RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, the United States Army plans to bring about 291 fast-attack vehicles, known as Strykers, to Oahu and Hawaii County; and

WHEREAS, the Strykers are designed to fill a middle ground between heavily armored but slow tanks and the Humvees and trucks used by light infantry; and

WHEREAS, a Stryker Brigade Combat Team will be stationed at Schofield Barracks and is expected to be operational by 2007; and

WHEREAS, the training for the Stryker Brigade is anticipated to bring dust and noise, and to threaten endangered species and Native Hawaiian artifacts; and

WHEREAS, the Stryker training will also result in significant erosion at the Pohakuloa and Kahuku training areas; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Army has prepared and made available to the public an environmental impact statement (EIS) for the Stryker project; and

WHEREAS, the EIS has been criticized as being woefully inadequate, particularly as it pertains to protecting endangered species and Native Hawaiian artifacts; and

WHEREAS, the U.S. Army has not been a good steward of Hawaii's more pristine, valuable land for military training; and

WHEREAS, the Stryker training can be described as an environmental disaster; and

WHEREAS, the Army's EIS purports to mitigate the damage to cultural, historical, and environmental habit, but the Army has admitted publicly that when it trains there will be an impact to the aina; and

WHEREAS, while combat training for U.S. Army soldiers is important, there are other locations better suited for such training; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-Third Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2005, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Legislature expresses its opposition to the assumption of control over of land by the U.S. Army for Stryker Brigade training; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to Lt. General James L. Campbell, Commander of the U.S. Army Pacific, and members of Hawaii's congressional delegation.

Report Title:

Stryker Brigade Training; Opposition