Food NOT Bombs! Election Candidates: Where do YOU Stand?
Monday, August 26th, 2024Food NOT Bombs!
Photo: $250,000 Javelin anti-tank missile being fired at Pohakuloa while 40% of families on Hawaii Island (1 in 3 families statewide) are food insecure.
It’s election season and few politicians are talking about the Elephant in the center of Hawaii Island – the massive 133,000 acre Pohakuloa Toxic Area (PTA). Pohakuloa has been bombed and shelled for more than 80 years, Millions of live rounds, from a wide variety of weapon systems, are fired annually at PTA. The US Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and foreign countries, bomb and shell Pohakuloa. Many of the weapons fired at PTA contain toxins such as lead, Depleted Uranium (DU) radiation, perchlorate, etc. With continued bombing and shelling in the dry, high-wind Saddle Area, these toxins can be resuspended and blow long distances in the wind.
Since 1975, the US military has admitted to starting 892 wildfires at Pohakuloa from military activities. One fire started in August 2022 (1 year before the Lahaina fire) and burned more than 17,000 acres, including more than 12,000 acres off base in an endangered species habitat. What toxins blow in the dust and smoke coming off PTA?
All Hawaii residents have recently become aware of Navy jet fuel leaks from Red Hill storage tanks contaminating Oahu’s water wells. Thousands have been sickened by fuel in their water. Are military toxins at PTA, at 6500 feet in the center of our island getting into our water? Pohakuloa spends over a million dollars a year hauling water to the base. More than 10 years ago PTA drilled 2 water wells on the base and hit water at shallow depths – 750 and 1200 feet below the surface. But they are still not using water from those wells? Why? Are military toxins in those water wells? We all know that whatever you do mauka, eventually comes makai. We are all downhill and downwind from Pohakuloa. It’s time we demand candidates and elected officials speak out — Stop Bombing and Shut Down Pohakuloa, Cancel, don’t renew, the state military land lease at PTA, Make the military clean up its toxic mess, and return the land to the Hawaiian people. Shift the Trillion dollar US military budget to meet human needs – food, housing, education, healthcare, child care, elder care, and addressing the global climate crisis. The US military is the largest consumer of oil and emitter of CO2 on the planet. No More Wars — in Gaza, the wider Middle East, with Iran, with Russia, with China. Make the US Empire heel to a new multipolar world of civilized nations! There will be no winners in a nuclear war! Peace is a Victory for All.
Election Candidates:
Where Do You Stand?
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Aug. 30, 2024, Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1196– Fridays 3:30-5 PM downtown Post Office