West Hawaii Today
My Turn: Army underplaying depleted uranium risk
Published April 9, 2016 – 1:30am

April 9, 2016 – 1:30am
Mike Reimer/My Turn

Suppose you were to hear that the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) had last week authorized the U.S. Army to release depleted uranium (DU) into the atmosphere at the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA)?

Would that concern you?

That is somewhat of a bold claim but it is based on fairly high statistical probability. It is a known fact that the Army used DU in training exercises in the mid-1960s at PTA and Schofield. What is still in question is how much was used and where it was used.

The Army made an arm-waving guess by identifying areas of PTA now called radiation controlled areas (RCA) but an extensive search of the areas found less than 1 percent of the minimum amount of DU claimed to be used. That was accepted by the NRC in issuing a DU possession license to the Army. Where is the rest of it?

Truthfully, no one knows and within general probability, some could be in the current burn area. In all the intervening years, continued blasting and bombing at PTA probably dispersed a lot of DU to locations other than the RCAs. Then during a vegetation fire, DU would be released into the atmosphere by burning plants that may have taken up the DU through the roots or by heating rocks and soils onto which some previously migrating DU particulates might have adhered.

The Army, NRC and even the state Department of Health arm-wave that testing the air for DU, a known toxic substance used widely in the recent Middle East wars, is not needed because the amount released certainly must be less than the amount regulated for public safety, set at 10 millirems per year. Millirem. Raise your hand if you know what that is. It is more than zero. And we should not have to endure more than zero.

Monitoring and analyzing for DU is so straightforward it should be done and include even other toxins. But it is not popular because, heaven forbid, what if you end up finding some! In reality, the Army program is suitable for them. If they have no intention of cleaning it up, why monitor?

Dengue fever wins the popularity contest this year for health attention. If the mosquito bites, the disease can manifest itself in a few days. If you inhale a DU particle, it could lodge in the lung, and it might take a 20-40 year latency period before a related disease will occur. Don’t expect any relief from any government agency entrusted to protect your health. They have now in place their mantras supporting each other to defend continued release of DU. In the licensing process, the Army assured the NRC that a fire, particularly within the RCA, was highly unlikely because of the sparse vegetation at PTA. Here we have an example of a fire initiated by a training activity that has burned for nearly two weeks. At a minimum, all activities at the RCAs must cease. That land should be declared a toxic waste land and withdrawn from use forever.

But it won’t happen. The need for training will surpass the need for any collateral damage to military or civilian personnel who are placed in harm’s way. Certainly, the civilian and military personnel at PTA are at greater risk for exposure to DU. But if you drive the Saddle Road past PTA, keep your windows up. How great is the risk? We don’t know. Some places take no chances. Kuwait demanded the U.S. clean up an area where DU was involved in a fire and 6,700 tons of sand were taken to Idaho for disposal. There was even a clean-up at Schofield where its RCA was to be reconfigured into a battlefield training area. But no such cleanup for PTA. In the meantime, the Army chooses to play a tough-guy game with the very people it has pledged to protect.

Mike Reimer, PhD, is a retired geologist who lives in Kailua-Kona

Press Release:  Mauna Kea Protector Jim Albertini court hearing Wed. April 13, 2016 at 1:30PM in Hilo courtroom 2B before Judge Barbara Takase
Issue:  Albertini requesting that his dismissed obstruction charge be dismissed WITH PREJUDICE, not without prejudice, so that the same charge can’t be refiled.
Albertini filed a motion for reconsideration of the prosecutor’s dismissal of obstruction charge without prejudice, which keeps the threat of being recharged for the same offense.

Albertini says that the prosecutor is partly fulfilling her professional obligations as a minister of justice by moving for dismissal of the charges, but my motion is asking the court to exercise discretion to dismiss WITH PREJUDICE under the totality of circumstances (the fact that several of my co-defendants have been been found not guilty on the defense of necessity (choice of evils) and the prosecutor has moved to dismiss numerous other complaints due to judicial economy.  I was part of a group all charged with the same offense for the same action –obstructing the Mauna Kea road to prevent the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) construction crew from reaching the construction site to engage in actions alleged by Defendants to be the imminent desecration of one of Hawaii’s most sacred sites.  It’s a classic necessity defense –choice of evils defense which has been recognized by this court.  It seems manini (picky, minor), and counter to a spirit of justice, to not dismiss with prejudice and keep the threat hanging over my head of being charged for the same offense for another year.  It’s already been more than 1 year since our April 2, 2015 peaceful spiritual stand to protect the Mauna.  In fact on April 2, 2016, myself and several others journeyed to the ahu (Hawaiian altar) built on the proposed Mauna Kea TMT site to offer ho’okupu (spiritual offerings) in thanksgiving to Ke Akua for the blessings of Mauna a Wakea, and all those who have been a part of the effort to protect the sacred. It seemed to me a most fitting way to celebrate the stand of 1 year ago.

