Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 26, Number 9, 1 September 2009 — Army faces another legal battle over Mōkua [ARTICLE]

Army faces another legal battle over Mōkua

The community group Mālama Mākua has asked a federal judge to set aside an environmental impact statement, an action that would halt the military's plans to resume live-ammunition training in Mākua Valley on O'ahu. Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who represents Mālama Mākua, said that the final EIS released by the Army in June failed to include key studies of proposed training impacts on land and marine resources and cultural sites located within the Mākua Military Reservation. Henkin said that these studies are required under terms of a court settlement that has placed a hold on most live-fire military training operations in the valley. For the training to resume, Mālama Mākua is asking that EIS be redone. Meanwhile, some Leeward Coast residents say the military should make good on a standing promise dating back to the 1940s to return the land to Hawai'i so that the valley's cultural, historic and enviromnental legacy ean be restored. The Army has said that it has satisfied the terms of the court agreement. An Army spokesperson said

that the final EIS provides the basis for a sound plan for mitigating impacts of proposed mihtary training exercises. The spokesperson said it is not the Army's policy to comment on pending litigation.