Military Breach of Public Trust Feb. 4, 2022 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet
Military Breach of
Public Trust
The U.S. military is resisting the State emergency order to immediately drain the Red Hill Fuel tanks that poses an imminent risk of further contaminating Oahu’s drinking water. By appealing the State order, the military is putting its interest above the common good of the very people it is supposed to be defending. The Navy has reneged on its previous commitment to comply with the State’s emergency order. Its action constitutes a breach of trust between the Navy and the people of Hawaii. Twenty Navy underground fuel tanks, each large enough to envelop Aloha Tower, sit just 100 feet above a major source of drinking water for Oahu. A hearing officer overseeing the case called Red Hill a “ticking time bomb” that posed an imminent peril to human health and the environment. Three of the Honolulu Board of Water Supply wells have been shut down out of concern that the Navy’s fuel contamination could migrate. Honolulu Board of Water Supply Chief Engineer Ernie Lau said that his concerns about potential contamination have yet to be assuaged and that urban Honolulu could face water shortages this summer as demand for water increases amid the curtailed supply.
This recent military breach of public trust is nothing new. The military has used executive orders and $1 leases to repeatedly take over Hawaiian lands for military bases. The military refused to do an Environmental Impact Statement for the storage of nuclear weapons at West Loch of Pearl Harbor in the late 1970s. Here on Hawaii Island, the military repeatedly brought nuclear warships into Big island harbors in defiance of Hawaii County’s historic Nuclear-Free law. There are at least 57 present and former military sites on Hawaii Island totaling more than 250,000-acres in need a military clean-up. Many more sites on other islands too. And of course, the most outrageous breach of public trust was the US military’s direct involvement in the illegal overthrow of the legitimate government of the independent nation of Hawaii in 1893 and its illegal military occupation ever since.
On Jan. 5, 2022, I emailed the Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) new commander, LTC Kevin Cronin, wishing him and his family a Happy New Year. I reached out in good faith requesting a meeting with him and a few members of our organization in respectful dialogue. I submitted a number of concerns and questions. A copy of my email is available on our website here https://malu-aina.org/?p=7865 To date (Feb. 1, 2022) I have received No Response. More breach of public trust!
Pohakuloa Poisoning Land, Air, and Water!
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), Hawai’i 96760
Phone (808) 966-7622 Email ja@malu-aina.org to receive our posts. For more information www.malu-aina.org
Feb. 4, 2022 Hilo Peace Vigil leaflet – week 1062– 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
