Hit-to-Kill Missile off coast of Kauai, Hawaii

It is time for the U.S. Navy to close its Hawaii Range Complex, pack its bags, and ship out of the illegally occupied nation of Hawaii. I insist on protecting Hawaii from further harm and degradation caused in large part by the U.S. Military, which is the greatest polluter on earth. It is time for military clean up, NOT further build up.

Time for Navy to Ship Out of Illegally Occupied Hawaii

Comments on Hawaii Range Complex Draft Environmental Impact Statement


James V. Albertini




Time for Military Clean-Up, NOT Build-Up!


I do not support any military expansion in the Hawaii Range Complex. I reject both Alternatives 1 and 2, and I insist on protecting Hawaii (its land, its ocean, its wildlife, and its people) from further harm and degradation caused in large part by the U.S. Military, which is the greatest polluter on earth. It is time for military clean up, NOT further build up.

All of our mothers teach us to clean up after ourselves. It is a basic lesson in life. All of us need to take that lesson to heart, including the U.S. Military – the U.S. Navy.

The Navy says it takes environmental stewardship seriously. If that is the case, Before the Navy considers Hawaii Range Complex increased Navy training, questions need to be answered.

1. When is the Navy going to clean up the 750 contaminated sites, including Superfund sites in Pearl Harbor?

2. When is the Navy going to clean up the more than 2,000 fifty-five gallon drums of radioactive waste dumped to the ocean floor off Oahu, as acknowledged in a Honolulu Star-Bulletin article entitled, “Nuclear Waste” of 4 April 1979 by Star Bulletin writer Nadine Scott?

3. When is the Navy going to clean up the nuclear waste dumped directly into Pearl Harbor? The Navy Seas System Command acknowledged discharging 4,843,000 gallons of radioactive liquid waste into Pearl Harbor between 1964 - 1973, and then it stopped releasing the data.

4. When is the Navy going to address its cumulative environmental impacts in Hawaii starting from its direct involvement in the illegal overthrow of the independent nation of Hawaii in 1893 when the USS Boston landed 183 armed Marines with gatling guns to assist the sugar barons in the treasonous act against the lawful Hawaiian government of Queen Liliuokalani?

5. Actually, the Navy dirty deeds started six years earlier when the Navy got exclusive use of Pearl Harbor as part of a deal under the so called Bayonet Constitution of 1887 when the Sugar planters literally put the bayonets on King David Kalakaua to force concessions. The deal by the Sugar planters -giving the U.S. Navy Pearl Harbor - appears to have cemented the Navy backing of the Sugar planters in their overthrow of Queen Liliuokalani in 1893.

One view of the cumulative impact of Navy activities is reflected in a song entitled “Ballad of Pearl Harbor –Matthew 7:6”: “Do not give what is holy to dogs or toss your pearls before swine. They will trample them under foot at best, and perhaps even tear you to shreds.” Matthew 7:6

Some of the words to the song ….

1. We showered you with our pearls but you wanted even more. You took away our mother pearl, raped, plundered, and trampled her. We were blinded by your breath of fire. You made us very proud. We worshipped you not knowing, we were losing our souls.

(Chorus) Take back the pearl for the people, let mother pearl shine again, and give life back to the land, and welcome all of her rainbow children that bridge the ocean of peace.

2. You poisoned the waters and destroyed the fishponds. You killed the fish and the oysters and desecrated holy lands. You put up fences and iron gates. You brought in disease and waves of death.

3. We have been fools but our eyes are now opening. No longer will we worship you or follow in your ways. Depart from us with your poisoned quills and deadly un-hatched eggs.

Questions continued:

6. Explain the big oyster kill in 1969 in Pearl Harbor and its relationship to the $80 million dollars in damage to the nuclear powered and armed aircraft carrier Enterprise that was brought into Pearl Harbor for emergency repairs after a rocket accidentally exploded onboard the ship in Hawaiian waters, killing 24 and injuring more than 85. Is it a fact that Atomic Energy emergency teams were flown in to Hawaii because of that accident? Release full details of that accident.

7. Explain the link between the Navy low frequency navigation and communication towers in Lualualei Valley on the Waianae coast and the increase in Down syndrome in the area.

8. When is the U.S. Military going to clean up all of the unexploded ordnance dumped off the South Kohala coast of Hawaii Island and on Hawaii Island? This one island has more than 57 former military sites, including a land area of 250,000 acres (9 Kaho`olawes in size) littered with unexploded bombs and military toxins. See Army Corps of Engineers for details and a map produced by our organization.

9. Pohakuloa Training Area (PTA) on Hawaii Island has now been documented by the Army to be contaminated with Depleted Uranium (DU). Will the Navy commit to no fire (live or otherwise) and other training at PTA that could create dust and thereby spread the DU? This action is urged in the interest of community health and safety, and the safety of military troops involved in training?

10. Where has the Navy used DU as weapons or ballast in Hawaii, and the area in the Hawaii Range Complex, and the overseas areas addressed in this OEIS? Please explain in detail the quantities used.
11. Navy sonar is reported to be 235dp. That’s a lethal level for humans and perhaps other creatures as well. There should be no exemptions for the Navy operating in a whale/marine sanctuary and a marine monument.

IN SUMMARY, all of Hawaii (its land, its ocean, its wildlife, and its people) are in the same boat as the Ehime Maru, the Japanese training ship cut in half and sunk, causing many deaths by a hot-rodding U.S. Navy submarine commander.

It is time for the U.S. Navy to close its Hawaii Range Complex, pack its bags, and ship out of the illegally occupied nation of Hawaii. On your way out, be sure to clean up after yourselves. You have left a big mess in your wake. Your mother, my mother, Mother Earth herself, says Enough! It’s time for Military Clean-up, NOT Build up!

James V. Albertini
President
Malu `Aina Center for Non-violent Education & Action
Ola`a (Kurtistown)
Kingdom of Hawaii
www.malu-aina.org


Note: The public comment period for the proposed expansion of the Navy’s Hawaii Range Complex ended on September 17, 2007. To read about this expansion in Hawaii and in the Pacific Ocean:

www.govsupport.us/navynepahawaii/EIS.aspx