Based on this court’s earlier rulings, including my raising the choice of evils defense in a pre-trial motion which the court recognized would put a burden on the prosecutor to disprove if this case went to trial.  It follows that the burden should now be put on the prosecutor to show that there is some unique circumstance related to my charge that serves as a basis for not dismissing the charge with prejudice.

In summary,  I hereby ask the court to dismiss the obstruction charge against me WITH PREJUDICE.  Mahalo and a Happy upcoming retirement to Judge Barbara Takase beginning in May.
—
Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org www.malu-aina.org

News article in today’s West Hawaii Today and Hawaii Tribune-Herald newspapers

followed by a comment I sent in to WHT online and an email I sent to the writer of the article –Chelsea Jensen.

Pohakuloa Training Area Fire Chief Eric Moller walks through a 200-acre burn area at Pohakuloa Training Area. (Chelsea Jensen/West Hawaii Today)

By Chelsea Jensen West Hawaii Today cjensen@westhawaiitoday.com

POHAKULOA TRAINING AREA — As a 200-acre brush fire continues to burn here, concern is rising over whether depleted uranium from spotting rounds used as part of the Davy Crockett program in the 1960s is being released into the atmosphere.

The fire, located within the Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area about 10 miles in on the Mauna Loa side of Daniel K. Inouye Highway, has been burning since 11:30 a.m. March 24, said PTA Fire Chief Eric Moller. It started during live-fire training within the an impact area, but a distance from areas where the Army in 2006 confirmed depleted uranium (DU) remains from spotting rounds used as part of the Davy Crockett program in the 1960s.

“This fire is well over two miles from where that weapons arc is,” Moller said, indicating the area on a map before pointing from Range 3 in a northerly direction, adding that the arc, for the most part, is within a lava flow with little to no vegetation.

To get there, the fire would have to be fanned from the south, which Moller said is unlikely given Mauna Loa towers behind and prevailing east-west winds. The flames would also have to get over a barren 1/2-mile-wide a’a lava flow.

Despite assurance from Army officials, questions and concerns are being raised by individuals about the fire and its proximity to areas where the spotting rounds that contained DU, a dense, weakly radioactive metal alloy left over from the uranium enrichment process, were fired amid the Cold War.

“It’s not the threat of the PTA fire spreading off the base that is an issue. It’s what’s blowing in the smoke and wind from that fire that’s been burning for 10 days. Pohakuloa has been bombed for 70 years with a wide variety of weapons. There is depleted uranium (DU) and other military toxins in the Pohakuloa Impact area, the amount never adequately studied despite repeated requests,” reads a letter signed by Jim Albertini, president of Malu Aina Center For Non-violent Education and Action, Clarence Ku Ching, Isaac “Paka” Harp, Cory Harden, Dr./Major Doug Rokke, former Director US Army DU project, and Dr. Carol Murry, doctor of public health.

According to the World Health Organization, people can be exposed to DU through inhalation, ingestion and contact. Inhalation is most common and occurs after the use of DU munitions in conflict or when DU in the environment is re-suspended in the atmosphere by wind or other disturbance. DU has both chemical and radiological toxicity known to affect the kidneys and the lungs. Health consequences are determined by the physical and chemical nature of the depleted uranium, as well as the level and duration of exposure.

Albertini and others say the military, Nuclear Regulatory Commission and the Hawaii Department of Health do not know where or how much DU lies within Pohakuloa.

“The people (Army) are saying there’s not enough DU up there to cause a concern, but the fact is they don’t know how much DU is up there because they’ve never done the comprehensive testing — it’s all speculation,” Albertini said Monday. “The burden is on them to allow for this independent testing because we can’t trust you.”

Albertini and others want to see air quality monitoring at the Army installation to ensure DU and other “military toxins” are not being aerosolized and dispersed by winds.

