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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0377.067 2024-2026Testimony in Strong Support of RESOLUTION 234 - 25 Notice to Principal is Notice to Agent and Notice to Agent is Notice to Principal I, Suzy Aledo, one the People (as seen in the 50 State Constitutions) and a Kanaka O'iwi, sui juris, do present you with this Notice that you and your agents may provide immediate due care. "Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka'Aina I Ka Pono" translated to "The life of the land Is perpetuated In righteousness." Historically spoken by King Kamehameha III (Kauikeaouli) on January 31, 1843, during La Ho'lho'l Ea (Sovereignty Restoration Day). King Kauikeaouli declared this phrase when sovereignty was returned to the Hawaiian Kingdom and a phrase which the State of Hawaii adopted to be its official motto in 1959. [Emphasis Highlighted] Please take notice that the continued violation of this motto reflects a longstanding injustice committed by the State of Hawai'i and its agencies. When water is diverted to serve tourism and colonial interests, when sacred lands are leased for profit and desecration, when iwi k0puna are desecrated, and when cultural and religious practices are stripped away for the sake of economic gain — it is not development, it is dispossession; it is the systematic prioritization of profit over people, desecration over dignity, and exploitation over stewardship. Mahalo for the opportunity to testify in strong support of Resolution 234-25, which urges the state to ensure the health and safety of Hawaii Island residents by requesting that the military cease ALL bombing and desecration activities AT Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA), reject land swaps and lease renewals without strict stipulations, and conduct a full Ka Pa'akai Analysis of the area. In May 2025, the state's Board of Land Natural Resources (BLNR) did not accept PTAs Final Environmental Impact Statement (FEIS), citing incomplete archaeology inventory, lack of endangered species data and analysis and an inadequate, Cultural Impact Assessment, which is used to address Ka Pa'akai factors. Sustained bombing and training activities have damaged pristine lands, the Saddle Region aquifer system, and cultural sites for over 60 years. The resolution aligned with long-standing community concerns that military activity continues to pose real threats to public health, cultural integrity, and environmental stability. This resolution is not about questioning the Army's contributions regarding disaster response, emergency services, or providing a training venue for the county's first responders. Instead, it is about establishing limits, demanding accountability, -and ensuring oversight and respect by urging the cessation of unwarranted bombing, live -fire training, and the cleanup of PTA as required by their lease. Approving resolution 234-25 sends a powerful message that Hawaii County stands with its people - families, communities, cultural practitioners, and environmental stewards, who have long raise concerns about PTA's short and long-term impacts. It signals that Hawaii County will no longer accept unilateral military decisions that compromise our land, culture, and health without meaningful engagement, cleanup, commitments, and legal compliance with public trust obligations. Please take notice that John Locke, one of the most brilliant legal minds in history explains in his "Two Treatises of Government" that people are born with natural rights to life, liberty, and property. See evidence below: Section 6. "The state of nature has a law of nature to govern it, which obliges every one: and reason, which is that law, teaches all mankind, who will but consult it, that being all equal and independent, no one ought to harm another in his life, health, liberty, or possessions: For men being all the workmanship of one omnipotent, and Infinitely wise maker; all the servants of one sovereign master, sent Into the world by his order, and about his business; they are his property, whose workmanship they are, made to last during his, not one another's pleasure. And being furnished with like faculties, sharing all in one community of nature, there cannot be supposed any such subordination among us, that may authorize us to destroy one another, as if we were made for one another's uses, as the inferior ranks of 7 creatures are for ours. Comm. N V Ref. To: Ref. Dote U l Every one, as he is bound to preserve himself, and not to quit his station wilfully; so by, the like reason, when his own preservation comes not in competition, ought he, as much as he can, to preserve the rest of mankind, and may not, unless it be to do justice on an offender, take away, or impair the life, or what tends to the preservation of the life, the liberty, health, limb, or goods of another "[Emphasis Highlighted] Section 4 -15. These sections elaborate on what the state of nature is and how natural law governs it. Locke also emphasizes that even without government, people have rights and are bound by natural law. Section 27. "Though the earth, and all inferior creatures be common to all men, yet every man has a property