Accord reached on Makua training
By Karen Blakeman
Advertiser Staff Writer
The Marines will conduct limited live-fire training in Makua Valley next week under a settlement reached yesterday between the military and Malama Makua, a community group concerned about the training's effect on endangered species and cultural resources.
The agreement will allow the Marines to use mortars only if a computer model shows that the wind, grass moisture and other factors indicate a low likelihood of fire.
"Although this agreement limits the ability of our soldiers to train as completely as they will fight in the global war against terrorism," Army spokesman Troy Griffin said in a written statement issued yesterday, "the Army and Marine Corps will continue to do whatever it takes for soldiers and Marines — our nation's sons and daughters — to train for combat in Makua."
Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who represents Malama Makua, said the compromise took into account the military's need for training and the desire to protect the 45 endangered or threatened species at Makua.
"Since the Marines announced their training plans, we have been working with the military to find a common-sense approach," Henkin said. "We were finally able to find common ground: no mortars, rockets or other weapons that pose a fire risk unless the burn index is in the green — unless Smokey Bear says it is safe."
The exercise is scheduled to begin Monday and continue for five days. It will involve about 100 Marines from the 3rd Marine Regiment training in platoon-size groups using a variety of weapons, possibly including 60 mm mortars. The Marines involved are part of a rapid-deployment group soon to be en route to Okinawa.
The military will take burn-index readings every 15 minutes during the training, according to the settlement. If the reading is in the green, or low-risk range, the Marines will use the mortars. If it is in the yellow or medium-risk range, the Marines will restrict themselves to rifles and other small arms.
A reading in the red, or high-risk range, has required training to halt, even before the terms of the settlement were imposed.
Consultation ongoing
The terms of the settlement will remain in place while the Army consults with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to determine the overall effect of military training activities on the endangered species of the area.
Henkin said such consultations routinely take five to six months. The settlement also prohibits prescribed or controlled burns until the consultation period is complete.
On March 19, U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway granted a temporary restraining order banning live-fire training by the Marines after the lawsuit by Malama Makua argued that the training would be a fire hazard.
Approval still needed
A hearing was set for April 19 to determine whether the court ban should have been extended until a trial was held on the lawsuit, but that hearing will be canceled if Mollway approves the settlement submitted to her yesterday.
Malama Makua and the Army have been battling in the courts over environmental concerns in Makua Valley since 1998. Henkin said letters between environmental groups and the Army, debating such concerns, date to the 1980s.
Griffin said the Army has worked hard to be good stewards of the land.
"The Army has worked diligently with individuals and groups in the community to address their concerns about environmental and cultural assets not only in Makua, but in training areas throughout the state," Griffin wrote in the Army's statement released yesterday. "In Makua alone, the Army has invested more than $2 million a year in these programs every year since 1995."
In recent years, Makua Valley has been the site of frequent fires, most of which were caused by the use of mortars and prescribed burns.
The Army temporarily suspended training in Makua in 1998 after a series of fires, including an 800-acre blaze that was touched off by a misfired mortar during a live-fire exercise.
In July, a prescribed burn to rid the area of unexploded ordnance burned out of control and blackened 2,500 acres.
Reach Karen Blakeman at 535-2430 or kblakeman@honoluluadvertiser.com.
