by Sharon Rudolph on 15 February 2008
Please send a quick note, (Jjim Albertini's testimony below) to ask the house finance committee to schedule a hearing, strengthen and support HB 2076.
Please forward to friends and visitors. please do it soon, as things move very fast up there. (or don't move at all) this is not that great of a bill without stronger amendments, (below) but it looks like its the best we will get from them this year. if we don't ASK for a hearing and their support in strengthening the bill, it will most likely, just sit there and die.
the other bill, HB 2061, to help test and forewarn hawaii national guard troops about DU, died today.
love, shannon
email testimony to fin@capitol.hawaii.gov with subject heading like;
"Support for strengthened HB076"
HB 2076: Air Testing for Depleted Uranium
House Finance Committee
Aloha Chairman Oshiro, Vice- Chair Lee,
and Finance Committee Members,
I urge you to please support and strengthen HB 2076.
1. The full extent of Military radiation contamination at Hawaii live-fire ranges is unknown. Given the history of military deception, the extent of contamination is likely to be much greater than what's been admitted to date.
2. Military radiation contamination has been confirmed at Schofield Barracks and Pohakuloa Training Area. All present and former live-fire ranges could be contaminated and should be tested for contamination.
3. Military radiation contamination, especially with depleted uranium (DU) munitions, pose significant hazards from inhalation.
4. Air monitoring should be established 360 degrees around confirmed sites to see if the radiation is moving off site. The monitoring should be continuous with a paper trail and available to citizens in real-time via home computers. It is the spikes of elevated radiation that are a particular concern. Scientific studies have confirmed DU moving more than 26 miles off site in Albany, NY.
5. Senator Daniel Inouye should assist with providing federal funds to deal with a federal problem. However, there should be transparent independent testing of not only the air, but water and soil. After all, the U.S. military is spending $2 billion a day. There should be funds available to see if citizens are being contaminated by their own radioactive weapons.
6. There should be an immediate halt to all live-fire and any activity that creates dust at all ranges where radiation has been confirmed, since such activities could result in the spread of airborne particles which are particularly hazardous if inhaled.
Mahalo for your concern and assistance in this matter.
Jim Albertini, taro farmer and peace activist
P.O. Box AB Kurtistown, Hawaii 96870
808-966-7622 email ja@interpac.net
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...and mine...
Please support and strengthen HB 2076
The Health Dept. has stated that they have made arraignments with the EPA to start "initial" air monitoring for radiation on, or around Feb. 16th, identifying an initial site.
I would like to see the wording on this bill much more strengthened.
First of all, the Health Dept. says "one initial site", HB 2076 says "stations" (sites) plural.
I would like to see this clarified, is it singular or plural monitoring sites?
Will this/these site/sites be at Schofield Barracks, Pohakuloa Training Area, Makua: and will Kaho'olawe be monitored also?
While I am no air quality expert, just an average citizen, there seems to be some controversy in regard to how air quality/radiation is measured. The Health Dept. says it will only report and address "averaged" sustained measurements over three times background radiation levels.
Residents are also concerned with "spikes" of radiation that can only be caught through continuous monitoring. Hawaii Island residents have proven, easily and inexpensively, that constant monitoring can be published online, for all to see, and this should be included in HB 2076.
While many residents would still very much like to see an independent radiation expert monitoring and interpreting radiation levels and data in air, (soil and water). I am hoping our Health Dept. will act in good faith with the absolute protection of Hawaii residents first and foremost on their list, with transparent method, analysis, and interpretation for all residents to see, with their, (Health Dept.) own investigations apart from just believing whatever
they are told as to radiation in air, (soil and water) quality in the State of Hawaii. (and not testify against this bill)
Residents on three islands are worried and we want the absolute truth as to whether we and our visitors are being contaminated by radiation from training ranges, past and present; to do otherwise is unforgivable by our Health Dept. and by our legislature.
....And we wonder why none of these entities will not spend $550 to test a human resident for depleted uranium.
Mahalo'
Sharon Rudolph
shannonkona@gmail.com
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WHAT IS DEPLETED URANIUM (DU)? from www.mindfully.org
Before we can analyze the ethical use of DU ammunition, it is important to first establish the technology behind DU and DU weapons. Uranium is one of the heaviest elements found in nature and is emits alpha, beta, and gamma particles. It is 1.7 times denser than lead.12 The half-life of U238 (DU is 99% U238) is 4.5 billion years!
Uranium byproducts (such as Thorium (Th232)) have even longer half-lives, making uranium an element that gets more radioactive during its own decay process.5 Natural uranium is 99.274% U238, 0.720% U235, and 0.0055% U234. Uranium is enriched when its contents of U235 reaches 3.2-3.6% (since U235 is fissible). Weapon-grade uranium is +90% U235.14a What is depleted uranium? We start out with natural uranium and extract
enriched uranium for nuclear fuel and weaponry.
 image above: DU Storage facility in Portsmouth Ohio.
The leftover from the extraction process is something very similar to natural uranium, known as “depleted uranium”. The only difference is that DU has 0.202% of U235 and 0.0008% of U234. How much DU do we currently have? As of June 1998, we have around 57,800 huge steel cylinders of DU or 496,000 metric tons. Storage of DU is very complicated and problematic since corrosion of DU storage cylinders often
occurs over relatively short periods of time. [Editor's Note: No wonder the U.S. is trying to find ways to drop Depleted Uranium anyplace they have an exuse]
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