Training flights for Army helicopter crews scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan in January have been approved on Hawaii island. Nonetheless, in the wake of poorly coordinated efforts to ensure that the Army complied with state environmental laws, it makes sense for the state to seek a full environmental impact statement before future high-altitude training takes place on Mauna Loa and Mauna Kea.
Given the convoluted history of the military’s use of sensitive environmental areas, it’s a reasonable condition that could help both sides.
The state Board of Land and Natural Resources granted the Army a short-term “right of entry” permit to allow high-altitude helicopter training on the volcanic slopes this month. In the past, the Army had completed two federal and one state environmental assessments, which are less comprehensive and expensive than a full environmental impact statement.
Unfortunately, controversy over the review process has caused unnecessary headaches for both the Army and the state. After objections by community groups, the Army admitted that its first study, a federal assessment released in December, was flawed, so the Army revised it in hopes that the Land Board would approve a permit in June. However, Gov. Neil Abercrombie notified Lt. Gen. Francis Wiercinski, head of the Army in the Pacific, that a state assessment was needed in addition to the federal studies. The Army complied and Land Board has accepted that assessment. But that didn’t satisfy the critics.
Public involvement is a key ingredient in environmental reviews. The Sierra Club complained that the Army online assessment “couldn’t even be seen with a magnifying glass” and a paper version was not available to the environmental organization until essentially the 11th hour of the comment deadline.
The Hawaii island area includes slopes on state conservation land, and the Sierra Club noted that helicopters fly over critical habitat for endangered yellow-headed palila birds, or Hawaiian honeycreepers.
Other species could be put at risk by the copter training.
The Fort Shafter-headquartered U.S. Army Pacific has not ruled out engaging in a comprehensive environmental impact statement.
“It is premature to determine what level of environmental planning may be required because future training requirements are undetermined,” it said.
Nonetheless, a more thorough review could provide the Army and the state with a stronger, more efficient protocol for future training. And an open and collaborative process that includes a healthy regard for public input could go a long way toward reducing the arms-length stances that makes military training such a source of friction in the community.
Certainly there’s little doubt that such training for high-altitude combat in Afghanistan is currently necessary. Also, the Army has been training on the slopes of Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa for years.
Hawaii-based helicopters and their crews should not be shipped to Colorado — as they were at a cost of
$8 million — because of avoidable delays. Fewer than half of the 230 pilots available for training on Hawaii island will actually train there in October because of environmental review delays.
Hawaii should do its part to help the soldiers prepare. The Army and state need to work together to find a way that accommodates both the need for training and the environment in which it’s conducted.
