Military presence at Pōhakuloa Training Area critical to community safety. But at what cost to the land, native species?

In the summer of 2022, when the Mana Road fire burned more than 44,000 acres of land, destroyed some homes and livestock, and threatened Waikōloa Village, small Hawaiʻi County received help from the U.S. Army.

The military force based at Pōhakuloa Training Area conducted numerous water drops with four Black Hawk helicopters that cost about $5,000 per hour to operate, said Hawai‘i Island Fire Chief Kazuo Todd.

“Getting those resources off island is questionable,” he said.

But that military support, which also includes responding to car accidents and other emergencies in the remote area of the island, may only be available for a few more years. On May 9, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources rejected the U.S. Army’s Environmental Impact Statement to retain thousands of acres for training and other operations at Pōhakuloa.

While Todd and others say the presence of military in land nestled between Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and the Hualālai mountains has been critical to keeping community members safe, there are many people who argue the cost of aid has come at the price of Hawaiian land being damaged by live-fire trainings.

This includes the destruction of native plants, depleted uranium in the soil and the desecration of possible burial areas. Some also are concerned this training has started wildfires in the past.

O‘ahu-based Sen. Kurt Fevella said the Final Environmental Impact Statement submitted by the Army to the Board of Land and Natural Resources was exactly what it said: Final. He reiterated it was rejected during the Land Board’s recent meeting, where board members heard hours of testimony, mostly against its acceptance.

Fevella said his biggest problem with the was the lack of detail in the 586-page document about the environmental impacts their presence has on the land.

“You cannot go back and fix a Final EIS,” Fevella said. “When is the end? When is enough? They don’t need that property. It’s a want.”

Jim Albertini, president of the nonprofit Malu ‘Aina, submitted testimony saying the full extent of military destruction at Pōhakuloa has not been thoroughly investigated.

“Pōhakuloa is classified as a State Conservation District, the highest protected land status,” Albertini wrote. “Bombing, shelling and military pollution are not compatible land uses in a conservation district. It’s a no-brainer.”

Albertini said the Final Environemental Impact Statement also inadequately addresses concerns for the protection of endangered plant and animal species at Pōhakuloa.

The current training area encompasses approximately 132,000 acres. Since 1964, the Army has leased from the state approximately 23,000 acres of land within that area for just $1.

With the lease ending in 2029, the Army hopes to extend it. Part of that renewal process is the production of the Environmental Impact Statement that addresses concerns of any impacts or potential impacts.

Following the recent rejection of the Final EIS, officials with the U.S. Army Garrison Hawai‘i said they anticipate receiving a formal written decision from the Board of Land and Natural Resources regarding its decision.

“We will carefully evaluate our options following receipt of that formal response,” the officials stated. They also added that Army Garrison Hawaiʻi will continue to work with the State of Hawai’i and the community throughout the process.

In a statement following the May 9 meeting, Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green said: “I respect the Board’s decision and the community voices that guide it.”

But he added that “military members who utilize this area to train for local and national security and emergency missions are our neighbors, our children’s classmates, and often our own ʻohana.”

He said while the rejection of the Final EIS presents challenges, “it is not the end of the conversation. We remain committed to finding new paths that protect Hawai‘i’s natural and cultural resources while supporting national security.”

The Board of Land and Natural Resources is the decision maker on whether the military’s lease is renewed. If it isnʻt, the expectation is that the U.S. Department of Defense will comply with the terms, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources stated in an email on Friday.

For decades, the main use of Pōhakuloa Training Area has been for the military.

The Final Environmental Impact Statement said Pōhakuloa is the primary ground maneuver tactical training area for U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, with joint and multinational training exercises. It has training features and capabilities that are not available elsewhere in Hawaiʻi.

Hundreds of personnel with the Army and Marine Corps can conduct at the same time collective live-fire training. Monthly schedules vary based on mission requirements.

Fevella would like to see the state and Hawai‘i County take a stand and get the military out of Pōhakuloa. After the land is cleaned up, the senator thinks the county could build their own state-of-the-art training facilities, and potentially homes.

“I’m not saying all the military bases should go,” Fevella said. “That’s not reality. But they don’t need Pōhakuloa.”

Fevella said there are so many places the military can go to train that aren’t on Hawai‘i Island or in the state, citing places like the deserts of Nevada.

He also said the type of firepower training that happens at Pōhakuloa, which results in depleted uranium in the soil, is not the way wars are fought in 2025. “What kind of wars do we fight now? We have computer screens and drones.”

Todd said he understands the community’s concern over Pōhakuloa, but the military presence in the area is a massive resource in saving lives and property.

The Army provides mutual aid to the county’s fire and police departments, at no cost to Hawai‘i County. PTA Fire and Emergency Services typically are the first responders to fires and vehicle crashes that occur on or near many miles of Daniel K. Inouye Highway, according to Hawai‘i Island police.

The police have records of the military assisting with vehicle extraction, stabilizing victims and directing traffic at major incidents in March 2021, June 2021, June 2022, June 2023 and in January and February of this year.

Over the past five years, approximately 300 Hawai‘i Island police officers and 350 firefighters have conducted 13,000 hours of training at PTA, military officials stated.

Just in the past six months, PTA Fire and Emergency Services have responded to 37 requests for mutual aid emergencies from local first responders, according to military officials.

