Live-fire training to resume in Makua Valley

By Curtis Lum
Advertiser Staff Writer

About 100 Marines from Kane'ohe will conduct live-fire training in Makua Valley beginning Monday under a court-ordered agreement with the community group Malama Makua.

Marines from Company I, 3rd Battalion, 3rd Marine Regiment, will practice squad- and platoon-level training with small arms and live ammunition. The training will be on a smaller scale than exercises the Marines held in April, when live mortars were fired.

Next week's training required the approval of a federal judge because it deviated from a 2001 court settlement between the Army and Malama Makua that allowed the Army to conduct company-sized Combined Arms Live-Fire Exercises, said attorney David Henkin, who represents Malama Makua.

He said military officials and his client reached the settlement on Monday and the order was signed by U.S. District Judge Susan Oki Mollway on Wednesday.

"At least on paper it poses lesser risks to the cultural sites and biological resources than what they did in April," Henkin said.

Since 2001, Mollway has granted five orders that allowed exercises that did not fall under terms of the agreement. The Marines will train from Monday through Friday.

Malama Makua and other community groups object to live-fire training in the 4,190-acre Makua Military Reservation.

The groups said the training threatens archaeological features, animals and endangered species.

In September 1998, a misfired mortar by Marines started a brushfire that consumed about 800 acres in the valley. Last year, an Army controlled burn got out of control and scorched 2,500 acres.

Reach Curtis Lum at 525-8025 or culum@honoluluadvertiser.com.