The Department of Navy is holding public meetings throughout Hawaii to discuss its draft environmental impact statement on military testing, including sonar, off of Hawaii and California. 

The public meetings will be held between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. on the following dates and at the following locations:Show citation box

1. June 12, 2012 (Tuesday) at the Wilcox Elementary School Cafeteria, 4319 Hardy Street, Lihue, HI.Show citation box

2. June 13, 2012 (Wednesday at Maui Waena Intermediate School Cafeteria, 795 Onehee Avenue, Kahului, HI.Show citation box

3. June 14, 2012 (Thursday) at East Hawaii Cultural Center, 141 Kalakaua Street, Hilo, HI.Show citation box

4. June 15, 2012 (Friday) at McKinley High School Cafeteria, 1039 South King Street, Honolulu, HI.

In addition to providing oral testimony at the meeting, which will be entered into the federal record, the public can submit written comments at http://www.HSTTEIS.com, or the old-school way – via mail – to: 

HSTT EIS/OEIS Project Manager—EV21.CS; 1220 Pacific Highway, Building 1, Floor 3, San Diego, CA 92132-5190 

The testing is likely to attract reinvigorated controversy over the impact that explosives and sonar are having on marine life. The EIS says that testing could been more harmful to dolphins and whales than previously thought. 

From the Washington Post: 

The Navy estimates its use of explosives and sonar may unintentionally cause more than 1,600 instances of hearing loss or other injury to marine mammals each year, according to a draft environmental impact statement that covers training and testing planned from 2014 to 2019. The Navy calculates the explosives could potentially kill more than 200 marine mammals a year.

(Credit: NOAA: Emma Jugovich)