DU monitoring takes off in Hawaii

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http://www.bigislandweekly.com/articles/2007/06/27/read/news/news04.txt Catching rays Local monitoring effort gives the cliche a new meaning By Hadley Catalano Wednesday, June 27, 2007 8:51 AM HST The device Doug Fox points into the South Kona wind looks like a hand-held temperature or wind speed gauge. Unfortunately his mission is not about the weather. He is checking for radioactive nano-particles that have recently been kicking up levels on his Gamma-Scout, a Gieger counter that measures radiation in

the air and could indicate the presence of depleted uranium. This is the device that recently caused a whirlwind of concern and confusion.Some researchers say that DU, which has been listed by the U.N. as a weapon of indiscriminate destruction and banned by the Geneva Convention and several international treaties has been used by the U.S. military in the both Gulf Wars. Many claim it is a cause of Gulf War Syndrome and the reason why cancers, leukemia and birth defects have skyrocketed in Iraq since 1991.There is suspicion that DU might have been used or is currently being used here on Hawai`i Island, at the Pohakuloa Training Base, and that has many residents alarmed, especially in light of the recent discovery of DU spotting rounds and tail assemblies at Schofield Barracks on O`ahu. "The whole point is that we might have a Gulf War

in our backyards," said concerned citizen Mayumi Oda."We can't say how contaminated Pohakuloa is but we know Schofield has it. We don't have a hidden agenda. We are looking out for our health and safety," confirmed Shannon Rudolph, another member of a West Hawai`i group focused on the issue.Concerns recently elevated after record high radiation readings of 63 counts per minute were taken at Fox's home, in `Opihihale, South Kona. Leuren Moret, DU expert and former employee and whistle blower from the Lawrence Livermore Nuclear Weapons Lab, took the readings on April 22nd. Normal background radiation numbers range from five to 20 counts per minute. The information not only troubled Moret and Fox but caught the attention of Honolulu's KITV evening news. During the broadcast, Moret said she continued monitoring throughout the day, receiving counts of up to 93, a number that experts agree is abnormally high. Moret attributed elevated readings to the use of DU,

stating it "could only be because they were doing live fire with depleted uranium at Pohakuloa while we were doing the measurements." She claims that DU radiation is being blown in the wind down to South Kona."Particularly at night when the winds blow off the mountain," said Gunter Monkowski. He is another member of the community who, for the past several weeks, has been regularly monitoring the air surrounding Pohakuloa down to his home in Holualoa. Monkowski keeps residents updated with his readings. Contrary to a recent report in the Honolulu Weekly that quoted him as saying "so far I think [my readings] are still in the natural radiation scope," Monkowski took readings of 54 cpm and 75 cpm with his Gammascout May 29th on the Saddle Road that he is concerned about. While such monitoring cannot be entirely accurate, it is enough to warrant investigation. The department of health and the 93rd Weapons of Mass Destruction Civil Support Team investigated the high

counts. Both were quoted as saying they found nothing beyond background radiation, nothing out of the ordinary. Far from alleviating concerns, this investigation had many island residents upset over investigatory procedures and an overall lack of information."We want continuous independent testing and monitoring of our air and soil," said Fox. "We want to decommission Pohakuloa.""Even though the bills to test for DU did not get funded, we have already paid for our officials to protect us and they are doing a bad job of it, "says Rudolph. "As far as Pohakuloa goes, if they were doing the job they would have someone at Mauna Kea State Park, camping out and monitoring night and day . . . They tested on one windless day and got normal readings. You must continuously monitor for a few weeks at minimum to see the pattern and the truth . . . All we are asking of the DOH is that they do their job, professionally and truthfully."Rudolph references H.B. 1452,

introduced by Rep. Josh Green (District 6 Kailua-Kona) last session. The bill, which passed both the house and senate, asked for DU testing around military bases but stalled in the Finance Committee due to a lack of funding. It received opposition from the military and the state over technicalities regarding testing procedures and responsibilities.Recently Green sent an open letter to Governor Lingle in reference to the bill stating the need to "reassure the people about the reliability of the military's tests for depleted uranium in Hawai`i." Following his June 5th letter Green said that he plans to bring the bill back the first day of the next session, January 17, 2008 and he has the support of Councilman Pete Hoffmann (District 9 North and South Kohala). Hoffmann told the Big Island Weekly that while he does support Green's efforts for independent testing, he has doubts regarding the Army's use of DU munitions at this time."I feel that there is a great

deal of misinformation in the public domain regarding this issue at this point. The Army would be better off approaching the public's criticism by jointly conducting such testing at the same time with a certified independent entity," said Hoffmann, who served in the U.S. Army - Military Intelligence for 28 years."The initial cost of the testing was high, but the bill has been scaled down and we're only asking for $500,000," said Green. "This is a public health issue and while historically the military runs its own operation and I respect that, if they and DOH invited the public to be part of the process it would help allay the public's fears and there would be no questioning."It is distrust of government and concern for the broader issue of DU use and contamination that gives rise to grassroots efforts like the one in West Hawai`i that includes Fox, Oda, Rudolph, Monkowski."I first learned of DU two or three years ago at Malu 'Aina Peace and Justice

meetings," said Galen Kelly. "Jim Albertini helped to bring Leuren Moret to our island to teach us about the risks and consequences. Our group invited the public to several talks by Leuren with opportunities to ask questions. From this, more individuals and groups got involved, especially when we learned about the impact on our own island."Community activists and environmentalists' calls for help are not going unnoticed: Green's address to the governor stated he has received many letters and calls from constituents about the subject."As a group we pumped out tons of information to federal, state and county officials and the public and organized hundreds of statewide calls during the legislative session to support the bills," said Rudolph. "Several residents around the island started their own monitoring, reporting spikes to the media, filing freedom of information requests, distributing bumper stickers and flyers, planned public educational events with

knowledgeable speakers. One woman, Linda Faye Kroll, even wrote a play about DU through the eyes of a solider. According to the DOH Program Manager for Noise, Radiation and Indoor Air Quality Branch Manager Russell Takata, DOH's opposition to H.B. 1452 was procedural. He's offering to train residents in monitoring with their own equipment, including six hours of classroom instruction.Rudolph says she and the other members of her group will gladly take the help.Another West Hawai`i citizen's group member Barbara Moore said she, as a resident and B & B owner, has already seen the effects the threat of DU has had on her clientele. One past visitor, who was planning on relocating to the island, changed her plans after learning about and watching the KITV brief on the hazards of DU.The concerns are real and the reports are mounting; aside from the recent findings at Pohakuloa, the 2004 Defense Environmental Restoration Program reported to the U.S.

Congress that there were 798 military contamination sites at 108 installments in Hawai`i, 96 of which had unexploded ordinances and seven of the military locales were considered Superfund sites."We want to know what's on Pohakuloa," said Fox. "What we hope is that it's not as bad as we think."

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