Hawai‘i County Council passes resolution urging U.S. Army to end bombing at Pōhakuloa

After hearing three hours of public comment on Wednesday, the Hawaiʻi County Council unanimously passed a resolution urging the U.S. military to cease bombing at Pōhakuloa Training Area.

Resolution 234-25 was first proposed during a County Council committee meeting in July. Those who testified in support of the resolution during committee meetings and at Wednesday’s general council meeting continued to express frustration over the ongoing military training, which they described as a desecration of sacred Hawaiian land.

The 8-0 passage of the resolution, with Council Member Matt Kaneali‘i-Kleinfelder absent, comes after the State of Hawaiʻi Board of Land and Natural Resources rejected the U.S. Army’s final Environmental Impact Statement to extend its 65-year lease for the Pōhakuloa Training Area earlier this year. The lease is set to expire in 2029.

“Demilitarize Pōhakuloa, return the land to Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian) stewardship, begin the long overdue process of restoration of ʻāina (land), of sovereignty, and of justice,” one testifier stated.

The measure was introduced by Council Member Rebecca Villegas. She said she was “humbled to play a small part in something so much bigger than myself, so much bigger than even all of us sitting here.”

The resolution only provides a message of what the county wants, but it does not have any legal authority and cannot mandate what the state or the Army does with the state-owned land.

This resolution was passed a day after Gov. Josh Green’s office launched a website meant to keep the public informed about the ongoing discussions of leases between the U.S. military and the State of Hawaiʻi, including Pōhakuloa Training Area, that are set to expire in 2029.

Engage.Hawaii.gov includes environmental impact documents for military-leased lands and a place where people can submit their opinions and concerns about the matter.

During Wednesday’s meeting, Villegas urged Green to comply with the state constitution and state law 343, which she quoted: “For the benefit of present and future generations, the state and its political subdivisions shall conserve and protect Hawaiʻi’s natural beauty and all natural resources, including land, water, air, minerals and energy sources. All public natural resources are held in trust by the state for the benefit of the public.”

Council Member Ashley Kierkiewicz thanked Villegas for bringing the resolution forward.

“I think, a really powerful moment to see all of these collective voices here together, thinking about the kind of future that we want for ourselves and for future generations,” Kierkiewicz said.

Kierkiewicz added that the resolution isn’t just about asking the military to acknowledge the hurt and the harm done.

“It’s about demanding action,” she said. “It sends a very clear message that we will not continue to accept the status quo and that the community will not quietly bear the burden of decisions made far away by those who don’t even live here to bear the consequences.”

Council Member Michelle Galimba said there’s no question the military needs to do better. However, she said there are a lot of bad things happening in the name of good things, giving World War II as an example.

Galimba thinks Green is in a “very difficult position” in wanting to protect the state and world during his administration.

After a recent visit to Hawaiʻi, Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll sent a letter to Green in August expressing interest in resolving issues about the military’s leases that are set to expire on state land on Hawaiʻi Island and Oʻahu. 

While Driscoll recognized in the letter the importance of these lands to the people of Hawai‘i, he said the Army training lands in Hawai’i also are vital to U.S. national security interests.

“Hawai’i has been generous in its support for the Army and has leased numerous lands to us over the past 65 years,” Driscoll wrote. “These lands are critical to the Army’s ability to project U.S. power in the Indo-Pacific, serving as a vital logistics hub for rapid troop deployment.”

In the letter, Driscoll did not detail what was meant by “land exchange” that he thought could be part of an agreement.

“I think we live in a world that is not so good and wonderful as we would like it to be, and sometimes we have to acknowledge that, and that things might not be exactly as we want them to be,” Galimba said. “But we can definitely say that we don’t want bombing and desecration activities to happen at Pōhakuloa.”

There were only a few who opposed the resolution publicly during Wednesday’s meeting. Vaughn Cook testified on behalf of the Japanese Chamber of Commerce and Industry of Hawai‘i against the measure’s passage.

“The U.S. military’s presence has provided positive economic development, jobs and infrastructure that allows families to provide for themselves sustenance, and allows them to have a roof over their heads,” Cook said. “It allows us to enjoy the accoutrements of living in this modern society. And we need to be grateful for that.”

Cook also noted that Pōhakuloa Training Area provides needed emergency and first aid services to their fire department and emergency services in the area.