"Judge: U.S. Army Must Rectify Flawed Studies of Oahu's Makua Valley"

"HONOLULU -- In a long-running legal battle between a Hawaiian community and the U.S. Army, a federal judge today ruled that the community has a right to know how live-fire military training in a nearby valley could damage cultural sites and marine resources.

U.S. District Chief Judge Susan Oki Mollway ruled that the Army failed to give the community crucial information on how military training at Makua Military Reservation on the island of Oahu could damage Native Hawaiian cultural sites and contaminate marine resources on which area residents rely for subsistence.

The community organization, Malama Makua, represented by Earthjustice, the only nonprofit environmental law firm in Hawaii, filed suit in August 2009 to set aside the Army's environmental impact statement for proposed military training in Makua Valley until it completes key marine contamination studies and archaeological surveys."

Environment News Service had the story October 27, 2010.