PHOTO COURTESY CARROLL COX
Navy hovercraft participating in RIMPAC were out near the sandbar in Kaneohe Bay on Monday.
The Honolulu Star Advertiser published another article “3 hovercraft close to sandbar churn up complaints” (July 17, 2012) about the Marine Corps hovercraft – LCACs – that were churning up sand and coral in Kāneʻohe Bay as part of RIMPAC exercises:
Some big Navy hovercraft got a little too close for comfort for some at the Kaneohe Bay sandbar Monday.
Three of the craft kicked up cascades of sand and water and raised environmental concerns at the popular destination for boaters.
But the director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said the reports he received — including from a DLNR harbor agent on site — indicated there was not “a huge environmental impact.”
[. . . ]
Environmental activist Carroll Cox said he received phone calls about the hovercraft “churning up coral and everything else.”
[. . . ]
“There were three LCACs, and they were right there on top of the sandbar, and the people were just concerned about the impact on the fish and coral,” Cox said.
[. . .]
The LCACs, nearly 88 feet long and 47 feet wide and capable of carrying 60 to 75 tons, are used by the Navy and Marines to transport equipment and troops ashore.
The hovercraft, operating off the amphibious assault ship USS Essex, were near the sandbar as Marine Corps amphibious assault vehicles operated at Pyramid Rock at the Kaneohe Bay Marine Corps base.
Although the state denies that the LCACs were a threat to the environment, the disturbing bit of information is that:
No notice was given to the DLNR that the LCACs would be operating near the sandbar.