in his own person: this nobody has any right to but himself. The labour of his body and the work of his hands, we may say, are properly his. Whatsoever then he removes out of the state that nature hath provided, and left it in, he hath mixed his labour with, and joined to it something that is his own, and thereby makes it his property. It being by him removed from the common state nature placed it in, it hath by this labour something annexed to it that excludes the common right of other men. For this labour being the unquestionable property of the tabourer, no man but he can have a right to what that is once joined to, at least where there is enough, and as good left in common for others." Please take note that, that Natural Law teaches us that we are all equal and should NOT harm each other. Our Natural Rights to Life, Liberty, Health, and Possessions are rights all people inherently possess. The Divine Ownership is that all humans are "the workmanship of God" - not to be subjected to one another's will. [Emphasis Highlighted] I submit this strong support of Resolution 234-25, and I stand in opposition to the Army's proposed land lease extension in Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA), as testimony and as a lawful Notice with the aforementioned reference to John Locke's "Two Treatises of Government" which articulates natural law principles, and remains a foundational source of political legitimacy under Western jurisprudence and natural rights doctrine. This testimony is grounded in fundamental legal principles, Hawaiian Kingdom law, the Hawaii State Constitution, maxims of law and fiduciary trust duties, international law and treaties, environmental considerations, and documented evidence of the military's adverse impact on global warming. [Emphasis Highlighted] Violation of Hawaiian Kingdom Law and International Law Please take note, that the Hawaiian Kingdom was a sovereign nation recognized by International Law until its unlawful overthrow in 1893. The continued occupation of Hawaiian lands by the United States, including the PTA, constitutes a breach of international humanitarian law, specifically the Hague Regulations and the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibit the occupying power from exploiting the resources of the occupied territory for its own benefit The National Lawyers Guild has condemned the prolonged and illegal occupation of the Hawaiian Islands and called for the United States to comply with international law by administering the laws of the Hawaiian Kingdom during its occupation. nlcintemational.orc The Hawaiian Kingdom was, and remains, a sovereign nation under International Law. Its illegal overthrow in 1893, acknowledged by the U.S. Apology Resolution (Public Law 103-150), does not extinguish its sovereignty or legal continuity. Under International humanitarian law, including: • The Hague Regulations (1907), Articles 43-55 • The Fourth Geneva Convention (1949) • Customary international law on belligerent occupation Breach of Trust Under the Hawaii State Constitution Please take notice, that Hawaii State Constitution mandates that public lands be held in trust for the benefit of the people. The Hawaii Supreme Court has ruled that the state has a fiduciary duty to actively manage and protect public trust lands, including those leased to the military. In the case of Clarence Ching and Mary Maxine Kahaulello v. Suzanne Case, the court found that the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) failed to monitor and protect the PTA, allowing It to fall Into disrepair and suffer environmental degradation. [Emphasis Highlighted] KHON2Honolulu Civil Beat Maxims of Law "Nemo dat auod non habet": A fundamental principle of law is that "Nemo dat quod non habet," meaning "No one gives what they do not have." The United States cannot lawfully lease or extend a lease on lands it does not lawfully own or possess. Given the unlawful overthrow of the Hawaiian Kingdom and the ongoing occupation, the United States lacks the legal authority to extend the military lease at PTA. RootsActionnlgintemational.ora Cundy v Lindsay 0678) affirmed that a seller who does not have title cannot confer it to a buyer. Unlawful acts that violate natural rights such as harm to life, liberty, or property - carry no legal authority. 70f He who owns the soil has it even to the sky. C.L.M.: Co. Litt. 4a. Use of land — such as for military training or excavation — requires rightful ownership and must not violate native or national title. 74m. The law regards the order of nature. Co. Litt. 197b. Calling a lease legal does not make it so If it violates public trust, land title, or sovereignty. Fiduciary Obligation and Duty (Charles A. Weisman) Ila, A delee ted power cannot be again delegated. v Inst. 597, Black's.Btack's. 2d.47• 2 Bocv Inst. n 1300 A deouty cannot have (or appoint) a deouty. Story. Ao s 13. 9 Coke 77, 2 Bouv. Inst. n. 1936. The Policy Committee on Environmental and Natural Resource Management's authority comes from the Constitution and must be limited to its fiduciary trust obligations. 