HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0377.345 2024-2026From: Alexandra Perez Urbina Reveron
Sent: Monday, August 11, 2025 10:52 AM
To: Council Testimony
Subject: Support Res. 2354-25
Aloha Committee Members,As a visitor and person who loves Hawai'i, her people and her land and
water, I strongly support this resolution.US Military training at Pohakuloa has already caused serious
harm -burning nearly 20,000 acres, contaminating the land, and threatening endangered species.
Beneath this area lies a major aquifer that supplies fresh water to Hawaii Island, and the military's
track record shows they are not equipped to protect it (when have occupiers ever shown courtesy and
respect for the lands they steal?). If money is an incentive, in the long run, it will be incredibly costly
for the island to lose access to fresh water. You need your resources. Importing water is not the way to
go.There is also serious concern about depleted uranium left in the soil, which can become airborne
during exercises and has known health risks. This is also incredibly costly for communities (mind,
body, spirit). We live in one of the most expensive countries to be sick.Pohakuloa is a wahi pana- a
sacred place with deep cultural and ecological significance. Continued military use is incompatible
with its conservation status and the values of aloha `aina.
Pohakuloa deserves to be, it deserves to exist, and it deserves to be protected.Please supporttis o
resolution to protect the land, water, and people of Hawai'i.Gracias,
c
Alexandra Perez Urbina
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Portland, Oregon —
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A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.
— Greek proverb
Comm. f o
Ref. To: .
Ref. Date 2025