HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0377.552 2024-2026From:
Melissa
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Sent:
Tuesday, September 2, 2025 9:21 AM
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To:
Council Testimony
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Subject:
Written Testimony -- KAKO'O is RES. 234-25
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Aloha nui mai a Chair and Councilmembers='
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I am Melissa Anna Kahea Akoni—I am a Hawaiian immersion SpEd kumu, a makuahine, and kama`aina born
and raised on Hawaii Island —so naturally, I am writing this testimony to express my strong and
unwavering support of RES. 234-25 because our `Nina, our wai, and our kdpuna have carried far too much
of the burden of someone else's "national security." Pohakuloa is not a blank spot on a map; it is a wahi pana.l,
like many other Hawaii island residents, live with the reality that what happens up there does not stay there —
smoke, ash, and contaminants ride the wind, and wildfire turns impact zones into island -wide risks. We keep
being told this is "necessary," as if our `ohana, our wai, and our sacred places were expendable collateral —
rather than the threads that weave together the very fabric of life here. I am here to assert that these things are
NOT expendable. E malama i ka `aina is not a trendy slogan —it's a duty and a lifestyle baked into the very core
of who we are as Kanaka and Kama`aina and, frankly, it's codified into our laws as well. This resolution is not a
radical one; it is quite simply the bare minimum of our kuleana to malama `aina: stop the bombing and missile
practice, clean up the mess, and do the cultural due diligence that should have been required and abided by
from the start.
I refuse the framing that Hawaii exists as a "strategic military position." Our value is not measured in targets
hit or runways built; our value is in our ability to thrive despite the perceived isolation, cost, and the constant
pressure to surrender our future for convenience or consumption in the present. If we just look at the pattern;
Kaho`olawe was bombed for decades and "cleaned," yet unexploded ordnance still surfaces and whole areas
remain unsafe. Kaho`olawe`s water table was cracked. Red Hill poisoned the aquifer on Oahu, displacing
families and shattering trust in the systems that are supposed to protect us. At Pobakuloa, the same logic —train
first, apologize later —has played out alongside fires that scar tens of thousands of acres. When the military asks
us to accept risk, history shows that our communities, OUR kaiaulu, are the ones who live with the
consequences long after the helicopters leave and the cameras turn off.
On Hawaii Island, the stakes are immediate and personal because Maunakea's aquifer system feeds our lives
from Hamiikua, Hilo, Waimea, and beyond. We get nearly ALL our drinking water from underground storage
that depends on healthy foiests, intact soils, and responsible stewardship. Anything that heightens wildfire
danger, erodes the landscape, or spreads contamination is not just an environmental issue; it's a water issue, a
health issue, a keiki issue. I'm not willing to gamble my keild's future on the hopes that this time will be
different, especially when we clearly see the same harmful patterns being perpetuated. We already know what
"lessons learned" looks like here... partial cleanups, long timelines, shifting responsibility, and communities
abandoned to cope in the aftermath.
So I'm asking you, me ke aloha `onipa`a: Pass RES. 234-25. Cease the bombing at Pobakuloa. Condition any
future access on real cleanup, restoration, and independent monitoring —reported publicly and regularly.
Require a full Ka Pa`akai analysis before any action that could affect Native Hawaiian rights or cultural
resources. Prioritize groundwater protection like the life -or -death issue that it is. Our knpuna taught us
kuleana, now our keild and `opio are watching to see if we live it. Hawaiians, kama`aina, settlers, even
tourists —we all drink the same water and breathe the same air. Do the pono thing now, not after another
disaster. E k5 kia`i kakou i ka `aina, i ka wai, i na pukana o na hanauna hou o ka honua nei.
Comm. �5
Ref. To:
Ref. Date 1S - 3 2025
Na`u me ke aloha `aina `oia`i`o man a man,
na Melissa Anna Kahea Akoni, he keiki maoli na ka ua Kanilehua