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Copy, duplicate, forward any information found useful on this page as long as it is for educational purpose only.
Copy, duplicate, forward any information found useful on this page as long as it is for educational purpose only.
A point in fact. These beautiful islands called Hawai'i are grossly contaminated with military toxins of all kinds. The military here has been derelict in its duties to protect island residents.
Seven military caused superfund sites exist in Hawai'i. And according to the Defense Restoration Report as of 2006 there are 824 other contaminated sites throughout these islands. The worst of which is the contamination of Hawai'i with ballistic depleted uranium oxide dust!
Ballistic DU Oxide Dust is nearly, if not totally, invisible. It is still a radioactive dust particle that can float on the wind for long distances and over our communities; AND its half life is 4.5 BILLION YEARS.
BALLISTIC DU: This nuclear waste DU was obtained from nuclear industry to become a weapon, military munitions. It is used to cause great damage through being on fire; being fired or launched or catching on fire to burn. This is where the change occurs. The natural uranium (which no one would want inside our bodies) can be excreted from our bodies somewhat through our kidney but not so with ballistic DU oxide.
DU OXIDE: The act of burning turns the DU to an oxide like a glass ceramic particle. It is still radioactive, it still carries over 4 million electron volts, but once this particle enters the body, it stays in the body. It can not be excreted through the kidney.
These tiny little DU particles come with a powerful wallop of over 4 million electron volts, this is besides its radioactive qualities. The human cells generate about 10 electron volts. Common sense dictates that when 4 million volts contacts a living 10 volt cell the bigger stronger energy will win. The human body has trillions of cells, millions are destroyed and being made everyday. If an inhaled radioactive DU oxides gets in contact with living cell it is best if it dies. The real trouble is when the cell doesn't die but is just disrupted from its normal cycle functioning. This is called a mutation. The cell is abnormally functioning. This is also called cancer. With the internal exposure to DU oxide dust it is only a matter of time for health problems to surface.
Pohakuloa Training Area on Hawai'i Island is contaminated with ballistic DU oxide. The Army's live fire range up on saddle road, has very strong winds almost everyday where they hold live fire training on radioactive contaminated targets. Contaminates drift off the range carried by the wind.
Could the Stryker Brigade practicing war maneuvers (at Pohakuloa, Hawai'i or O'ahu, Hawai'i) stir up the already contaminated radioactive DU DUST on the live fire firing ranges?
The tip of a DU spotting round.
The tip SPENT on a DU spotting round.
Would a B-52 bomber dropping 2,000 lb dummy bombs on Pohakuloa stir up the already contaminated DU on the live fire - firing range?
A peaceful demonstration held by concerned residents of Hawai'i at Mauna Kea State park on May 29, 2007, armed only with signs, a microphone and a Geiger counter, become alarmed when the radiation level spiked to 75 cpm on a gust of wind coming off the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA). Normal background radiation is 5-20 cpm. The Army admits PTA is contaminated with depleted uranium but continues bombing and live fire training on contaminated radioactive ranges.
BALLISTIC DEPLETED URANIUM
OXIDE DUST (BDUOD)
OXIDE DUST (BDUOD)
The red areas on the above map of O'ahu and Hawai'i island depicts the illegal US military occupation mostly on ceded or Crown Lands.
According to the Hawai'i Birth Defects Program one in 17 births in Hawai'i has a recognizable abnormality.
The Hawaiian cultural monitors to Schofield Barracks on O'ahu reported that Maile's sister, who was helping in the artillery field and didn't know she was pregnant...months later she delivered a baby with its intestines outside its body. No one in Hawai'i is looking at military toxins as a possible reason for this high birth defect rate in Hawai'i. Why? Why isn't the State of Hawai'i Public Health Dept. looking at the military toxins leaching into our communities? One reason is the military hides behind misinformation and plausible denial.
The Hawaiian cultural monitors to Schofield Barracks on O'ahu reported that Maile's sister, who was helping in the artillery field and didn't know she was pregnant...months later she delivered a baby with its intestines outside its body. No one in Hawai'i is looking at military toxins as a possible reason for this high birth defect rate in Hawai'i. Why? Why isn't the State of Hawai'i Public Health Dept. looking at the military toxins leaching into our communities? One reason is the military hides behind misinformation and plausible denial.
The Starbulletin reported on March 11, 2004 that 23,000 children in Hawai'i are in Special Education and 720 children were identified as having autism. "Childhood autism in Hawai'i is growing at epidemic rate, according to Autism Society officials. No one knows why? It could be genetic or environmental (chemical exposure.)" The Department of Health (DOH) and the Department of Education (DOE) spending for special education needs has risen from approximately 75 million dollars a year in 1994 to over 350 million dollars annually in 2004.
