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HONOLULU — The three Hawaiian groups whose lawsuit stopped Army Styker brigade training say they now feel significant portions of that training can continue.

While the groups have fought to halt training, they filed court documents to conclude that some Stryker activities won’t have an adverse environmental impact or diminish the possibility of moving the unit elsewhere.

But a previous court ruling still requires the Army to look at the merits of locating the $1.5 billion Stryker brigade somewhere other than Hawaii. A hearing before U.S. District Judge David Ezra is scheduled for Monday morning.

Critics have argued the brigade could be based in Alaska or Washington state with less of an impact and cost.

“Maybe to the Army’s surprise — I don’t know — we concluded that some of the projects that they are proposing could go forward in the meantime,” said Earthjustice lawyer David Henkin, who is representing the Hawaiian groups.

The Army is seeking federal court approval to conduct training ahead of an anticipated fall 2007 deployment to Iraq by the unit’s 328 Stryker armored vehicles and 3,900 soldiers.

The three groups filed a lawsuit in 2004 charging that the massive Stryker project would damage Native Hawaiian cultural sites and harm endangered species and their habitats.

The groups now say acceptable training includes nonlive-fire maneuver exercises at Dillingham Airfield, and nonlive-fire training at Kahuku Training Area and Schofield Barracks’ East Range as long as there is erosion control measures and better delineation of approved off-road maneuver areas.

The groups are against the construction and operation of a Schofield motor pool and use of unmanned aerial vehicles.

The Stryker projects and training were halted by injunction Oct. 27 after the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled the Army had not considered alternative locations for the Stryker brigade as required by national environmental law.