Keeping Johnston Atoll in mind

ALTHOUGH Johnston Atoll, where the US Army plans to destroy tons of che mical weapons, is not included in the boundaries of Hawaii in Congresswoman Saiki’s bill, it is not far from her mind.

Finding that the Department of De fense was adamantly opposed to the prospect of putting the island within Hawaii’s boundaries, Saiki took a two

level approach.

On the long-term basis, her bill on

Hawaii’s boundaries mandates that the US President should at the end of 10 years conduct a study “and submit to the Congress recommendations on the use, if any, of the Johnston Islands by the United States and the appropriate ness of including the Johnston Islands in the State of Hawaii.” By then, it is hoped, the island would no longer be needed for the storage and destruction of chemical weapons.

On a short-term basis, Saiki submitted another piece of legislation which would prevent the Department of Defense from shipping chemical munitions to Johnston after January 1, 1991. Of her two bills, this one, (HR 4838), is re garded as less likely to succeed than the Hawaii borders bill.

These bills, incidentally, remind obser vers that each of the principal units of the US military has its very own, res tricted-access island in the Central Paci fic. The Army has Johnston, the Navy has Midway and the Air Force has Wake. □

Pat Saiki