HAWAI'I KEIKI
(OUR ISLAND CHILDREN)
(OUR ISLAND CHILDREN)
State of Hawai'i Health Dept. CANCER MAPS of O'ahu and Hawai'i Island. On Hawai'i Island Kona has a 12% higher cancer rate. And on O'ahu east of Pearl Harbor has a greater than 12% higher cancer rate per 1,000 persons. Pearl Harbor is one of the 7 military caused superfund sites in Hawai'i. Yet no one is looking at military toxins as a possible cause of this high incidence of cancer cases in Hawai'i.
RESOLUTION 639-08 URGING THE UNITED STATES MILITARY TO ADDRESS THE HAZARDS OF DEPLETED URANIUM AT THE POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA.
WHEREAS, in the early 1960's the United States Military used the
Pohakuloa Training Area for firing a formerly classified weapon, the
Davy Crockett recoilless gun, which has created the presence of
depleted uranium (DU) in the impact area at the U.S. Army Garrison,
Pohakuloa; and
WHEREAS, the World Health Organization has released several reports and scientific studies concerning the health risks from exposure to depleted uranium; and
WHEREAS, depleted uranium is a chemically toxic and radioactive heavy metal with a half-life of 4.6 billion years; and
WHEREAS, depleted uranium emits radioactive alpha particles that can cause cancer when inhaled or ingested and also cause kidney and lung damage; and
WHEREAS, there is a public health need to ensure the safe storage,
disposal, and clean-up of munitions and other products or materials
containing depleted uranium at the Pohakuloa Training Area to protect all residents of Hawai'i Island; and
WHEREAS, the United States Military is hereby requested, with
urgency, to address the potential hazards of depleted uranium at the
Pohakuloa Training Area with the following five-point plan:
1. Ordering a complete halt to B-2 bombing missions and to all live
firing exercises and other activities at the Pohakuloa Training Area
that create dust until there is an assessment and clean up of the
depleted uranium already present;
2. Establishing a permanent, high tech monitoring system with procedures to ensure air quality control;
3. Establishing a citizen monitoring system to work closely with
Military experts to assure transparency and community confidence;
4. Hosting quarterly meetings to update and inform the public; and
5.Ensuring permanent funds are available for the monitoring program;
now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAI'I that the U.S. Military will incorporate the five-point plan to address the potential hazards of depleted uranium at the Pohakuloa Training Area.
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED that the County Clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to Colonel Howard Killian, Deputy Region Director, Army Installation Management Command-Pacific; all members of the Hawai'i State Legislature; Senator Daniel K. Inouye; Senator Daniel K. Akaka; Congressman Neil Abercrombie, and Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono.
Hawai'i County
RESOLUTION 639-08
Date: July 2, 2008
US Army Seeks License
in Hawaii from NRC.
Concerned Hawaiian residents speak out in written testimony
in Hawaii from NRC.
Concerned Hawaiian residents speak out in written testimony
Closing Comment
As a grassroots educator and I want the world to be familiar with these current events happening in Hawai'i. We were never taught this truth in school. Please help, this truth depends on word of mouth and passing it forward.
I believe the Hawaiian Islands are the piko (belly button, umbilicus) to the world. Heal the piko! And the rest of our wonderful planet will be flooded with ALOHA that will come with that healing. Please feel free to copy, distribute, pass forward and link for educational purpose.
Mahalo ... Lindafaye Kroll BSN ... lindafaye@alsartgallery.com
As a grassroots educator and I want the world to be familiar with these current events happening in Hawai'i. We were never taught this truth in school. Please help, this truth depends on word of mouth and passing it forward.
I believe the Hawaiian Islands are the piko (belly button, umbilicus) to the world. Heal the piko! And the rest of our wonderful planet will be flooded with ALOHA that will come with that healing. Please feel free to copy, distribute, pass forward and link for educational purpose.
Mahalo ... Lindafaye Kroll BSN ... lindafaye@alsartgallery.com
http://www.hi.sierraclub.org/Hawaii/mokuloa.html mh@interpac.net
Contact person: Ms. Cory Hardin
As the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) meetings in Hawai'i on a depleted uranium (DU) license for the Army, DU studies at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) are being questioned, and the NRC and another agency involved in studies have come under fire.