Todd also said every recruit class for the Hawaiʻi Island Fire Department goes to Pōhakuloa Training Area for live fire training. The base has three 40-foot containers where realistic fire conditions are simulated.

Hawai‘i Island Police also use PTA about monthly for training of new recruits and for officers to practice building searches. . Chief Ben Moszkowicz said the department’s Special Response Team also conducts training there of high-caliber firearms, like the AR-15 rifle.

However, he added PTA isnʻt exclusively used for firearms training, with the availability of indoor fire ranges elsewhere on the Big Island.

Moszkowicz and Todd said their departments could probably build a training facility, but it would cost Hawaiʻi County millions. It also would cost money annually to maintain and operate.

Fevella doesn’t think the partnership the county first responders have with the military is a good enough reason to allow them to stay.

In the decades that the military has been at Pōhakuloa, Fevella said, the county could have built up its own training facilities.

“Why aren’t we investing in our own people and continuing to desecrate our land?” Fevella questioned.

Even with the mutual aid that the military provides, Fevella said, military assets from O‘ahu could easily assist in large fires and other emergencies, adding that’s what they do. They respond and they respond quickly to disasters, he said.

In the Land Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources review of the EIS, the state had concerns that the final document didn’t fully declare the environmental implications of the proposed action, didn’t discuss all reasonable foreseeable consequences, and that the data and analysis provided did not commensurate with the importance of the impacts.

“Specifically, we have concerns with the lack of evaluation of impacts in the federally owned impact area, which is the main receiving area for live rounds being fired during training activities,” staff planner Lauren Yasaka said. “The Army themselves has stated that under the no-action alternative, the Army would have no land access to the impact area, which would severely limit the Army activities.”

In addition, there’s iwi kūpuna (ancestral bones or remains) in the area leased by the government. The State Historic Preservation Office has also concurred with the Department of Land and Natural Resources that the lack of inventory of archeological sites is incomplete.

The Army didn’t identify alternative training sites, saying it is focused solely on evaluating its current spaces for retention in the state. This includes state-owned lands on O‘ahu at the Kahuku Training Area, Kawailoa-Poamoho Training Area and Mākua Military Reservation.

But in the Final Environmental Impact Statement, the Army identified three lease alternatives.

The first would be that the Army retains approximately 22,750 acres for continued training. The second alternative pairs down the land retention to approximately 19,700 acres. The third alternative reduces the amount of land retained significantly to approximately 10,100 acres.

A “No Action Alternative” also was included, in which the Army doesn’t retain any land after the lease expiration.

According to the Final EIS, the Army identified 15 environmental resource areas that its operations could impact. Resource areas include land use, biological resources, historic and cultural resources and cultural practices, hazardous substances and hazardous wastes, air quality and greenhouse gases, noise, geology/topography/soils, water resources, socioeconomics, environmental justice, transportation and traffic, airspace, electromagnetic spectrum, utilities, and human health and safety.

Officials stated the Army respects the community’s deep concern about the protection of cultural and environmental resources and values the community’s input during the EIS process.

To that end, military officials added the Army’s Natural Resource staff working at Pōhakuloa continues to run conservation programs on the land, which includes protecting 26 federally-listed threatened and endangered plant and animal species at PTA, including six species found only at PTA.

PTA officials said extensive biological surveys are conducted annually and are reported in a comprehensive Biennial Report, which is provided to the state Division of Forestry and Wildlife.

“The Army’s Cultural Resource Staff, working closely with cultural practitioners, protects over 1,200 identified archaeological sites; and providing protection for sites with ancestral remains that remain in situ,” officials stated. “Mandatory environmental and cultural resource training for all military units helps ensure respect for the land.”

The Land Boardʻs rejection of the Final Environmental Impact Statement does not mean the lease wonʻt be renewed. There is an appeal process.

And if there is a lease extension, it likely would be for more than $1.

Fevella said it isn’t about getting a fair market value for the land: “I want them out.”

“How are we going to have fair market value with the contamination? It’s (the land) worth nothing,” he said. “It only means something to the Hawaiian people. …

“The first thing we got to worry about is closing it and assessing how dangerous the land is because of the uranium. Some of the areas of Pōhakuloa are still buildable. There’s so much possibility, but first have to take possession of that area.”

Favella said Hawaiʻi County Mayor Kimo Alameda “should put on his big boy pants and speak out against Pohakuloa and invest in local law enforcement.”

Alameda, who recently took office in December, said Friday he is still familiarizing himself with the issues surrounding Pōhakuloa Training Area.

“When it comes to the military, I don’t know enough about the significance of the space for the Army,” Alameda said.

But Alameda said likes that the military offers a training space for the firefighters and police. He is also grateful for the mutual aid response and the Army’s efforts in caretaking endangered species at Pōhakuloa.

“I think they do need it,” Alameda said of the Army’s desire to retain land at Pōhakuloa. “Show me proof that they don’t.”

Alameda said he’s trying to get a sit-down with Hawai‘i Rep. Ed Case or someone at the Pentagon to learn more about the issues and the military’s land needs.

“On the community benefit side, as a mayor, I feel good that they can respond to an accident,” Alameda said. “We don’t have enough money to build a firing range or train our firefighters. To build something like that would be millions of dollars.”