[CPEO-MEF] Big Island residents worry about Army expansion

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Big Island residents worry about Army expansion
By William Cole
Advertiser Staff Writer

Each year, between 15,000 and 20,000 soldiers and Marines train at the 
Pohakuloa Training Area ? the largest live-fire training range in the 
Pacific ? but with a plan in place to greatly expand its boundaries and 
the number of vehicles passing through, neighboring residents are 
wondering about the ill effects of noise, dust, erosion and fire.

The 25th Infantry Division (Light) plans a $693 million transformation, 
the biggest Army construction project in Hawai'i since World War II. It 
would mean $234 million in projects on the Big Island and the possible 
purchase of 23,000 acres from Parker Ranch for Interim Brigade Combat 
Team training that could begin in 2006.

That would increase the mass of the 108,975-acre training site and bring 
several thousand more soldiers and hundreds of vehicles making the 
30-mile trek to Pohakuloa via a private, crushed-rock road from Kawaihae 
Harbor. Water and supply trucks would use Saddle Road.

Some of the Army's Strykers, speedy eight-wheeled armored vehicles that 
are the backbone of the new fast-attack brigade, would be delivered from 
O'ahu to Bradshaw Army Airfield by C-17 jet-engined cargo carriers.

Not all of this sits well with those who have lived in this wide-open 
region for years and worry about their peaceful environment.

This article can be viewed in its entirety at:
http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2002/Jul/09/ln/ln01a.html

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