After iterating that the fire is far from areas where DU has been identified, the Army also noted that DU only aerosolizes at very high temperatures, much higher than those temperatures produced by brush or range fires.

According to Moller, a “cold fire,” like is occurring at PTA, burns around 900 degrees while a heavy metal, like DU, which is twice as dense as lead, requires much more heat to aerosolize, well over 1,000 degrees higher than the 900 degrees.

In a 2008 report, the military released results from monitoring of air quality during burning of vegetation free of DU and confirmed to have DU present at Schofield Barracks on Oahu. Soil samples from an area confirmed to have DU showed it present before and after the burn.

“The air filters collected during the test burn did not identify any increase in uranium activity concentration compared to the pre-burn air filters and no evidence of uranium depletion was found in the air filter results,” the study reads. “These results confirm that there was no measurable hazard during burning activities.”

“We appreciate the community’s interest, and we want to assure the community — especially those of us who live and work in the immediate area — that we take everyone’s safety seriously,” said Lt. Col. Jake Peterson, commander, U.S. Army Garrison-Pohakuloa. “If people do have questions about DU, we encourage them to check out our website and get the facts.”

Though the blaze continues to produce smoke, it is contained thanks to that a’a flow separating it from an area where DU has been identified, and another pahoehoe flow providing natural fire breaks, Moller said. The smoke is being generated by the fire crawling underground through duff (a layer of decaying vegetation found growing vegetation) and igniting material above ground, leaving sporadic circular burn areas separated by untouched land.

“There’s zero chance of escape,” Moller said during a tour within the burn area as a pueo glided above. The closest vegetation is more than a mile away.

He expects the fire will smolder for the next several days as firefighters cannot actively douse the flames because of the threat of unexploded ordnance within the impact area.

“We don’t go in, we don’t fight it because it’s just too dangerous,” Moller said.

Firefighters are instead focusing efforts on a 100-yard stretch of roadway to keep the fire from crossing spreading into protected areas. No endangered species, range facilities or critical habitat is threatened.

comment to article by Jim A.
The Army confirmed in 2007 that DU Davy Crockett spotting rounds were used at PTA beginning in 1960.  The Army says it doesn’t know how many were fired at PTA. But an official Army Col. spokesperson, Howard Killian, testified that possibly 2000 or more spotting wounds were fired at PTA based on the number of people trained to fire the Davy Crockett weapon system.  There are many DU weapons in today’s military arsenal.  Have they been used at PTA as well.  No one knows.  What we do know is that the PTA “Impact Area” has been the site of millions of live rounds fired annually that include high explosives.  Those high explosives likely have burned the DU present and turned large pieces of DU metal into DU oxide particles which are extremely dangerous if inhaled, possibly causing various cancers, birth defects, and genetic damage.  The small DU oxide particles can be carried long distance by the winds and fire.
This is why independent comprehensive air monitoring needs to be done around Pohakuloa.  I suspect there has been a lot more DU used at Pohakuloa than the Davy Crockett spotting rounds.  Lots of other toxins as well.  That’s why the military doesn’t want thorough independent testing and monitoring.  If you look, you may find something that may result in shutting down the base because it is too hazardous to keep bombing it.

copy of email to article writer Chelsea Jensen
Aloha Chelsea,
Mahalo for shedding some light on the issues. I think you did a very balanced job.  I only wish you were carrying my radiation monitor or an air monitor.  I just sent in a comment on line.  An additional point is that wherever the Davy Crockett spotting rounds were fired, that area has also seen high explosive firing on top of the DU rounds likely resulting in their being burned and turned into the far more hazardous DU oxide particles that can be blown out of the original DU range, into the larger impact area and beyond the base. Who knows how far those particles have been dispersed by high explosives since 1960 on top of DU?  Like the old Bob Dylan song says: The answer is blowing in the wind!
Keep up your good work.  It is much appreciated.
Jim

Civil Beat Editorial

The State Must Be Held Accountable On TMT Process

Protests opposing construction of the telescope on Mauna Kea got lots of attention in 2015. But if the project falls apart, state officials will bear the blame.

The Civil Beat Editorial Board 4/6/16

The scientifically historic Thirty Meter Telescope observatory, once expected to take its place atop Mauna Kea housing the world’s most powerful and highly elevated eye into the universe, faces an uncertain future in Hawaii.

