disabled.

DU is the prime suspect in any independent investigation of the situation. As research continues, the military is slowly shifting from its once adamant position that DU was not involved. Recent publications from the Armed Forces Radiobiology Research Institute (AFRRI) and the Army Environmental Policy Institute reflect the change.

The AFRRI published its findings that DU transforms cells into tumorigenic phenotypes, is mutagenic, induces genetic instability and induces oncogenes, suggesting carcinogenicity. AFRRI’s conclusion: “Strong evidence exists to support detailed study of DU carcinogenicity.” In 1995, the AEPI admitted that DU may cause liver, lung and kidney damage.

A recent Army report to Congress sheds light on DOD’s predicament: If a link between the use of DU and the deaths and disabilities resulting from the Gulf War were established, the costs to the government would be astronomical. Here disabilities would also include the birth defects that are found in the returning soldiers’ offspring.

The name of the organization Kroll founded to educate the public about the risks of DU is called “Ten Fingers, Ten Toes” — a reference to the alarming incidence of birth defects found in areas where DU weapons have been used in Iraq and Kosovo. AFRRI also found DU produced chromosome damage and caused delayed reproductive death.

In 2002, the United Nations declared DU a weapon of mass destruction and its use a breach of international law. So far America has used over 2000 tons in the second Gulf War.

Until August of 2005, when DU munitions were found at Schofield Barracks, people in Hawai`i who had concerns about the use of the radioactive substance were looking at this bigger picture. With the local discovery, the issue has hit home.

The EIS that was prepared for the Stryker Brigade stated that DU was never used in Hawai`i. Evidence to the contrary turned up after Kyle Kajihiro, of the American Friends Service Committee, made repeated FOIA requests and dredged through endless stacks of documents. He discovered a single paragraph revealing that DU was present in the ground at Schofield, forcing the Army to admit that they misrepresented the facts to the community, including Senator Daniel Inouye.

For a long time, the Navy has stored DU at Lualualei on O`ahu under its Naval Radioactive Materials permit. In 1994, two DU rounds were accidentally fired from Pearl Harbor; they landed above Aiea and have never been recovered.

Leimaile and Kamoa Quitevis are literally on the front lines of the DU issue. The couple was hired by Garcia and Associates to monitor construction related to the expansion of Schofield to accomodate the Stryker Brigade. Their job was to ensure that sacred Hawaiian sites were not disturbed. Along with others who assisted the Quitevises in their fieldwork, the couple has been exposed to DU. Kamoa has photographic evidence that ordinances known to contain DU were open-air detonated. He testified before the house committee hearing H.B. 1452 that he has seen thousands of shards from Davy Crocketts, as the ordinances are called, scattered about Schofield.

None of the cultural monitors were ever told about the dangers related to DU exposure. Whether or not the Army agrees that such dangers exist, their own guidelines require the use of protective gear for DU clean-up, including respirators. None of the personnel on base wore protective gear; none of the cultural monitors were informed about the presence of DU; none of them knew they should be taking precautions against exposure.

Just recently, Leimaile’s sister who was assisting on site and pregnant at the time, gave birth to a child with a serious birth defect. The baby was born with it’s intestines outside its body.

“We can’t say for sure that the baby’s defect came from DU,” says Leimaile, “but there’s a chance. We need to start monitoring.”

Source: http://www.bigislandweekly.com/articles/2007/02/28/read/news/news02.txt

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