Group outlines Stryker concerns

[The Sushi Bandit]

http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2004/Jan/04/ln/ln06a.html

The Army is speeding ahead with its plans to install a Stryker Brigade in Hawai'i, giving only lip service to the impact that the vehicles and required training scenarios are likely to have on the state's environment, the Sierra Club charged yesterday in a 32-page letter. "We are concerned that the Army, the Pentagon and our elected leaders are viewing the environmental review process for this project as a mere formality instead of using it as the decision-making tool it is meant to be," said Jeff Mikulina, director of the club's Hawai'i chapter.

The Sierra Club also accused the Army of expanding its plans for the Stryker Brigade without properly studying the effect those changes were likely to have on the environment. It contends that although the Army has made progress in its stewardship of land it uses in the state, problems with inadequate cleanup at old sites and issues such as the recent fire in Makua Valley do not bode well for the impact of the new Stryker Brigade.