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Residents Speak Out to Protect Hawaii
Hawaii Residents Voice Concern over Military Pollution in Paradise
Hawaii Contaminated with DU Spotting Rounds

Hundreds of Burned DU Spotting Round found on O'ahu and Hawai'i Island		     

Hawaiian Islands Contaminated with Ballistic Depleted Uranium 
By Lindafaye Kroll RN BSN
 

Depleted uranium (DU) is stored in Hawai’i under the Naval Radioactive Materials Permit.  The Navy accidentally fired two DU rounds from Pearl Harbor in 1994.  The rounds landed somewhere above Aiea and were never recovered.  The Environmental Impact Statement of the 25th Infantry Transformation to the Stryker Brigade Combat Team published in 2004 states emphatically that depleted uranium munitions were never part of the Army’s arsenal.  Despite this claim spent DU spotting rounds were found at Schofield Barracks, (An army base and live-fire training range on O’ahu), in August 2005. This discovery was not disclosed by the military but through a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) instigated by concerned residents of Hawai’i . In August 2007 the army admits the Pohakuloa Training Area (An army base and live-fire training range on Hawai’i Island) is also contaminated with depleted uranium spotting rounds. Any uranium product used as munitions becomes ballistic once it is fired, launched or dropped. Ballistic depleted uranium contamination is a serious problem in Hawai’i .

Depleted uranium is a toxic radioactive waste product of the nuclear industry that has a half life of over 4 billion years.   In other words, DU is radioactive forever.  The military claims that depleted uranium munitions are low level radioactivity and are not harmful to health and environment. The military’s claims are false.  The military’s talking points are about the solid form depleted uranium, the military never addresses Hawai’i residents’ concerns, which is the ballistic form of depleted uranium. When depleted uranium munitions are used in war or artillery practices, these munitions have a devastating effect on public health and the environment. 


Davy Crocket - The Smallest Military Nuclear Weapon

DU Spotting Round Attaches Under the Davy Crocket to Test Trajectory of Weapon		     

Once DU munitions are launched, they become ballistic.  They catch fire, and on impact they can punch through anything with tremendous force causing trillions of tiny radioactive particles of DU dust to be scattered in the environment and carried in the air.  This is when the real public health problem begins.   Once airborne, these vaporized radioactive heavy metal particles can be inhaled or ingested because of radioactive contamination of air, food or water supply.  Many of our U.S. Veterans, serving in combat areas that use DU munitions, are getting sick.  Support legislation to test our troops returning from Iraq for depleted uranium.

We must stand up for Hawai’i .  We must protect our precious islands and our veterans.  The military live-fire ranges in Hawai’i are radioactive!  See  www.sbct-seis.org/ (published July 2007, chapter 3 page 7 Depleted Uranium). We want all live-fire military training stopped in paradise.  We want the Stryker Brigade Combat Team to relocate elsewhere. We want our sacred lands to be cleaned up.  Practicing to make war in the land of Aloha is inappropriate.  Please be pro-active and help us protect Hawai’i ; demand the military not store, use or transport depleted uranium in the Hawaiian Islands.  Please help us protect Hawai'i. Say no Stryker Brigade in Hawai’i and yes to the clean-up of depleted uranium contamination on live-fire training ranges.  Write the Hawai’i Tourism Authority at info@hawaiitourismauthority.org. 


The Hawaiian Islands are Paradise

Invisible toxic poision blankets paradise.		     

Hawai’i Resident Opposes
Stryker Brigade Build-up in Hawai’i
by Krisztine Samu  Hawi, Hawai'i
 
Testimony at U.S. Army Stryker Brigade Public Hearings
in Waimea , Hawai’i September 26, 2007  

Stryker Urban Assault Vechicle

Strykers are capable of firing DU		     

 Please accept my statement of OPPOSITION to the presence of the Stryker Brigade on the island of Hawai’i .  Being familiar with the U.S. military’s legacy in the Pacific Islands , there is no reason to expect anything different this time.  The inhabitants and the land of the Marshall Islands and the Bikini Islands were poisoned in the forties due to nuclear testing.  Look at the Vieques Island where the bombing practice resulted in a bomb being dropped on a civilian by mistake; the Navy was eventually forced to leave due to public opposition. Look at Kaho’olawe, still polluted despite over $400 million in cleanup efforts.
 
Depleted uranium has already been found on Pohakuloa.  The Army has admitted the presence of this toxin, and further training/detonations will simply stir more of this dust into the air, blow it downwind into Kona with serious health implications for residents and soldiers alike. Kona already has higher than normal rates of cancer, diabetes and birth defects.  We cannot allow the Strykers to aggravate the situation any further.  We need cleanup, not buildup. As you should know, private citizens on the island of Hawai’i are independently monitoring airborne radioactivity spikes and this will continue in an even greater capacity if the Strykers are stationed here.  If the radioactive spikes continue the citizens will surely not stand for it.  We can guarantee a grave media backlash and local activism to stop the destruction.
 
The Strykers and the legacy they would leave are not welcome on Hawai’i .  Please help us to protect Hawaii by writing the Hawaii Tourism Authority at info@hawaiitourismauthority.org  and demand no Stryker Brigade in Hawaii and Clean-up all live-fire artillery ranges.