Big Island News: Report on NRC Meetings from Jim Albertini
The U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) held public meetings/hearings on Oahu and in Hilo and Kona this week. A broad cross section of people, with strong Kanaka Maoli leadership, testified in Hilo and Kona. The focus was on Depleted Uranium (DU) radiation at Schofield Barracks and the l33,000-acre Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA), located on so-called ceded lands -- Kingdom of Hawaii occupied/stolen lands. The Army is seeking a license from the NRC to "possess DU" which means to allow the radiation from weapons training to remain in place. That's the Army's polite way of saying it wants a formal OK to do what it has already done -- establish a radiation waste dump in an active bombing range in the heart of Hawaii Island. To bomb a nuclear waste dump is plain nuts. All who testified spoke in opposition to military radiation contamination. Some background: It has been confirmed that hundreds, perhaps over 2,000, DU spotting rounds have been fired at PTA for just one weapon system -- the Davy Crockett back in the l960s. Davy Crockett DU rounds were also fired on Oahu at Schofield Barracks, possibly Makua Valley and elsewhere in Hawaii. The Army disclosed it also fired Davy Crockett DU rounds at several locations in at least 9 other states and three foreign countries. Other DU rounds from many other weapon systems may have been fired over the past 40 years at PTA and other sites in Hawaii, since the number and types of DU munitions in the U.S. arsenal has increased dramatically. Ongoing live-fire at PTA (millions of rounds annually) risks spreading the DU radiation already present. DU is particularly hazardous when small burned DU oxide particles are inhaled. The Hawaii County Council, more than a year ago, on July 2, 2008, called for a halt to all live-fire and other activities at PTA that create dust until there is an assessment and clean up of the DU already present. 7 additional needed actions have also been noted by the Council. The military has ignored the Council and continues live-fire and other dust creating activities at PTA, putting the residents of Hawaii Island at risk, since no comprehensive testing has been completed. It is now up to the people to sound the alarm. Seize this opportunity to speak up and act, not only for your own safety but for our keiki and the aina, and for generations to come. Isn't it time for the State of Hawaii to cancel the military's land lease at Pohakuloa. Pohakuloa was never meant to be a nuclear waste dump. Mahalo. *************** Also this week, we stand with Cindy Sheehan and other peace activists who are holding a week long protest in Martha's Vineyard where president Obama is vacationing. Their purpose is to call attention to the president's war escalation and to awaken those people who, blinded by loyalty to him are looking the other way, not protesting. Every day more innocent lives are being lost and Cindy's call to end war stands as a powerful voice of hope. (Cindy's soldier son, Casey, was killed in Iraq.) Stop the Bombing in Hawaii, Iraq, Afghanistan, Pakistan, etc. 1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject war as a solution. 3. Defend civil liberties. 4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, etc. 5. Seek peace through justice in Hawai`i and around the world. Contact: Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawai`i 96760. Phone (808) 966-7622. Email ja@interpac.net http://www.malu-aina.org Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet (August 28, 2009 - 4l5th week) - Friday 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office |
