Military training areas in Hawaii under scrutiny

Soldiers from 1st Infantry Battalion, 21st Infantry Regiment and 2nd Battalion, 11th Field Artillery Regiment, 25th Infantry Division conduct convoy operations and field reconnaissance on Pohakuloa Training Grounds.

Several state lawmakers and mayors toured Army facilities Monday and witnessed training on Oahu and Hawaii island with Gen. Charles Flynn, the service’s top commander in the Pacific.

As the day drew to a close Monday evening, an Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi and Flynn landed at Fort Shafter’s Palm Circle, and the two exited to address media.

“I spend my days enmeshed in local problems trying to develop solutions and executing against those problems,” said Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi.

“(Today ) I got an incredible global perspective, not only of Hawaii and the region, but the importance of our Army and what we’re up against, specifically against China’s aggressive behavior.”

The Army has been pro ­actively preparing for what could be a fight to renew leases on state land that the military trains on, which are set to expire in 2029. Since November 2021, when fuel from the Navy’s underground Red Hill facility tainted the service’s Oahu water system, which serves 93, 000 people, island residents and leaders have been reassessing their relationship with the military.

China is embroiled in territorial disputes with many of its neighbors that have occasionally erupted in a series of standoffs and the occasional small skirmish.

In particular, eyes are on Taiwan, a self-ruled island democracy that Beijing considers a rogue province and that Chinese leader Xi Jinping has vowed to bring under his control by force if he deems it necessary.

As the Army looks to revamp its operations for the Pacific after two decades of focusing on operations in Afghan mountains and Iraqi deserts, it’s looking to training ranges in the Pacific. It has established the Joint Pacific Multinational Readiness Center, a series of ranges in Hawaii and Alaska, along with an “exportable” set of training exercises around the region. Much of the Hawaii land the Army uses for JPMRC is leased state land.

“We’re trying to be good stewards and to look after the aina, look after all that we have been afforded the opportunity to do here in Hawaii,” said Flynn. “I know that often we’re viewed as sort of instruments of war, but the reality of it is what we’re trying to do here is maintain the peace and create a safe and stable environment, and Hawaii—and the military in Hawaii—plays a central role in the ability for our country to be able to do that across this region.”

But state lawmakers and officials have lately become more vocally critical of military practices in the islands. In 2022 several officials criticized a draft environmental statement on retaining land on Hawaii island’s Pohakuloa Training Area, including areas the state has designated as a conservation district.

In its comments on the draft EIS, the state Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands wrote that “it appears that military training is in direct conflict of the Conservation District designation.”

Blangiardi also toured Makua Valley, one of the Army’s most controversial training grounds. “Makua,” which means “parent” in Hawaiian, holds particular significance for Hawaiian cultural practitioners: It’s considered the place where human life was first created, according to oral tradition.

In 2022 then-U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele — Hawaii’s one-term freshman congressman who gave up his seat to return to flying for Hawaiian Airlines after an unsuccessful gubernatorial bid — introduced the Leandra Wai Act, which would compel the Army to return Makua to the state.

The legislation was named in honor of the late co-founder of Malama Makua, a Native Hawaiian community group that for decades has fought to protect and restore the valley’s unique environmental and cultural resources. But its future is unknown with Kahele’s exit from politics. His successor, Rep. Jill Tokuda, has not responded to requests for comment on whether she would continue to support the legislation.

Once a rich site for agriculture, the military began using parts of Makua for live-fire training in the 1920s when the islands were governed as a U.S. territory. But after the Japanese navy’s surprise attack on Dec. 7, 1941, and the U.S. entrance into World War II, the military imposed martial law in Hawaii and took control of Makua and the island of Kahoolawe for training.

It was meant to be temporary—local farmers displaced by the training were told most would be able to return when the war was over. But in 1945, World War II ended and the Cold War began. The military asked Hawaii’s territorial government for the transfer of 6, 608 acres at Makua for training.

The military has been there ever since. But the Army hasn’t actually fired a shot there since 2004 after a lawsuit by Earthjustice on Malama Makua’s behalf brought an end to live-fire training.

The Army has since spent millions of dollars on removing explosives, removing invasive species and reintroducing native species. Army officials have also touted efforts to preserve the cultural heritage, especially after wildfires caused by live-fire training in the 1990s exposed several cultural sites, many of which were visibly damaged by bombs and bullets.

Flynn said that during the visit “we were able to see, you know, the cultural, archaeological, environmental gains, really, that are being made in our contribution, really, back to the community, on helping to create and return and have species really survive here and in such an important part of the culture of the community.”

Blangiardi said he was “especially impressed” at “the stewardship in the Makua Valley that the Army has done up there for the last 20 years. It’s absolutely incredible.” He acknowledged that the use of Makua has been controversial but said, “Anybody who might possibly think the military would be indifferent to even the smallest of subtleties when it comes to taking care of the place … I would refute that.”

But David Henkin, an Earthjustice attorney who has represented Malama Makua in its fight to stop training on the land, said that the fact that live fire has stopped means the Army can make do without it.

“Any argument that they need Makua for military readiness just doesn’t hold up when you look at the facts on the ground,” Henkin told the Star-Advertiser. “So it’s time to return that sacred valley. … It’s long past the time when the military can credibly argue that continuing to train at Makua is vital for national security.”

Henkin added that “particularly in the light of the debacle at Red Hill, where the public trust in the military has really eroded, it’s important that just as part of repairing relationships with the people of Oahu … it’s time to give (Makua ) back to the people so that they can take good stewardship of them.”