Army training with its 19-ton Stryker vehicles is going forward — at least for now — despite a federal appeals court decision last week that the Army violated environmental law in planning for the arrival of the fast-strike unit.

"Training continues as we continue to evaluate our options in regard to the decision by the 9th Circuit Court (of Appeals)," said Stretch Rodney, a spokesman for U.S. Army Pacific at Fort Shafter.

The legal friction is part of the continuing clash of cultures that exists in Hawai'i between its sizable military and strategic location in the Pacific, and those who oppose the military.

David Henkin, an Earthjustice attorney representing three Hawaiian groups in their suit against the Army, said if negotiations between the groups and the Army fail to produce an agreement soon, he will seek a temporary restraining order or equivalent to halt all Stryker training and work.

"I've been talking with the Army," Henkin said. The attorney said he could not reveal what was discussed, but said it could be "not long" before a stoppage is sought.

Henkin and the Army disagree over whether the service can continue with the project based on an earlier court agreement. Henkin said the Army shouldn't continue, while the Army believes it can, he said.

KICKING UP DUST

In a 2-1 decision last Thursday, the San Francisco-based appeals court said the Army must complete a supplementary environmental analysis to consider alternatives to basing a Stryker brigade in the Islands.

Wahiawa residents saw the armored vehicles back on East Range Tuesday and yesterday for the first time since last week's court decision. About a month after the first round of driver training sessions for the Stryker vehicles got under way in mid-July, area residents concerned about the dust kicked up by the vehicles turned to the state Department of Health.

"Before we did some calls, the dust that they kicked up was so bad the (Health Department) was called in," said Duane Tamura, who lives off Leilehua Road in Wahiawa.

The eight-wheeled Stryker vehicles pass by homes in the area on an adjacent dirt road within the Schofield Barracks East Range training area.

"The issue was addressed pretty much immediately by taking water trucks out there and doing two-a-day runs along the fence line to (reduce the dust)," said Rodney. The Army also told the Health Department it plans to create a new access road several hundred feet away from the fence line and homes.

An approximately 3,000-page Environmental Impact Statement produced by the Army said that 1,736 tons of dust would be generated by the Strykers on O'ahu and the Big Island, an increase of 81 percent.

The Army also concluded there would be significant effects on cultural and biological resources, but that mitigation efforts could reduce them.2004 Lawsuit

Three groups — Ilio'ulaokalani Coalition, Na 'Imi Pono and Kipuka — filed a lawsuit in 2004 alleging that the project will damage Native Hawaiian cultural sites and harm endangered species and their habitats.

At the time the lawsuit was filed, the Army said it was going ahead with the Stryker brigade because it is "critical to achieving current and future national security objectives in U.S. Pacific Command's area of responsibility."

The Army is in the process of bringing 328 Stryker armored vehicles to O'ahu, where they will be part of a $1.5 billion unit — one of seven the Army is creating to rapidly transport troops to the battlefield. The Strykers will also provide more protection for soldiers, compared with Humvees.

The brigade of 3,900 soldiers is designed to be transported on new C-17 cargo aircraft based at Hickam Air Force Base. More than $700 million in construction projects are under way or planned for the unit, including 71 miles of private trails on O'ahu and the Big Island.

An Army official said the new Stryker brigade is expected to deploy to Iraq next summer, but the completion of a new training range on Schofield for Strykers has been delayed.

Schofield spokesman Ken-drick Washington recently said official word has not been received that the Stryker brigade is going anywhere. "Of course there are rumors out there about everything," he said, "but nothing definitive has come down."

Concerns tied to Hawaiian cultural sites halted work in July for about a month on unexploded ordnance cleanup at the planned "Battle Area Complex" for Stryker training after a work crew bulldozed across a buffer protecting the Hale'au'au heiau, cultural monitors said.

ALTERNATIVE LOCATIONS

It wasn't the first or only setback for the Stryker vehicle driving and firing range.

In January, the Army said depleted uranium was found from 15 training rounds used in the 1960s.

A month later, the Army said chemical weapons that included chloropicrin, an asphyxiator used in World War I, were located at the site.

The majority opinion of the 9th Circuit reached last week said the Army violated the National Environmental Policy Act when it chose Hawai'i for a Stryker brigade by failing to examine alternative locations in the "programmatic" or "site-specific" environmental impact statement.

In April 2005, Hawai'i Chief U.S. District Court Judge David Ezra had ruled against the three Hawaiian groups in the case, saying the organizations raised their objections too late. He also said the Army had properly notified the public and had adequately considered what impacts the project might have on the environment.

But Henkin said he warned the Army since 2002 it needed to adequately consider alternative locations for the Stryker brigade, and letting the service continue the development of the unit while the court case ticks on would turn the "whole (environmental impact) process into a sham."

The Army can seek a rehearing either from the three-member panel or a 15-judge appeals court panel and has 45 days from last week's decision to do so, Henkin said. The Army also has 90 days to decide if it wants to seek review before the U.S. Supreme Court, he said.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.