"What is proposed by the U.S. Army for future studies at PTA will fall far short of providing the best information possible at this time", said Dr. Mike Reimer, PhD, a Kona geologist, in a March letter to Army Colonel Howard Killian. "…The study design…may present itself as a feel-good approach, but it is unfortunately misleading…" he adds. Reimer's background includes chairing the environmental radioactivity section for special meetings within the American Nuclear Society; doing radiation-site contamination evaluations in Eastern Europe; and serving as guest editor for the Journal of Radioanalytical and Nuclear Chemistry.
Dr. Lorrin Pang, a WHO consultant, said "Those in charge of the [DU] assessment…do not adequately address the… form of the material, the routes of exposure, distribution in the body of non-soluble vs. soluble compounds, target organs, nor the variations in half-life and clearance from the body…", in a March e-mail. He added, "…their own referral agencies and advisors on this topic were those whose science was so flawed that they missed diagnosing the existence of Gulf War syndrome… the survey testing…will miss all large remnants of Spotter rounds…The surveys lack controls…to evaluate the specificity and sensitivity of the tests as well as control sites to compare to background radiation levels…The sampling scheme…is very subjective and hard to interpret…" Dr. Pang is a former Army doctor and has been listed in America's Best Doctors. He is also director of Maui Department of Health, but speaks on DU as a private citizen.
But an Army handout says "DU present on Hawai'i's ranges does not pose an imminent or immediate threat to human health".
"To evaluate conflicting views, we invited the Army to participate in a forum with Dr. Reimer and Dr. Pang," said Cory Harden of Sierra Club, Moku Loa group, "but it appears it will be several months before the Army is prepared to back up its conclusions in a forum."
Elsewhere, actions of both NRC and another agency involved with the PTA studies–Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR)–have been criticized.
The NRC's recent decision to classify DU as Class A waste was called an "arbitrary and capricious mischaracterization" by the chair and a member of a Congressional Subcommittee on Energy and the Environment, who added that "requirements for safe and secure disposal of depleted uranium are much greater than what is required for Class A waste."
The ATSDR was criticized for using "flawed methods to investigate depleted uranium exposures" in New York State and refusing "to acknowledge a link between a cancer cluster in Pennsylvania and environmental contamination despite persuasive evidence". The criticism came from witnesses testifying recently to the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Science and Technology, Subcommittee on Investigations and Oversight. (*ATSDR was also criticized by groups at the former training range in Vieques, Puerto Rico – kok)
Earlier, the Subcommittee said ATSDR's "scientifically-flawed" report and "botched response resulted in tens of thousands of survivors of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita remaining in travel trailers laden with high levels of formaldehyde" and there was "a concerted and continuing effort by the agency"s leadership to both mask their own involvement…and to push the blame…down the line".
"We urge the public to comment to the NRC and insist that recommendations from Dr. Reimer and Dr. Pang be written into the Army DU license."
Dr. Doug Rokke The US military expert on radiation during Gulf War I is dying from radiation exposure.
Jim Albertini
Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
P.O.Box AB
Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760
email: JA@interpac.net
Visit us on the web at: www.malu-aina.org
To the NRC:
I hereby request an NRC hearing on the Army's request for a depleted uranium possession-only permit.
I request to join Cory Harden and Isaac D. Harp requests and petition to intervene.
This is the basis for my contention:
l. The Army is basically ignoring Hawaii County Council's resolution 638-08, passed (8-l) on July 2, 2008 which lists eight action points, especially halting all live-fire and anything that creates dust at Pohakuloa training Area (PTA) until an assessment and clean up of the DU contamination already present. I was present at Mauna Kea State park on May 29, 2007 when citizen radiation monitors recorded readings of up to 75 counts per minute with dust devils coming directly off PTA range ll, where Davy Crockett DU spotting rounds had been fired, located l-2 miles away from Mauna Kea Park. The fact of Davy Crockett DU spotting rounds fired at PTA was confirmed by the Army in Aug. 2007, three months after our recorded radiation readings.
2. Army search of contamination is inadequate. Less than l% of PTA has been surveyed for DU contamination. There needs to be permanent independent air monitoring around the base to determine radiation coming off the base.
3. There needs to be a thorough and complete search of record archives (including classified files) other possible DU munitions used at PTA and other sites in Hawaii beyond the Davy Crockett DU spotting round.
Davy Crockett was first used at PTA in l962. The Army claims DU has been banned in training since l996. What about the years inbetween. That's 34 years.
4. Military has ignored Hawaii County Council resolution 70l-08 naming Dr. Lorrin Pang, MD as the official county representative on the DU issue with the Army.
