Hurricane Fuels Debate Over Missiles on Kauai : Environment: Opponents warn of more damage if Army goes ahead with ‘Star Wars’ launches. But backers say tests will bring jobs and money.

Elizabeth Freeman, one of Kauai’s outspoken environmentalists, was finally able to make it to a phone Wednesday. It was five days after Hurricane Iniki had damaged her home and cut off her ties to the mainland.

One of her first calls was to Western Union, where she shipped off a telegram to President Bush urging him to halt U.S. military plans for using a missile base on the west side of Kauai as a launch pad for “Star Wars” technology.

Freeman is an active participant in one of the island’s most potent political debates, an argument that has been reignited by the hurricane.

Under a controversial Pentagon plan, three-stage missiles known as strategic target systems are to be fired from the Barking Sands Pacific Missile Range to the southwest, across the Pacific Ocean and toward an atoll just north of the Equator. The missiles carry targets, and those would be tracked as they streak toward the atoll, mimicking an intercontinental ballistic missile of the type that the Strategic Defense Initiative program is intended to shoot down.

The government says the program is a crucial part of its effort to test the capabilities of a strategic defense system. Opponents are launching a last-minute attempt to defeat it.

Virtually no one on Kauai seems to lack an opinion about the proposed missile launches--which could begin as soon as November if the base is ready and courts give the go-ahead. Islanders seem divided between those who believe the launches will generate badly needed revenue and those who believe they could cause catastrophic environmental consequences.

Other missiles are routinely fired from Barking Sands, but these are larger and are launched differently. Opponents of this testing program say it represents a dangerous escalation in activities at the base.

“These missiles are different,” said Denise Antolini, a lawyer with the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund in Honolulu. “There are serious questions about their reliability.”

The Army and its supporters disagree, and in an environmental impact report found no significant danger to the island of Kauai.

“I’m very proud of this program, and I believe that we have done everything possible to ensure that there is no reason to be concerned,” said Lt. Col. August Manguso, the top military official in charge of the proposed testing. “It’s easy to get the impression that this is some big towering missile . . . but that really is not the case.”

The proposed launches, Manguso added, “are very consistent with what has been going on out there for 30 years.”

Freeman and her group, Responsible Citizens for Responsible Government, have challenged the environmental study, as have the Sierra Club and its Legal Defense Fund. Legal battles have been waged in state courts all summer as environmentalists try to prevent the state from finalizing an agreement with the military to let the launches go forward.

“It would be cruel and unjust to provide the federal aid that Kauai residents need and then, before we can even get back on our feet, let the Army shoot ‘Star Wars’ missiles from our shores,” Freeman wrote in her telegram to Bush. “The last thing in the world we need is another threat to the island’s environment.”

A White House spokesman said Thursday that officials there had not yet received Freeman’s telegram, and therefore would not comment on her request. Military managers of the testing program said they were assessing the damage to the Barking Sands range to determine whether the impact of the storm would force delays in the launch schedule, but they defended the program and said the hurricane had done nothing to undermine its importance.

Island residents remain divided about the launches at a time when they are seeking massive federal support for rebuilding from the damage wrought by Hurricane Iniki.

Many join Freeman in opposing the testing--some in fact say the Pentagon proposal is a recipe for pau , Hawaiian for obliteration.

And even though last week’s hurricane wrought widespread devastation on Kauai, some residents are far more worried about an errant rocket than another storm.

“There are serious dangers associated with this testing,” said Carolyn Maxey, a school librarian on the island. “Those who are environmentally minded are extraordinarily concerned about it.”

Maxey and others cite potential damage to endangered species and Hawaiian burial grounds, as well as risks to the Poli Hale State Park, part of which sits within the 10,000-foot arc around the base that would be evacuated just prior to each missile launch. Current launches do not require evacuations.

Lihue Mayor JoAnn A. Yukimura, who has emerged as a central figure in the island’s recovery efforts, seconded the call for canceling the missile program as a sign of humanitarian concern for Kauai.

“I can’t imagine that any energy would be put into that at a time like this,” Yukimura said Wednesday. “I certainly hope they’re not planning to go ahead with launches.”

That view is far from unanimous, however. Some say the environmental opposition to the missile program is hysterical and misguided.

“What do these people know?” asked Juan Felix Guzman, an island resident. “I don’t think they’ll get any goodwill by stopping these tests. They should go ahead and start shooting the rockets.”

For opponents, one new problem confronting their campaign is that the military’s stock on Kauai is very high these days because of its visible role in the relief effort. Moreover, with the island’s tourist industry a shambles, many residents fear for Kauai’s economy and are reluctant to turn down any offers.

“These people don’t understand,” resident Glenn Bargamento said of the missile opponents. “We need jobs now more than ever.”