HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0377.321 2024-2026To: The Policy Committee on Environmental and Natural Resource Management o C-)
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From: Momi Naughton, Ph.D. c z�
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Date: August 19, 2025 (testimony submitted August 18, 2025) —
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RE: Support for Resolution 234-25 y `—
I am writing in support of resolution 234-25 to request the military cease all bombing and o v
desecration of the Pohakuloa Training Area. The military has had a history of abusing the -
generosity of Parker Ranch and the people who live in nearby communities since World War II.
So, my question to the military is why should we trust your now?
As part of my oral testimony, I will read a letter written by Parker Ranch owner, Richard
Smart, to General Franklin Hart. What the letter will show is that despite the assertion that the
army wanted to retain the area of Pohakuloa (Ka`ohe 3 and 4 of Parker Ranch) in 1952 for
training because "coastal areas were developed into tourist resorts, military locations were
moved inland to more remote locations," this was not the case. Considering the first hotel on the
South Kohala Coast was built in 1965, avoiding tourist areas was not a motivation for desiring
the location of Pohakuloa.
A major reason that the training area is located in Pohakuloa is that Mr. Smart outlined the
environmental and "social problems" caused by having the military in the town of Waimea
during World War H and pleaded with the military to not build their training facility in the
Lalamilo area of Waimea as they had planned. There are still reminders and concerns about
the military in Waimea 80 years later. Here are a few:
• In 1954, while digging a fence post at Ke`amuku, the crew hit an unexploded ordinance
killing 2 men and seriously injuring three others. With subsequent accidents, a total
of four people in Waimea have been killed by the military's negligence.
• After the first incident in 1954, the U.S. Army Pacific Explosive Ordnance Unit did the
initial cleanup of the munitions left over from the war. So extensive was the area used by
the military and so heavy was the bombardment that the clean-up from WW II
continues until today.
• When the military left Waimea, they dug a huge hole near a pu`u outside of town on the
Kohala Mountain Road. They buried tons of military equipment, including jeeps, in
this hole. Is the refuse dump monitored for leaking toxins that could harm our
aquafer?
• Native Hawaiians and others have been declined HUD housing assistance because
their lots are in the Waikoloa Maneuver Area and the clean-up that has been
conducted so far isn't trusted.
• Why has it taken so long for the military to admit they had tested nerve -gas and
other toxins on Hawaii Island? I .t�
Comm. 0
Ref. To: I RUM
Ref. Date 9 2025
According to a Honolulu Advertiser article on November 1, 2002:
"In a test known as Red Oak, the military fired projectiles loaded with sarin in the upper
Waiakea Forest Reserve, southwest of Hilo, in April and May 1967 to help determine its
distribution in a jungle environment. Other parts of the test conducted in the Panama
Canal Zone did not involve sarin."
"The military began a test called Yellow Leaf in the Panama Zone until `international
considerations' forced a move to a site on Hawaii. Bomblets filled with bacterium
Bachillus globigii were detonated in the `Ola'a Forest in April and May 1966 to
measure cloud diffusion in a jungle canopy."
After the Red Hill fuel spill, the coverup in the aftermath, and other areas on our islands where
rampant unchecked pollutions have occurred under the guise of "national security," how can we
now believe our fragile eco-system is the best place to test implements of warfare on our land
and its people?
Mahalo for your consideration of my testimony and my concerns.