5. The Army makes DU health hazard disclaimers without basis and ignores inhalation hazard of DU oxide.
6. PTA is Hawaiian Kingdom Sacred Land that is under illegal U.S. occupation. There is no legal basis for the U.S. to be bombing and continuing control at PTA.
7. Decommission PTA instead of expanding live-fire by a factor of two --from 7 million rounds a year to l4.8 million rounds according to the Army's Stryer EIS.
8. The State of Hawaii lease of land to PTA does not allow for a nuclear waste dump at PTA. The lease to PTA should be canceled.
9. Reports of animal tumors in the PTA area need to be investigated for possible links to DU exposure.
l0. The pre-cautionary principle needs to be a guiding light for all decision making and involving citizen participation in the decision making process. Afterall, it is the citizens that the Army is suppose to be defending, not endangering.
The NRC needs to be aware of the military's history of abuse in Hawaii.
In the l960s, around the same time the Army was testing DU Davy Crockett spotting rounds at PTA, the Army got a lease of State land in the Waiakea Forest Reserve, which is the city of Hilo's watershed, to do what the Army said would be "weather testing." Well the Army lied. They were not doing weather testing, they were testing chemical warfare agents in Hilo's watershed. One of the agents was nerve gas GB that can kill in minutes in dosages of one milligram, approximately l/50 of a drop. When this military abuse and lying was exposed by Hawaii Congresswoman, Patsy T. Mink, citizen outrage was expressed and the State lease to the Army was canceled. The same should be done today with PTA.
(For more details on the history of military abuse in Hawaii read The Dark Side of Paradise --Hawaii in a Nuclear World, by James V. Albertini, et all.)
Other examples of military environmental abuse: On Hawaii Island, there are 57 known present and former military sites, totaling hundreds of thousands of acres of land and coastal waters that are in need of environmental clean-up. Many of these sites are littered with unexploded ordnance and other chemical toxins. The projected cost of such clean up is in the billions of dollars. But the military claims "No money." The military has plenty of money to make its mess but little or no money to clean up its mess. This travesty of justice and abuse of the earth must end.
Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
P.O.Box AB
Kurtistown, Hawai’i 96760
email: JA@interpac.net
Visit us on the web at: www.malu-aina.org
To the NRC:
I hereby request an NRC hearing on the Army's request for a depleted uranium possession-only permit.
I request to join Cory Harden and Isaac D. Harp requests and petition to intervene.
This is the basis for my contention:
l. The Army is basically ignoring Hawaii County Council's resolution 638-08, passed (8-l) on July 2, 2008 which lists eight action points, especially halting all live-fire and anything that creates dust at Pohakuloa training Area (PTA) until an assessment and clean up of the DU contamination already present. I was present at Mauna Kea State park on May 29, 2007 when citizen radiation monitors recorded readings of up to 75 counts per minute with dust devils coming directly off PTA range ll, where Davy Crockett DU spotting rounds had been fired, located l-2 miles away from Mauna Kea Park. The fact of Davy Crockett DU spotting rounds fired at PTA was confirmed by the Army in Aug. 2007, three months after our recorded radiation readings.
2. Army search of contamination is inadequate. Less than l% of PTA has been surveyed for DU contamination. There needs to be permanent independent air monitoring around the base to determine radiation coming off the base.
3. There needs to be a thorough and complete search of record archives (including classified files) other possible DU munitions used at PTA and other sites in Hawaii beyond the Davy Crockett DU spotting round.
Davy Crockett was first used at PTA in l962. The Army claims DU has been banned in training since l996. What about the years inbetween. That's 34 years.
4. Military has ignored Hawaii County Council resolution 70l-08 naming Dr. Lorrin Pang, MD as the official county representative on the DU issue with the Army.
5. The Army makes DU health hazard disclaimers without basis and ignores inhalation hazard of DU oxide.
6. PTA is Hawaiian Kingdom Sacred Land that is under illegal U.S. occupation. There is no legal basis for the U.S. to be bombing and continuing control at PTA.
7. Decommission PTA instead of expanding live-fire by a factor of two --from 7 million rounds a year to l4.8 million rounds according to the Army's Stryer EIS.
8. The State of Hawaii lease of land to PTA does not allow for a nuclear waste dump at PTA. The lease to PTA should be canceled.
9. Reports of animal tumors in the PTA area need to be investigated for possible links to DU exposure.
l0. The pre-cautionary principle needs to be a guiding light for all decision making and involving citizen participation in the decision making process. Afterall, it is the citizens that the Army is suppose to be defending, not endangering.
