EDITORIAL
Cleanup is needed to justify new sites

It has taken far too much time, but it still remains good news that the military is now moving seriously to clean up areas of Waikane Valley on O'ahu's Windward side that had long been used for live-fire training exercises.

As described by Windward O'ahu Writer Eloise Aguiar, the plan continues to fall short of what was promised when the military leased the lush, jungle-like property for training during World War II.

The promise was that when the site was no longer needed for training, it would be restored and all dangerous unexploded ordnance and other materials would be removed.

And indeed, a cleanup was started but was never completed for cost reasons.

Now, the military says, some 874 acres of the former training site are eligible for cleanup under a new program called the Defense Environmental Restoration Program.

But another 187 acres, formerly owned by the Kamaka family, will not be cleaned up. That parcel has been fenced off and condemned.

Military officials say the site is too cluttered with dangerous unexploded ordnance to risk a cleanup, let alone other uses such as training or farming.

To the greatest extent possible, the military should do its level best to clean up the entire site, including the troublesome Kamaka parcel.

That was the clear desire of community members who attended a public hearing on the cleanup proposal Wednesday night. The argument that the Kamaka parcel was not included because it remains under active Marine control seemed unconvincing to the people attending the hearing.

This matter is more than keeping a simple promise. It is also relevant to the military's current training needs here.

In addition to presenting the compelling argument that training sites are needed to get our troops ready for combat, the military argues it is a good steward of the lands it uses.

In some cases, that has clearly been so. In other cases, the record of stewardship is less than sterling.

If, even long after the fact, the military can do right by its commitments and intent in Waikane, its case for a claim on new training sites will become far more compelling.