Military construction gets boost
By Susan Roth
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The 2003 military construction budget for Hawai'i is climbing with each part of Congress it traverses.
President Bush's budget proposal severely trimmed the $383 million being spent in fiscal 2002, calling for about $204 million in military construction money. But the House passed a bill early yesterday that would raise the tab to $228 million, and the Senate Armed Services Committee on Thursday increased it to $251 million.
The Senate panel's proposal represents a mark likely to be approved on the floor in coming weeks. After that, House and Senate negotiators will work out differences and craft a final bill that may not include all the programs. Members of Hawai'i's congressional delegation who are leaders on the military committees — Sens. Daniel Akaka and Dan Inouye and Rep. Neil Abercrombie — have been working together to boost the military construction budget.
Akaka and Abercrombie, members of the Senate and House Armed Services committees, pushed for inclusion of Hawai'i projects in the authorization bills passed this week. Inouye, chairman of the Senate Defense appropriations subcommittee, is working to ensure that money for each of the projects is included in the actual spending bills.
The Senate committee's defense authorization bill has five military construction projects for Hawai'i, two financed with money specially designated for homeland security. Those two, also included in the House bill, are $4.2 million for security lighting at Pearl Harbor and $1.4 million for flight line security, fencing and gates at Hickam Air Force Base.
The other three projects new to the Senate bill:
• $19.4 million for an electrical system upgrade on Ford Island.
• $13 million for the second phase of improvements to Saddle Road on the Big Island.
• $9.5 million to build a new chapel at the Marine Corps base in Kane'ohe.
The Senate measure also includes several projects Akaka had added to provide money for Hawai'i defense contractors. For instance, a $6 million proposal calls for the installation of new stainless-steel toilets, at a cost of $100,000 each, in a joint project of Corrosion Engineering Services and Honolulu Shipyards International. The toilets are part of a program to retrofit ships to reduce future maintenance costs, according to congressional staff.
Akaka was also instrumental in adding a provision to require the Navy's cleanup of Kaho'olawe continue until certain standards are met. The cleanup originally was to be completed by 2003, but that doesn't appear likely.
"While I remain disappointed that the Navy has communicated its inability to clear Kaho'olawe to the levels agreed to in 1994, I want to ensure that the Navy maximizes its efforts to clear the unexploded ordnance on Kaho'olawe this year," Akaka said.
To the House bill, Abercrombie added $18.5 million for consolidation of a Pearl Harbor waterfront facility and mechanical shop.
"Our economy is still recovering from 9/11, and federal investment provides an important boost," Abercrombie said. "The bottom line here is jobs, contracts and small-business survival."
