The Pacific Islands DXpedition Group (PIDXG) is hoping to gain approval of its latest application for a DXpedition from Kure Atoll — currently the 7th most-wanted DXCC entity according to Club Log. The last ham radio activity on Kure Atoll took place in 2005. Once home to a US Coast Guard LORAN station, Kure Atoll is a part of Hawaii, although separated from the rest of the state by Midway Island. It is included within the Hawaii State Seabird Sanctuary at Kure Atoll and the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands State Marine Refuge. The Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) formally denied PIDXG’s prior application last June.

“The official position was that Amateur Radio ‘cannot be conducted with adequate safeguards for the resources and ecological integrity’ of Kure Atoll,” PIDIXG said in an October 13 news release. According to PIDXG, officials contended that its antennas would pose a risk to the island’s avian population. The group said their application assured that they would follow US Fish and Wildlife Service (USF&WS) guidelines and protocols used by other DXpeditions in National Wildlife Refuges (NWR). They also said that it they’ve adhered to all necessary procedural and application guidelines in requesting access to public land where Amateur Radio already is determined as an “existing use” by the federal agencies overseeing Kure and other Pacific National Wildlife Refuges.

“It is the understanding of PIDXG that there have been no documented instances of negative impact to the ‘ecological integrity’ at any NWR from any previous Amateur Radio activity,” the PIDXG said in its news release. “Thankfully, through the guidance of the oversight agencies and the protocols directing radio operations from these environmentally sensitive areas, it can be said that Amateur Radio has maintained an impeccable track record in this regard.”

PIDXG said no provisions are in place to appeal the decision, although a letter accompanying the denial package indicated that the group was welcome to submit another application in the future, which it did on August 6.