Stationing a Stryker brigade in Hawai'i — along with one already in Alaska — provides a second important forward location in the Pacific from which to launch the fast-response units and meet national security needs, the Army said in an environmental report released yesterday.

A more-than-600-page supplemental environmental impact statement, completed after a legal challenge, said Hawai'i is the best location for the permanent basing of the brigade, which has 4,105 soldiers and about 320 Stryker armored vehicles.

The EIS examined the merits of keeping the Stryker brigade in Hawai'i, or sending it to Alaska or Colorado, and stated Hawai'i is the preferred alternative.

The report said Hawai'i provides "strategic flexibility" for the military to deploy a Stryker brigade for Pacific contingencies, something not possible if the vehicles have been winterized to endure cold Alaskan weather.

Those modifications would not allow them to function properly if required to deploy rapidly to "tropical climates of the South Pacific," the Army said.

"The Stryker vehicle is the most advanced weapon system used by any country in the southeastern Pacific Rim. It therefore can provide a dominant force for contingency operations," the report said in support of the Hawai'i basing.

David Henkin, an Earthjustice attorney who represents three Hawaiian groups in a 2004 lawsuit, said the environmental analysis is flawed.

"They put a Stryker brigade in Alaska. Now they're saying, 'Yeah, but a lot of times it's too cold, and we can't move it. C'mon," Henkin said.

A strategic decision was made to place a Stryker brigade in Alaska, and the winter constraint is a made-up issue, Henkin said.

"People need to understand, it's not a question of being for the military or against the military," Henkin added. "It's a question of, is this particular project a good fit for Hawai'i? What this EIS is supposed to answer is whether or not there are other places where it's a better fit, and on initial read, there are some serious problems that we're going to have to take a serious look at."

The release of the EIS is a significant milestone for the Army, which seeks to settle the basing of a unit that already has been in Hawai'i for several years.

But it's not over yet, even from the Army's perspective. A final "Record of Decision" on the basing is expected by the Army in March.

The EIS states that on Dec. 12, the deputy chief of staff of the Army selected Hawai'i as the Army's preferred alternative primarily because it is best able to meet the Army's national security needs for the Pacific.

"In making the decision, he was fully informed as to the limitations in Hawai'i in terms of training ranges, maneuver land, and impacts to sensitive environmental resources," the report said.

A requirement of the basing examination was that if Hawai'i didn't keep the Stryker brigade, it would receive another brigade in a swap-out from either Fort Richardson in Alaska or Fort Carson in Colorado. That would mean the arrival of an airborne brigade from Alaska, or an infantry brigade from Colorado.

Any of the outcomes will mean a sizeable economic impact for Hawai'i, Henkin noted.

About $200 million of the $700 million in planned Stryker projects here already have been spent, he said. Some of the Stryker projects were completed; others were halted by court order.

Eliminating "Battle Area Complexes" at Schofield Barracks and on the Big Island — which pose the biggest threats to cultural sites and endangered species — would mean a loss of $72 million in work, Henkin said.

But $600 million of the total upgrades are Army modernizations needed whether the Stryker brigade is here or not, he said.

"So for those people looking at this from the economics for the state, we could still get the influx of soldiers with payrolls, we could get the construction money, and we don't have to accept the destruction of our cultural and natural heritage associated with the Stryker brigade," Henkin said.

The Army has said repeatedly it believes it can balance training needs with the need to protect the environment, and spends millions every year for environmental preservation in Hawai'i.

The Army in 2001 picked Hawai'i for one of its now seven planned Stryker brigades. Then-Army Chief of Staff Gen. Eric Shinseki, a Kaua'i native, said the basing added balance to the Pacific, an area of growing importance, following a Cold War posture centered on Europe.

The supplemental EIS was completed after three groups — 'Ilio'ulaokalani Coalition, Na 'Imi Pono and Kipuka — sued in 2004 to halt the Hawai'i Stryker project. The lawsuit charged that the Stryker project would damage Native Hawaiian cultural sites and harm endangered species and their habitats.

In October 2006, the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the Army violated federal environmental law by not adequately considering locations outside Hawai'i for the Stryker brigade.

The court ordered the Army to complete a supplemental EIS.

The outcome will determine whether the Stryker brigade soldiers, who are now deployed to Iraq, will return late this year or early in 2009 to Schofield Barracks, Alaska or Colorado.

Henkin said he questions why a separate Army environmental study looking at increasing the size of the service said new Stryker brigades could be located at Fort Bliss in Texas, the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, or the Yakima Training Center and Fort Lewis, both in Washington state.

The EIS for Hawai'i's Stryker brigade said the Army initially looked at 140 installations before determining that Schofield Barracks, Fort Carson in Colorado, and Fort Richardson in Alaska, were "reasonable alternatives."

Among the criteria was the need to be able to accommodate the Stryker brigade when it returns from Iraq.

Henkin said in particular, he questions why the Army did not further examine Fort Lewis — a base that the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said should be examined as an alternative for the Hawai'i brigade.

Henkin had argued for Hawai'i's Stryker brigade to be moved to Fort Lewis, which has two such units now, is getting a third, and which Henkin said Army documents show is in line for a fourth Stryker brigade.

The Army said it removed Fort Lewis from consideration in part because the base didn't have a non-Stryker unit that could be moved to Hawai'i in exchange for Hawai'i's Stryker brigade.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.