Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 25, Number 10, 1 October 2008 — Mākua draft EIS [ARTICLE]

Mākua draft EIS

Public comment is sought through Nov. 3 on a supplemental draft environmental impact statement by the Army to resume live-fire training in Mākua Valley on 0'ahu's Leeward Coast. Four public meetings will be held in October, with informational briefings from 5:30 to 6:45 p.m., and public coimnent from 7 to 9:30 p.m.: » Oct. 6 - Nānākuh High School » Oct. 7 - an O'ahu loeahon to be determined » Oct. 8 - Aunty Sally Kaleohano's Lū'au Hale, Hilo » Oct. 9 - Waimea (Hawai'i Island) Coimnunity Center The Army is weighing alternatives ranging from no live-fire training to conducting up to 50 company-level combined arms live-fire exercises and 200 eonvoy live-fire exercises per year. It favors alternative 3, whieh involves weapons systems including tracer aimnunhion; inert, tube-launched, optically tracked, wire-guided (TOW) nūssiles; 2.75-ineh rockets; and illunūnation munitions, an Army news release said. It expects

to issue the ūnal EIS in spring 2009. Mākua, home to sites considered sacred by Native Hawaiians, has been used as a live-fire training area for the nūlitary since 1943. In 2001 a federal district court judge halted live-fire training at the valley after the nonprofit Mālama Mākua sued the Army seeking an EIS. The newly released draft revises a 2005 draft and exanūnes the use of Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai'i Island as an alternative as well as Army responses to a new 2007-'08 biological opinion regarding Mākua, among other things. Conunents may be subnūtted online at garrison.hawaii.army. nūl/makuaeis; by fax to 808-656-3162; by e-mail to usaghipao makuaeis@hawaii.anny.mil; or by mail to: Attn: Mākua EIS-Public Conunents, USAG-HI Public Affairs Office, 742 Santos Dumont, WAAF, Schofield Barracks, HI 96857. The supplemental draft EIS is available electronically at garrison.hawaii.army.mil/makuaeis. Copies are available at five state library locations: the main library in Honolulu, Wahiawā, Wai'anae, Pearl City, Kona and Kamuela. For questions about subnūtting public conunents, eall 808-656-3152.