HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0377.155 2024-2026Testimony of Hui Aloha 'Aina o Hilo
August 19, 2025
COUNTY CLERK
COUNTY OF HAWAI'
RECEIVED
Time I2•(X0,AI. sY
Date AUG 1 8 2025 .
Re: Supporting Resolution 234-25: URGES THE STATE OF HAWAI'l TO ENSURE THE
HEALTH AND SAFETY OF HAWAI'I ISLAND RESIDENTS BY REQUESTING THE MILITARY
TO CEASE ALL BOMBING AND DESECRATION ACTIVITIES AT THE POHAKULOA
TRAINING AREA, REJECTING LAND SWAPS AND LEASE RENEWALS WITH THE
MILITARY UNLESS CERTAIN STIPULATIONS ARE ESTABLISHED, AND CONDUCTING A
KA PA'AKAI ANALYSIS ON THE AREA.
Aloha a Chair Villegas and Members of the Hawai'i County Policy Committee on Environmental
and Natural Resource Management,
As a branch of Ka 'Ahahui Hawai'i Aloha 'Aina, more commonly known as "Hui Aloha
'Aina", and specifically the Hilo branch, we strongly urge the committee to vote in support and
pass this resolution, Resolution 234-25, concerning the ceasing of all bombing and desecration
activities at the Pohakuloa Training Area.
As a part of the Hawaiian Kingdom Government Lands that were administered by
representatives of the people, these above -mentioned lands, waters, and familial legacies were
held in trust for the benefit of the people. The Hawaiian Kingdom government consistently and
relentlessly advocated for the protection of these same resources, wahi kupuna, and wahi pana
- we strongly urge you to bear this in mind.
For far too long Pohakuloa has been desecrated and exploited in the most vile of ways.
The result is contamination of our wai - islandwide, depleted Uranium in the air, and a culturally
significant region now strewn with unexploded ordinances. Your dissent in these atrocities,
committed by the United States military, is your obligation to the health, safety, and prosperity of
us all. This military has shown, time after time, that they have no concerns for the welfare of
HawaiTs people, nor the resources and sacred spaces we hold tightly to ourselves and our
identity. This resolution serves as an opportunity for this PCENRM committee to advocate for
the right thing. While the voice of the people (and community voice) will always bear the proof of
dissent, the confirmation of dissent from its elected bodies only more clearly indicates how far
we've strayed from what is right or just.
Knowing surely that any future and reasonable attempt of a Ka Pa'akai analysis will find
inconsistency in the management of Pohakuloa and the protection of native
rights/practice/access, the only wording change in this resolution that Hui .Aloha 'Aina would
recommend is to simply cease bombings and desecration immediately, indefinitely, and
notwithstanding. Additionally, whatever the results of a Ka Pa'akai Analysis, we know that the
implications of allowing these activities continue to highlight the reality of HawaiTs illegal -
occupation — whose ramifications stretch far beyond HawaiTs shores, where there is no
analytical tool that can measure the devastation caused by it.
XHJSL Yt�Lc`
?'I?.S7tii 2C` X.t'f3L'Oa
We will never consent-113411e'presence of the U.S. Military, and we stand in support with
our'ohana, communities, meAership; and Afrthe people of Hawaii Island who are calling on
you to help stop the bombing and desecration -of =r land, waters, air, and 'iwi kupuna.
We urge the committee to stand with us. Do right by the land and its people, and care for
these lands the way that they were always meant to be cared for. The opportunity to do so starts
here, and now.
"E ho`omau i ke kupa`a no ke aloha i ka aina."
Hui Aloha'Aina o Hilo