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Testimony OPPOSED to Army lease renewals

Published by jalbertini on August 29th, 2021 in Hawaii Independence, Military, Pohakuloa, Public Events, Radiation, Social Justice, Take Action!.

Emailed

To: usarmy.hawaii.nepa@mail.mil

Sunday, Aug. 29, 2021

Our organization is opposed to any military lease renewals .  Please make the statements below an official part of my testimony in opposition to military lease renewals.  Mahalo.

Jim Albertini

President of Malu Aina

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Jim Albertini Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760
Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

 

It should be noted that 23,000-acres of Leased state lands are in light color on the right map below

84,000 acres at Pohakuloa in dark green (lower portion) on right map is seized lands via a Presidential executive order in 1964. Taken WITHOUT ANY COMPENSATION.

23,000 acres in top green area of right side map below is Army purchased land from Parker Ranch in early 2000s for “The Stryker Maneuver Area.”  All the Stryker vehicles have been relocated from Hawaii to Washington State but the military is keep that land.

Left map below shows Oahu military leased and seized lands.  Right map is Pohakuloa.

Screen Shot 2021-08-01 at 11.53.06 AM.png

 

No Military Lease extensions

Hawaiian Lands in Hawaiian Hands!

killing aina

NO to Army PTA and other military Lease Extension!

STOP BOMBING POHAKULOA!
 
 

Here are a few issues that need to be addressed in any EIS on Pohakuloa and other military sites in Hawaii: Unexploded ordinance (UXO) clean up, Depleted Uranium and other toxic contamination of air, land and ground water, invasive species, cultural sites and the cultural significance of Pohakuloa itself and other areas. The military controls nearly 133,000-acres at Pohakuloa. 23,000 acres of this is leased from the state for $1 total for 65 years –1964- 2029. These so called “ceded lands” are crown and government lands of the Hawaiian Kingdom before the U.S. overthrow of the Hawaiian government in 1893. These lands are in the ahupua’a of Humu’ula (crown), Kaohe and Pu’uanahulu (government lands). Besides the 23,000 acres of leased lands at PTA, 758 acres were obtained by an executive order of Governor Samuel Wilder King in 1956 and 84,000 acres by a Presidential Executive Order of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1964. These lands by executive order were turned over to the US military without any compensation. More recently, in the early 2000s, an additional 23,000 acres of land near Waiki’i Ranch was purchased by the military from Parker Ranch for the Stryker Maneuver area.  But the Strykers are no longer in Hawaii. They are in Washington state.  But guess what the Military is keeping the 23,000-acres Stryker area with no Strykers.  Surprise, Surprise. 
 
Our organization, Malu Aina has documented 57 present and former military sites on Hawaii Island alone, totaling more than 250,000-acres that are in need of clean up.  The estimated clean up is in the Billions of dollars. I am the co-author of the book -“The Dark Side of Paradise” about the military presence in Hawaii.  It documents many of the impacts of life under the gun of US militarism throughout all Hawaii.  Make that book an official part of the record.  It is available in all Hawaii libraries.  A digitized version will be available on malu-aina-org shortly.
 
It’s long past time for the US military to Quit Hawaii.  It’s not just an issue of no further military leases.  It’s time for the illegal US military occupation of Hawaii to end.  But please clean up your mess before you go. Aloha.

Jim Albertini

— Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760 Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

 

To all parties involved with the Aug. 24, 2021 Annual Review meeting and military lease renewals: I request that this statement be made an official part of the meeting record. Email sent 8/25/21

This is a follow up to my question at the Aug. 24th Pohakuloa 106 consultation meeting concerning how many archeological sites at the 133,000-acre PTA are designated as He’iau or shrines?  The answer provided was 18 shrines.

May be an image of map and sky

In 1980, an archeological survey on Kaho’olawe found 87 he’iau and shrines and I believe more have been found since then but I don’t have access to that data.  Kaho’olawe is  28,000-acres nearly 5 times smaller than Pohakuloa at 133,000-acres.  It must also be noted, that at the time of western contact Moku O Keawe (Hawaii Island) had the largest population of any of the islands.  It is hard to believe that in a place so special (Po-haku-loa – the land of the Night of Long Prayer) located between Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea, and Hualalai  that ONLY 18 shrines (0) He’iau have been found. Let me repeat: that’s nearly 5 times LESS than on Kaho’olawe when PTA is nearly 5 times larger with the largest population of any Hawaiian island at the time of western contact.  It just doesn’t make sense. IT JUST DOESN’T MAKE SENSE. What is implied is that there is a cultural cover up going on to facilitate continued bombing (THE MISSION).  Everything is subservient to THE MISSION. Cultural surveys, concern for the health and safety of Hawaii residents, visitors, and even the military’s own troops. EVERYTHING!  THE MISSION Trumps all!

