Speaking to more than 150 at the University of Hawaii's Art Auditorium yesterday, Nader also said he supports a downsizing of the military's presence in Hawaii and an expansive cleanup effort of lands used for weapons training.

"Here in Hawaii, you have for decades had an enormous amount of military land that has been used for live-fire testing ... (which) has endangered species," Nader said. "The Department of Defense should ... assess the environmental damage ... and tell the people of Hawaii what exactly the stages and the scope of the cleanup will be."

The presidential hopeful criticized Gov. Linda Lingle, saying she has been "too accommodating to the military expansion (in Hawaii)."