116 The derivative power cannot be greater than the original from which it is derived. Nov.Max • Ming Max 66• Finch, ow. b. 1. c. 3. The State acts as trustee of public and ceded lands and cannot lease or damage them for private or military interest without betraying this duty. Rights, Justice and Equity (Charles A. Weisman) Failure to disclose the full environmental, legal, and cultural harm of PTA leasing is itself fraudulent. 36p. Eauity suffers not a wrong without a remedy 4 8ouv. Inst. no 3726 The Policy Committee on Environmental and Natural Resource Management is compelled in equity to correct a known injustice, not perpetuate it. Failure to disclose the full environmental, legal, and cultural harm of PTA leasing is itself fraudulent. Government and Public Trust 71j. The welfare of the people is the supreme law. McInerney v. Ervin, (Fla.) 46 So.2d 458, 463; Bacon, Max. reg.12; 13 Coke,139. Decisions must benefit the people — not federal agencies, not foreign interests. Environmental Degradation and Global Warming Please take notice that the military activities at PTA have caused significant environmental harm, including the contamination of lands with unexploded ordnance, depleted uranium, and other hazardous materials. These activities have disrupted native ecosystems and endangered species, such as the Hawaiian hoary bat and the nene goose. Furthermore, military exercises contribute to global warming through the emission of greenhouse gases from vehicles, aircraft, and explosives. The Army's own reports have acknowledged these environmental impacts, yet insufficient measures have been taken to mitigate them. RootsAcfion+1 Honolulu Civil Beat+1 Honolulu Civil Beat+1 Will Caron+1 Military activities at PTA, including live -fire training, weapons testing, and resource extraction, have: • Contaminated soil and groundwater with depleted uranium, heavy metals, and unexploded ordnance • Destroyed native habitats and endangered species (e.g., 'Ope'ape a, Nena) • Contributed to greenhouse gas emissions, deforestation, and global warming Military emissions globally are a major unreported source of CO,. A 2019 study from Lancaster and Durham Universities found that: "If the U.S. military were a country, it would rank as the world's 47th largest emitter of greenhouse gases." ([Source: Lancaster University, 2019 —"Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change, and the Costs of War"]) Failure to Fulfill Lease Obligations Moreover, please take note that the original lease agreement required the military to remove all live or blank ammunition and waste materials after training exercises. However, inspections have revealed the presence of unexploded ordnance and other debris, indicating non-compliance with lease terms. The Hawaii Supreme Court has ruled that the state must ensure the military fulfills these obligations before considering any lease extension. Honolulu Civil Beat+ KHON + Will aron+ Honol ulu Civil B at+1KHON +1 Please take final notice, extending the military lease at Pohakuloa Training Area is unlawful, unethical, and detrimental to the environment and the people of Hawaii. It perpetuates an illegal occupation, breaches constitutional and fiduciary duties, violates fundamental legal principles, and exacerbates environmental degradation and global warming. I urge the Policy Committee on Environmental and Natural Resource Management to support Resolution 234-25, and to reject the proposed lease extension and take immediate action to restore and protect the lands entrusted to the people of Hawaii. Any further degradation of Pohakuloa lands would represent a continued crime against the'atna and its people. I urge you to act with the courage of fiduciary and moral responsibility — and to honor your legal and spiritual obligation to protect the land, water, air, and generations to come. The proposed military lease extension and the Army's deficient EIS represent a breach of natural law, intemational legal standards, public trust obligations under the Hawat'i State Constitution, and the spiritual and cultural values of this land. [Emphasis Highlighted] In conclusion, let it be remembered that the official motto of the State of Hawai'I, spoken by King Kamehameha III upon the restoration of Hawaiian sovereignty in 1843, is: "Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka'Aina i Ka Pono." 'The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness." This is not merely symbolic. It is a directive — a constitutional and moral mandate — for those entrusted with land governance to act with pono (righteousness), to restore balance, and to protect the ea — both the life and sovereignty — of the 'aina. I call upon the Policy Committee On Environmental and Natural Resource Managment to honor this motto in word and action by: • Support Hawaii County Council Resolution 234-25, • Denying the military's lease renewal at Pohakuloa, and • Initiating the full restoration of these lands to the people of Hawat'i Ua Mau Ke Ea O ka'Alna I Ka Pono. Let righteousness prevail — for the land, the people, and the generations yet unborn. [Emphasis Highlighted] Respectfully submitted, Suzy Aledo Cc: President Donald Trump Pam Bondi Stephen Miller Supreme Court of the United States United Nations, Human Rights Kash Patel Marco Rubio Pete Hegseth Eton Musk