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Please read and
sign this petition created by Ann Wright.
To: Governor of State of Hawai'i & Director of
Lands and Natural Resources
Do Not Extend $1 Lease
on 23,000 acres of Hawai'i State Lands in Military Pōhakuloa
Training Area
We call on the Governor of the
State of Hawai'i and the Chair and Board of the Department of
Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) to terminate the lease of
23,000 acres of Hawai'i public trust land at Pōhakuloa
Training Area to the U.S. Army. This land was leased for $1 to
the Army in 1964 for a term of 65-years. In violation of the
terms of the lease, the Army has damaged native ecosystems,
left unexploded ordnance, depleted uranium, and other
contaminants, and harmed Native Hawaiian cultural sites.
Although the lease expires in 2029, the U.S. military is
seeking to renew the lease as quickly as
possible.
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your name.
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The U.S. military
wants to extend the lease on the State of Hawai'i property as
it provides access to the 110,000 acres of adjacent U.S.
government-owned land at the largest U.S. military firing
range. The Army calls the 132,000-acre range on Hawaii island
the “Pacific’s premier training area.”
Pōhakuloa
Training Area (PTA), with a 51,000-acre “impact area,”
is used heavily by Hawaii-based and visiting international
military forces. It is the largest live-fire range in Hawaii
and supports full-scale combined arms field training from the
squad to brigade (approximately 3,500 soldiers)
level.
The Army set a 40-day public "scoping" period
for the Environment Impact Statement (EIS). Written comments
should be submitted via the EIS website at
808ne.ws/357ek2V
Hawaiian cultural practitioners
Clarence Ku Ching and Mary Maxine Kahaulelio filed suit
against the Hawai'i State Department of Land and Natural
Resources in 2014 claiming the state breached its trust duties
by failing to enforce the lease.
Four years later,
State Circuit judge Gary Chang ruled in 2018 in Ching and
Kahaulelio’s lawsuit (Ching v. Case) that the DLNR failed
to care for the Big Island property, lacking inspections over
the first nearly 50 years of the lease. Judge Chang said
that the state has a duty to "mālama ʻāina" and called two
DLNR inspection reports “grossly inadequate” and ordered the
state to develop and potentially execute a plan to obtain
adequate funding for a comprehensive cleanup of the
land.
After Judge Chang’s order, DLNR said that as the
landlord of the property, it would work with the Army to
develop a formal inspection, monitoring, and reporting
process, which has been virtually non-existent. However, the
Hawaii Supreme Court overturned part of the
order.
Hawai'i State organizations that support this
petition are: Hawai'i Peace and Justice; Veterans for
Peace-Chapter 113-Hawai'i; Cancel RIMPAC Coalition; Golden
Rule Anti-Nuclear Sailing Ship: Women's Voices Women Speak;
Malu Aina Center for Non-Violent Education and
Action.
We will deliver this petition in person
through a press conference at the State Capitol to the
Governor of the State of Hawai'i and the Director of the
Department of Land and Natural Resources.
After
signing the petition, please use the tools on the next
webpage to share it with your friends.
This work is
only possible with your financial support. Please
chip in $3 now.
--
The RootsAction.org Team
P.S. RootsAction is an
independent online force endorsed by Jim Hightower, Barbara
Ehrenreich, Cornel West, Daniel Ellsberg, Glenn Greenwald,
Naomi Klein, Bill Fletcher Jr., Laura Flanders, former U.S.
Senator James Abourezk, Frances Fox Piven, Phil Donahue,
Sonali Kolhatkar, and many
others.
Background:
>> VIDEO:
Mauna Kea Observatory Directors Give
Update
>> Hawaii
Has Failed To Take Care Of Pohakuloa
>> Ching
v. Case Ruling
www.RootsAction.org
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