Compromise proposed in Makua case

By Walter Wright
Advertiser Staff Writer

Allowing the Army to resume live-fire training in Makua Valley and requiring it to develop an environmental impact statement at the same time is a compromise that could settle the dispute over the valley out of court, State Rep. Bob McDermott said yesterday.

Keola Ah Nee, right, listens to a presentation about weapons to be used in live-fire exercises. Advertiser library photo • Jan. 20, 2001

He said unnamed Army officials and community leaders told him the plan had possibilities.

Army officials could not be reached yesterday.

But longtime activist Frenchy DeSoto said yesterday that she was "willing to listen to anything, (but) until I hear from the military, this is an offer up in the air that somebody put out."

"We want to talk about something we understand clearly, not these trial balloons, no matter how well intended they are."

DeSoto added that state Sen. Cal Kawamoto D-19th (Waipahu, Pearl City) had proposed a similar compromise in January.

The Army suspended training in Makua in September 1998 so the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service could evaluate the effect of live ammunition training on endangered plants and animals on the 4,190-acre valley.

Training was set to resume in November 1999, but was delayed by a federal court settlement on an earlier lawsuit filed against the Army by Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund and Malama Makua. All parties agreed that use of the valley would not resume until a study was completed, but the settlement did not stipulate what kind of study should be done.

Then Earthjustice and Malama Makua sued the Army again.

A decision on the latest suit could come this month, McDermott said, and no matter who wins, the other side will probably appeal.

But if the parties could agree to allow training to resume while the EIS is developed, "that's common ground where both sides get something," he said.

Kawamoto yesterday welcomed McDermott's participation, and said he thought additional specifics such as price tags for a cultural center, ordnance removal and water testing made the idea more attractive.

When he proposed the train-while-studying compromise in January, Kawamoto said, "the Army said they wanted to work more with the community themselves, and Frenchy said she wanted an EIS."

Kawamoto said he had some indications the Army is prepared to do an EIS, but he is apprehensive about more delays. "We cannot afford not to let the military train, and the EIS for the H-3 Freeway took 10 years. The Army doesn't have that much time, and if they don't get their training they are going to move," Kawamoto said.

"Then we have another community in deep trouble. If the Army can't train, then Wahiawa is a dead town, they are going to die. During Desert Storm, Wahiawa was a ghost town.

"We've got to burst the bubble on both sides and give both sides what they want."

McDermott, who served two hitches in the Marine Corps before mustering out as a captain, held a press conference yesterday to advance the idea. "We owe it to our young men and women in uniform to be properly trained at all times," he said.

"There's an old saying, the more you sweat in training, the less you bleed in war."

At the same time, McDermott said, "we also have an obligation to listen to and address legitimate community concerns...Consequently it is necessary to perform an Environmental Impact Statement."

McDermott said yesterday he is considering running against

U.S. Rep. Patsy Mink, in whose district the valley lies.