The NRC needs to be aware of the military's history of abuse in Hawaii.
In the l960s, around the same time the Army was testing DU Davy Crockett spotting rounds at PTA, the Army got a lease of State land in the Waiakea Forest Reserve, which is the city of Hilo's watershed, to do what the Army said would be "weather testing." Well the Army lied. They were not doing weather testing, they were testing chemical warfare agents in Hilo's watershed. One of the agents was nerve gas GB that can kill in minutes in dosages of one milligram, approximately l/50 of a drop. When this military abuse and lying was exposed by Hawaii Congresswoman, Patsy T. Mink, citizen outrage was expressed and the State lease to the Army was canceled. The same should be done today with PTA.
(For more details on the history of military abuse in Hawaii read The Dark Side of Paradise --Hawaii in a Nuclear World, by James V. Albertini, et all.)
Other examples of military environmental abuse: On Hawaii Island, there are 57 known present and former military sites, totaling hundreds of thousands of acres of land and coastal waters that are in need of environmental clean-up. Many of these sites are littered with unexploded ordnance and other chemical toxins. The projected cost of such clean up is in the billions of dollars. But the military claims "No money." The military has plenty of money to make its mess but little or no money to clean up its mess. This travesty of justice and abuse of the earth must end.
FEDERAL ACTIONS QUESTIONED
As of November 2009 the US Army has ignored County of Hawai'i requests for the precautionary principle as stated in
RESOLUTION 639-08 URGING the US Military to address the Hazards of Depleted Uranium at the Pohakuloa Training Area. Instead the Military does this...
RESOLUTION 639-08 URGING the US Military to address the Hazards of Depleted Uranium at the Pohakuloa Training Area. Instead the Military does this...
Another letter presented to the NRC is very well written by Dr. Marya Mann, resident of Kona, entitled...
Future Generations are Counting on Us.
Nuclear-Free Blessings,
Marya Mann, Ph. D.
Please feel free to contact me at www.maryamann.com
Hawaii Must Not Become Nuclear Waste Dump
NRC testimony by Lindafaye Kroll BSN
email lindafaye@alfsartgallery.com
Links Relating to Issues Hawaiian
Hawaiian History
History of Hula
Hawaiian Language
Protect Hawaii
Toxic Hawaii
Ten Fingers 10 Toes
Mauna Kea
Mauna Loa
Wiapio Valley
Hawaii Volcano
Diamond Head
Mokulua Islands, O'ahu
Kilauea Lighthouse, Kauai
www.dmzhawaii.org
www.noduhawaii.com/
index.html
Hawaiian History
History of Hula
Hawaiian Language
Protect Hawaii
Toxic Hawaii
Ten Fingers 10 Toes
Mauna Kea
Mauna Loa
Wiapio Valley
Hawaii Volcano
Diamond Head
Mokulua Islands, O'ahu
Kilauea Lighthouse, Kauai
www.dmzhawaii.org
www.noduhawaii.com/
index.html
Quote on US flag:
"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."
"There is no flag large enough to cover the shame of killing innocent people."
MAHALO FOR VISITING
Please Pass Information Forward.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Where there is United States military occupation there is US military unregulated contamination and pollution.
A Kanaka Maoli of Royal ancestry speaks out to NRC...
DEPLETED URANIUM HEARING -------IMPORTANT STUFF VS.
PROJECT EXTERMINATION OF OUR PEOPLE!
WE NEED
24/7 AIR MONITORING
AROUND ALL MILITARY LIVE FIRE RANGES LOCATED THROUGHOUT
THE HAWAIIAN ISLANDS.
THE TESTS WILL TARGET MILITARY TOXINS
AND USE COMPREHENSIVE TRANSPARENT TESTING METHODS.
US Army Depleted Uranium
Training Film (with edits)
Training Film (with edits)
Thanks, But No Tanks
Story by Kyle Kajehiro
Story by Kyle Kajehiro
Thousands of DU spotting rounds from the Davey Crocket are suspected to have been used in the live fire training ranges in Hawai'i. See the video on the M65 Recoiless Nuclear Rifle
NRC Denies Request of Island Residents For Hearing Challenging Army's Request For License To Possess Depleted Uranium
Submitted by Chip on Tue, 2010-03-02 04:38.