After the state Supreme Court ruled in December that the Board of Land and Natural Resources broke its own rules in granting the project a permit in 2011, the board had to start over. Now it will hold a new contested case hearing before any further permitting can happen. And it will do so as leaders of the TMT project openly review alternative sites for the telescope in Chile, the Canary Islands and India.

Lest any telescope supporter point the finger of blame at Native Hawaiian opponents, let’s be clear: This is a problem of the state’s own making.

Observatories atop Mauna Kea are among the best positioned on the planet to look deeply into the universe. TMT would be the most powerful and highly elevated of any of the big terrestrial telescopes. Cory Lum/Civil Beat

To be sure, Native Hawaiian protestors objected to a process that granted a building permit before the original contested case hearing could be held. Protesters were fighting against further development in what many of them consider to be a sacred place, but their objection was over the lack of due process.

The whole affair is a classic example of state leaders cutting corners to ensure the outcome they want rather than trusting the legal process to yield the best result. Had the board simply followed usual — and legal — procedures in evaluating the permit application, it might well have ended up with a properly granted permit; and construction of the telescope might already be well underway.

Even though things didn’t work out that way, plenty of good has come from what did transpire, namely, the Native Hawaiian protests on Mauna Kea that captured international attention last year. The civil disobedience pressured Gov. David Ige to halt construction at the TMT site and undertake a seven-week review of protestors’ claims.

The 12-point plan the governor released last May called for significant changes in how the University of Hawaii manages the summit under a long-term lease granted by the state. Among the most significant changes: UH is giving back control of 10,000 acres not specifically needed for the astronomy purposes of its lease and decommissioning telescopes currently on the summit that are not being used. A new group, the Mauna Kea Cultural Council, is being created to review all leases and requested renewals, whether for scientific or cultural purposes.

Ige must hold the BLNR accountable for executing a process that is above reproach and in line with every rule and requirement governing such matters.

Fostering more mindful management of the iconic summit — management that takes into account Mauna Kea’s scientific, cultural and environmental importance and the views of stakeholders relevant to each of those areas — is long overdue. Ige and the UH leaders who embraced his plan deserve credit for a thoughtful response to dynamics that have existed for years, but that previous leaders didn’t address.

But the best intentions of the governor couldn’t stop the Supreme Court from calling out the fundamental flaw in the permitting process last December.

“Once the permit was granted, Appellants were denied the most basic element of procedural due process — an opportunity to be heard at a meaningful time and in a meaningful manner,” wrote Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald in the majority opinion. “Our Constitution demands more.”

The Next Hearing

That demand may be met later this year in a new contested case hearing set to be overseen by retired Hawaii Circuit Judge Riki May Amano.But even Judge Amano’s appointment carries with it a controversy in which the board’s judgment once again is being called into question. An attorney for the Native Hawaiian cultural group Mauna Kea Anaina Hou and other interested parties says that the board hasn’t followed its own rules for delegating the authority for the hearing to Amano.

Lawyer Richard Naiwieha Wurdeman contends the board was required to hold a public hearing on the matter first — a step that was skipped. Now Wurderman tells Civil Beat he’ll file formal objections to Amano’s selection sometime before the April 15 deadline the board has set for complaints on the issue.

All of which may add to the undetermined time it will take to make a final decision on TMT’s future on Mauna Kea. And that may be time the project doesn’t have: TMT officials have popped up in news coverage making visits to alternative sites on three continents. While continuing to reaffirm that Mauna Kea remains their first choice, officials say they must have contingency plans in case things don’t work out in Hawaii.

If the governor truly wants the TMT project on Hawaii Island, there is no time to waste. Ige must hold the Board of Land and Natural Resources, headed by Department of Land and Natural Resources Chairperson Suzanne Case, accountable for executing a process that is above reproach and in line with every rule and requirement governing such matters.

If state authorities can’t be relied upon to follow a process that’s above reproach, they’ll have only themselves to blame if the TMT project sets sail for brighter horizons.

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About the Author

The Civil Beat Editorial Board

The members of Civil Beat’s editorial board are Pierre Omidyar, Patti Epler, Bob Ortega, Richard Wiens, Chloe Fox and Todd Simmons. Opinions expressed by the editorial board reflect the group’s consensus view. Contact Opinion Editor Todd Simmons at todd@civilbeat.com or 808-377-0247.