The US military has controlled Pohakuloa for more than 75 years. If you haven’t done a complete survey of cultural sites, it is your fault.  No more excuses. Claims of no money ring hollow.  The US spends trillions on war, abandoned billions of dollars on weaponry in Afghanistan, yet claims there is no money to do cultural surveys on its bases or clean up the many messes left at present and former military sites in Hawaii and elsewhere, including 57 present and former military sites on Hawaii island alone. In addition to the claims of “No money to do surveys,” the military simply lies or withholds the truth.  How many live rounds are fired annually at PTA?  Where is a list and numbers of all types of rounds fired?  What about the years of denial about Depleted Uranium (DU) ever being used in Hawaii?  Now documented on Oahu at Schofield, likely at Makua Valley, here at Pohakuloa, and possibly on Kaho’olawe and other sites. What about the Army’s lie involving the lease of public lands in the Waiakea Forest Reserve in the 1960s off Stainback highway in Ola’a above Hilo to do what was said to be “Weather Testing” when in fact the Army was testing Chemical and Biological weapons in Hilo’s watershed, including Sarin nerve gas that kills at 1/50 of a drop?  And the list goes on and on.  And the lies continue, including about the serious health problems associated with inhaling DU oxide particles which can be carried long distances in the wind when DU metal is hit with high explosives and burned.

The Military run annual Pohakuloa review meeting on Aug. 24th was a sham, a mere required legal formality.  We are not fooled. It is time for all live-fire at Pohakuloa to be stopped immediately.  No renewal of leased lands.  Clean up your mess and return all Hawaiian lands to Hawaiian hands.  Like it was long overdue for the US to leave Afghanistan after 20 years of occupation, it is long past time for the US to leave Hawaii after 128 years of illegal military occupation.

Jim Albertini

PS  The military even made the claim that they can’t use drones to look for cultural sites because the drones have Chinese parts and it may compromise security, flying over the 50,000 acre bombed out impact area at Pohakuloa. Can you believe that desperate and absurd claim?
— 
Jim Albertini Malu ‘Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown) Hawai’i 96760

Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

 

Stop Hawaii Military Madness!

Newest versions: “Sentinel Landscape” & Reaper Drones

 

  drone

Reaper Drone

      Hawaii is already one of the most militarized (and military poisoned) places on the planet. There are more than 100 active US military installations in Hawaii. On Hawaii Island alone, there are at least 57 present and former US military sites on land (and near shore waters) totaling more than 250,000-acres in need of military clean up – everything from unexploded ordnance, to military chemical and biological weapons, Depleted Uranium (DU) radiation, etc. etc. After more than $400 million was spent to clean up Kaho’olawe, the island is still littered with unexploded ordnance on land and in near shore waters. Pearl Harbor, once Hawaii’s fish breeding center, is now a military polluted Superfund site. Nuclear waste has been discharged into Pearl Harbor and more than 2000 fifty-five gallon drums of military nuclear waste have been dumped off Oahu’s southern shores.

      First came Army Compatible Use Buffer Program (ACUB). Then Readiness and Environmental Protection Integration (REPI): https://www.repi.mil/ Now it’s Sentinel Landscape – all involve co-opting of environmentalism in the service of empire and the US war machine. Sentinel Landscape is really the creation of modern day buffer-zone “land moats” around the castles of US militarism. Those who get to lease the castle “land moats” on Oahu and Kauai have been mainly chemical GMO biotech Fortune 500 seed corporations. Whatever farm crops and animals raised near a toxic stew base like Pohakuloa, will likely carry the toxins of the base. A 10-mile radius “Sentinel Landscape” buffer zone is being proposed for Pohakuloa. It is said that most or all of Oahu, Kauai and the Big Island could be designated as a Sentinel Landscape in service of US militarism.

      If that is not enough to ponder, please be advised that Covert “Military Special Ops” Assassination Training is also taking place OUTSIDE of military bases, on public and private lands – parks, beaches, and near shore waters on all Hawaiian islands. In some cases, tourists and local residents unknowingly, are being used as props in that training. See http://malu-aina.org/?p=5833 And keep an eye out for the six new “Reaper” assassination drones that will soon be coming to Hawaii. https://www.staradvertiser.com/2021/03/24/hawaii-news/6-reaper-drones-will-be-based-on-oahu/?utm_source=ground.news&utm_medium=referral

See news article here on Sentinel Landscape: https://www.hawaiitribune-herald.com/2021/08/18/hawaii-news/council-members-hear-pitch-on-sentinel-landscape-designation/ See the 2 min video on Sentinel Landscape here https://sentinellandscapes.org/

De-Militarize & De-Occupy Hawaii Now!

1. Mourn all victims of violence. 2. Reject violence & war as solutions. 3. Defend civil liberties.
4. Oppose all discrimination, anti-Islamic, anti-Semitic, anti-Hawaiian, anti-Black, anti-Asian, etc.
5. Seek peace through peaceful means and work for justice in Hawai`i and around the world.

Malu ‘Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola’a (Kurtistown), Hawaii 96760

Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. For more information www.malu-aina.org

August 27, 2021 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1039– Fridays 3:30-5PM downtown Post Office

-- 
Jim Albertini Malu 'Aina Center For Non-violent Education & Action P.O. Box 489 Ola'a (Kurtistown) Hawai'i 96760
Phone 808-966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org Visit us on the web at www.malu-aina.org

 

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