Three Native Hawaiian and environmental groups are continuing their legal challenge to the Army's plans to establish a 3,818-soldier Stryker brigade unit in Hawai'i.

The three groups yesterday notified the U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco that they will appeal Chief U.S. District Judge David Ezra's decision last week rejecting their lawsuit.

The groups want the appeals court to declare that the Army violated the National Environmental Policy Act. In addition, they hope to file within a week a request for an injunction that would halt the project until the appeal is decided.