The Army is asking U.S. District Judge David Ezra to lift a temporary injunction to allow it to proceed with "critical" Stryker brigade training.

In court papers, the Army has said a 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals decision halting training with the 19-ton armored vehicles "is impairing the ability of the (Stryker) 2nd brigade to accomplish its military mission with a minimum of American combat-related casualties, a paramount national interest."

Army officials said the brigade is scheduled to deploy to Iraq in the fall of 2007. A hearing before Ezra is scheduled tomorrow.

The San Francisco-based appeals court ruled 2-1 last month that the Army violated national environmental law by not considering alternate locations outside Hawai'i for the unit that has 328 armored vehicles and 3,900 soldiers.

The three Hawaiian groups that sued the Army in 2004 over the Stryker brigade's arrival, and upon which the injunction is based, pointed out that the appeals court said the Army "must come into compliance with (environmental law) before proceeding with its plan to transform the 2nd brigade into a Stryker unit."

The groups said the Stryker brigade, if allowed to proceed, will destroy endangered species and unique native ecosystems. The Army's own reports state that "impacts on archaeological resources from range and facility construction" will be "significant," the groups said.

Further, the plaintiffs say the Army can train for the Iraq deployment in Washington state or Alaska, and the service hasn't been able to show why certain training-related activities must proceed on the schedule the Army has presented.

The Army identified five of 28 Stryker-related projects, and one minor modification to an existing training range, as the most time-sensitive to ensure that the 2nd brigade can transform into a Stryker Brigade Combat Team and be ready for deployment by November of 2007.

Those projects include: completion of Qualification Training Range 1; completion of a motor park and maintenance area; completion of an urban assault course; completion of a tactical vehicle wash facility; completion of a multiple deployment facility; and modifications to an existing training range at Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

The Hawaiian groups are asking for an injunction prohibiting nearly all Stryker-related activities.

The Army said that Ezra — who originally dismissed the lawsuit but was overturned on appeal — held that the harm alleged to cultural and natural resources was "speculative" and could not justify an injunction. The service said the same conclusion "is even more appropriate today."

"There are no endangered or threatened species in the six critical project areas," the Army said. Further, the "significant measures the Army has undertaken to protect cultural resources have proven to be effective ..."

But among the Army's own findings was that Hawaiian cultural resources within lava tubes at the proposed location of a battle area complex on the Big Island would be subject to damage from "ground softening," which court papers state is a euphemism for driving a D-10 bulldozer over a range to crush lava.

The Army is asking Ezra to lift the temporary injunction and replace it with a "more limited injunction" allowing it to proceed with the six projects pending further environmental compliance.

The appeals court ordered the Army to conduct a supplemental environmental impact statement looking at alternate locations for the $1.5 billion Stryker brigade. It is estimated the review will take a year to two years.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.