Governor’s military leased lands advisory panel meets for first time

Hawaiʻi Gov. Josh Green’s advisory committee on military land lease negotiations gathered online earlier this week for its first meeting, beginning to lay the groundwork for future talks with the U.S. Army.

Members used their inaugural meeting — in advance of meeting with the governor — to review their roles and responsibilities, discuss a general framework to proceed and develop a shared understanding of the choices before the state — lease, land exchange and condemnation.

The primary role of the group is to provide advice on strategies regarding those three choices as they relate to ongoing negotiations for Army leased lands on Hawaiʻi Island and Oʻahu that are set to expire in 2029.

The U.S. Army’s 65-year leases on 22,971 acres of state lands at Pōhakuloa Training Area on the Big Island and 6,322 acres of state property on Oʻahu — which include land at Kawailoa-Poamoho Training Area, Mākua Military Reservation and Kahuku Training Area — are set to expire in 2029.

Members also reviewed the five points raised in a Sept. 26 letter to Green by community groups. They engaged in an in-depth discussion about the implications of each possible scenario, particularly the federal government’s proposed aggressive condemnation timeline.

The advisory committee affirmed that its role is not to supplant robust, meaningful community engagement and advocated for further discussion about public processes and opportunities for the community to weigh in on events.

Members of the public are encouraged to provide feedback directly online (engage.hawaii.gov).

The U.S. Army is reviewing whether language in the National Defense Authorization Act is required to expedite federal land acquisition procedures.

“Right now, the draft [National Defense Authorization Act] doesn’t authorize them to take Hawaiʻi land. This would be a significant win for Hawaiʻi,” said Green in a state release about the advisory committee’s first meeting. “The Army not pursuing a ‘fast track’ condemnation gives my administration and the people of Hawaiʻi a longer runway to conduct robust community engagement through public processes, the advisory committee, and through [Office of Hawaiian Affairs] community meetings.”

The 10-member advisory panel — comprised mostly of Native Hawaiian leaders from the state and private sector — was created by Green to provide guidance related to the ongoing negotiations.

Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi Executive Director Wayne Chung Tanaka welcomed Green’s walking back his use of an “imminent federal condemnation ‘boogeyman'” to justify a fast-tracked and short-sighted land deal with the U.S. Department of War.

“As community leaders, community relations experts and even local military officials have made clear — condemnation of Hawaiʻi’s lands would be a strategic and public relations disaster for the U.S. military and the federal government as a whole,” said Tanaka in a statement following the advisory committee’s first meeting. “Instead of amplifying these concerns to the Pentagon, Green chose to prematurely fearmonger and split public opinion, when we needed unity and a collective defense of our constitution, laws and right to determine the best path forward for our islands.”

Tanaka’s statement added that the military’s broken promises and short-sighted priorities inflicted untold billions of dollars in needless damage to Hawaiʻi’s lands, waters and people — from Kahoʻolawe to Red Hill, Pōhakuloa and Mākua to Waikōloa and Puʻuloa.

“To be frank, the governor’s attempt to insert himself as a surrogate for our legal processes and for the generations of Hawaiʻi residents who have suffered from — and who must continue to reckon with — these ongoing harms was both uninformed and dangerous,” the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi executive director said. “The manufactured perception of consent threatened by the governor’s strategy of appeasement would have only swept our unmet needs for military accountability under the rug — for decades to come.”

The issue of U.S. military leases of Hawaiʻi lands has been long-standing. It came to a head earlier this year when the Hawai’i Board of Land and Natural Resources voted not to accept the final environmental impact statement for the military’s retention of Pōhakuloa Training Area on the Big Island and did the same a month later for the state property where Kawailoa-Poamoho Training Area, Mākua Military Reservation and Kahuku Training Area are located on Oʻahu.

The rejection of both was a big blow to the U.S. Army, which has only 4 years left on its 65-year leases for the use of the state-owned lands.

State Land Board members and many in the community are concerned about the environmental and cultural impacts on the lands and native species because of bombing and other military actions.

It is the Hawaiʻi Board of Land and Natural Resources that has sole authority to renew the Army’s land leases; the governor cannot override the board’s decision.

Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll in August sent a letter to Green expressing interest in resolving issues about the military’s leases. It came following a visit by Driscoll to Hawaiʻi.

The governor said then that federal leaders have national security considerations in mind and made clear they “could act through eminent domain, which would take the land without giving Hawaiʻi anything in return.”

Green and Driscoll in September signed a non-binding statement of principles about state lands now being used by the military, reflecting a shared understanding of how the state and U.S. Army would continue discussions about protecting lands used by the military and also supporting national security.

The same month, after 3 hours of public testimony, Hawaiʻi County Council unanimously passed a non-binding resolution urging the U.S. military to cease bombing at Pōhakuloa Training Area.

Green formed the military land lease advisory committee earlier this month. It’s members are:

• William “Bill” Ailā Jr., member, Hui Mālama ‘O Mākua.
• Scott Glenn, Office of the Governor facilitator.
• Ryan Kanaka‘ole, deputy director, Hawai‘i Department of Land and Natural Resources.
• Kūhiō Lewis, chief executive officer, Hawaiian Council.
• Laurie McAllister Moore, executive director, Military and Community Relations Office.
• Mahina Paishon-Duarte, consulting founder and chief executive officer.
• Ed Sniffen, director, Hawai‘i Department of Transportation.
• Summer Sylva, interim administrator, Office of Hawaiian Affairs.
• Kali Watson, director, Department of Hawaiian Homelands.
• Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, executive director, Lālākea Foundation.

“My administration has initiated and continues to secure ongoing dialogue with senior military leaders so we can have the time we need to protect community values and advocate for Hawaiʻi’s interests,” Green said in the release following the advisory committee’s first meeting. “This puts Hawaiʻi in a more advantageous position than we were in just weeks ago.”

Tanaka said Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi is grateful for the many groups and countless individuals who refused to cave in to the specter of condemnation and who instead stood steadfast for the state’s democratically enacted laws, dignity and needs and interests of generations yet unborn.

“We urge the governor and his advisors to likewise remain committed to upholding — rather than supplanting — the laws and processes that are critical to our environmental, cultural, economic and overall public interest,” his statement said.