UXO and IED 2009 Earmarks For Hawaii

Washington, D.C.Congresswoman Mazie K. Hirono (D-Hawaii) Hirono's efforts has resulted in over $24M worth of earmark funding for 2009 for various programs in Hawai'i's 2nd Congressional District. The appropriations include $9.8M in funding related to munitions and IEDs including the following three defense appropriations:

• $4 million to continue funding for research, development, and improvement of technology to search for munitions dumped into the ocean offshore around the island of Oahu (Ordnance Reef) This builds on $5.5 million secured by Congresswoman Hirono for this purpose, last year.
• $1 million for research on detection and classification of UXO in volcanic soil native to Hawaii soil.
• $4.8 million to expedite research and development of a new generation of sensor technologies for IED standoff detection and forensic tracing. The research is being conducted by the University of Hawaii in cooperation with Florida A&M and Arkansas State University.