* Human Rights
* Military Industrial Complex
* Nuclear
Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) denies request of Island residents for a hearing challenging the Army's request for a license to possess DU radiation | Press Release Feb. 24, 2010
Jim Albertini, one of four Hawaii residents challenging the Army's request for a license to possess Depleted Uranium (DU) radiation at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) and Schofield Barracks said: "The NRC's order denying us a hearing is not surprising. The NRC has never denied a license request. The NRC appears to be a rubber stamp for the military and the nuclear industry, much like the so-called Bank regulators are a rubber stamp for the Wall St. Banksters ongoing criminal enterprise. The deck is stacked against the citizen and taxpayer in challenging policies that favor special interests. The heart of the issue is ignored and the case is reduced to using procedural legal technicalities to deny citizens their rights and their voice. Legal bureaucrats in Rockville, Maryland, paid with our tax dollars, have determined that we who live here in Hawaii have no standing to challenge the military poisoning of our island home with radiation. What kind of justice, freedom and democracy is that?"
Albertini said "In plain language, a military license to possess DU in the heart of our island is a license for a nuclear waste dump. The state of Hawaii (BLNR) that leases land to the military on its 133,000 acre PTA base for 65 years for a total of $1.00 should cancel the lease. We need to malama the aina not abuse it."
Further contact: Jim Albertini 808-966-7622
On 2/24/2010 9:17 AM, Docket, Hearing wrote:
Attached is a Licensing Board Memorandum and Order (Denying Requests for Hearing) (LBP-10-04), US Army Installation Command (Schofield Barracks, Oahu, Hawaii, and Pohakuloa Training Area, Island of Hawaii, Hawaii), Docket No. 40-9083, served February 24, 2010.
Nancy Greathead
Rulemakings and Adjudications Staff, Office of the Secretary
PRESS RELEASE
Cory Harden
mh@interpac.net
For immediate release
February 24, 2010, Hilo, Hawai’i
Attachment -- denial of request for hearing
DEPLETED URANIUM HEARING DENIED
Petitioners challenging an Army application for a license to possess depleted uranium (DU) expressed disappointment after the Atomic Safety and Licensing Board of the Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) ruled that the petitioners lack standing.
The petitioners are Jim Albertini of Malu Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action, Cory Harden, and Isaac Harp, all from Hawai’i Island, and Luwella Leonardi of O’ahu.
The petitioners questioned the Army’s assessment of hazards from DU spotting rounds found in Hawai’i. The Army denied having DU in Hawai’i until 2006, when citizen groups announced they had obtained Army e-mails reporting the 2005 discovery of DU spotting rounds at Schofield Barracks on the island of O’ahu. The spotting rounds were part of a classified Davy Crockett weapon system used in the 1960s. The Army acknowledged the find, and later found more spotting rounds at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on Hawai‘i Island. The rounds were also distributed to twelve other states and three foreign countries in the 1960s. The Army says worldwide it had about 75,000 rounds, each about eight inches long and containing about six and a half ounces of DU alloy.
Albertini, Harden, and Harp said Army searches, reports, and air monitoring plans for DU at Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on Hawai’i Island are inadequate, so airborne DU from live-fire and dummy bombs impacting undiscovered spotting rounds may go undetected. They noted that the same concerns were expressed by several professionals: Dr. Mike Reimer, a geologist, and Dr. Marshall Blann, a consultant to Los Alamos National Laboratory, both from Kona; and Dr. Lorrin Pang from Maui, a former Army doctor who is a consultant to the World Health Organization.
Albertini and Harden called for a search of classified and unclassified records by all military forces in Hawai’i for other forgotten radioactive hazards.
Albertini called for independent testing and for investigation of reports that animals from the PTA area have tumors. He said the Army has ignored Hawai‘i County Council resolutions concerning DU.
Albertini and Harp called for a halt to live-fire and other activities that might disperse dust at PTA, and questioned whether the Army has disclosed the full extent of its DU use in Hawai’i
Harp expressed concern about high rates of cancer and of a rare neurological disease on Hawai‘i Island.
Leonardi said the Army dug up and trucked out DU-contaminated soil at Schofield, but the Army said the soil was uncontaminated.
“I’m somewhat encouraged by two things--NRC agrees there may be more DU than the Army claims, and NRC wants a ban on high-explosive munitions in DU areas written into the license,” said Harden.
Albertini said, “PTA should be “shut down…cleaned up and returned to its rightful owners--the independent nation of Hawai’i.” He added, “We are all downwind.“
Harp, a Native Hawaiian, said, “The time has come for the United States to clean up their messes, repair their damages, and de-occupy our country,” and added, “It is the Army that has no standing here.”