Comments DUE MONDAY, 1/24 on Helicopter Trainings on Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa!
hoa aina,
Mahalo nui to all those that came out to the public scoping meetings, in Hilo and Waimea, on the proposed expansion of training at Pohakuloa.
- Jim Albertini of Malu Aina attended the meeting in Hilo and reports back, “testimony went for 2 hours. Not one person spoke in support of the military expansion plans”.
- Here's a piece from Big Island Video News
- Read here about the Waimea meeting in an article from West Hawai`i Today. Uncle Isaac Harp is quoted as saying, “What percentage of people need to oppose your project before you stop? The public doesn't want it.”
We’ve also received many e-mails this week from people who were unable to attend, but want to express opposition, here’s your chance!
Written comments on the Environmental Assessment and Finding Of No Significant Impact are due January 24, 2011.
Email to: William.Rogers5@us.army.mil , or mailed to: Directorate of Public Works, Environmental Division (IMPC-HI-PWE), Attn: Mr. William Rogers, 947 Wright Avenue, Wheeler Army Airfield, Schofield Barracks, 96857-5013.
Here’s a link to the EA and Draft FONSI if you’d like to read them for yourself.
The Army is proposing a modernization and expansion of military activities at Pohakuloa, of which we are particularly concerned about High Altitude Mountainous Environment Training (HAMET). This type of training would involve helicopter landings on the slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa.
The last time this training was done in 2003, there was a hard landing in the Mauna Kea Ice Age Natural Area Reserve, which contains the Keanakako`i adze quarry within it. This area is 3.5 miles east of the landing zone! This type of training in this area necessarily means inexpert pilots flying and landing in irreplaceable areas of natural and cultural value. Similar crashes, some of them deadly, have occurred in decidedly less treacherous conditions at Schofield in 2009 and 1996, as well as over Kahuku in 2001.
So, given the public opposition, and the proven high-risk of this training, why is the Army pushing forward without performing a full Environmental Impact Statement? How can they file a Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) when there are known natural and cultural resources in the area? Has the safety of recreational users and cultural practitioners been considered? Questions like these (and others burning in your heart and mind) need to be asked!
Here’s a link to an awesome sample letter submitted by Aunty Cory Harden! Big Mahalo, Aunty!
E holomua kakou,
Shelley
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Summary of Talking Points:
• Dangers to recreational users and cultural practitioners posed by pilot-trainees
• Threats to endangered and protected species in the project area
• Lack of community consultation
• Inadequacy of cultural resource research and surveys
• The questionable safety record of military attack helicopter training in Hawai`i
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Shelley Muneoka
1149 Bethel St., #415
Honolulu, HI 96813
www.kahea.org
blog.kahea.org
phone: 808-524-8220 (O`ahu), 877-585-2432 toll-free
email: kahea-alliance@hawaii.rr.com
KAHEA: the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance is a network of thousands of diverse individuals islands-wide and around the world. Together, we work to secure the strongest possible protections for Hawaii's most ecologically unique and culturally sacred places and resources.
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