The Hawaiʻi Board of Land and Natural Resources voted on Friday not to accept the U.S. Army’s Final Environmental Impact Statement for the military’s retention of Pōhakuloa Training Area on Hawai‘i Island after hearing six hours of public testimony, most of which was against the acceptance due to a variety of reasons.

The Army has 60 days to appeal the decision to the state’s Environmental Advisory Council.

But the Board’s rejection is a big blow to the Army, which has only four years left on its 65-year lease for the use of state-owned land in the Pōhakuloa region of Hawai‘i Island for military operations and exercises.

The Army is seeking to return nearly 3,300 acres of Pōhakuloa leased lands back to the State of Hawai‘i and retain 19,700 acres in a new agreement with the state to sustain its mission there.

Board Chairperson Dawn Chang said: “An Environmental Impact Statement is intended to support informed decision-making and does not, by itself, authorize any land use. No decision has been made on the Army’s long-term lease request.”

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In a statement, 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. This is a time for collaboration, not division, as we seek balanced solutions that honor both our heritage and our future.”

At the end of the testimony on Friday, Hawai‘i Island-based Board Member Riley Smith made a motion to accept the study, saying he had a “comfort level” that the responses made by the military addressed the concerns made by the community.

But the seven-person board voted 5-2 not to accept the Environmental Impact Statement, with only Smith and Board Member Vernon Char voting yes.

“This is the hardest decision I know that I’ve had to make,” Chang said. “Our mission is to protect natural and cultural resources. I’m not making a judgment on whether this training is necessary. In my mind, it’s not whether the Army should continue training or not; it’s if the EIS meets the statutory requirements.”

And after much review, she said it did not.

At-large Board Member Wesley Kaiwi Yoon made the motion to reject the current Environmental Impact Statement and respectively asked the Army to follow up and address specific issues related to weapons, unexploded ordinance and uranium inventory, completion of the greenhouse gas emission inventory, a cumulative assessment of impacts, inventory on the disposition and future disposition of ancestral remains and artifacts.

Yoon’s motion passed 5-2, with Smith voting no and Char abstaining.

In a statement after the decision, Lt. Col. Tim Alvarado, U.S. Army Garrison Pōhakuloa commander, said: “U.S. Army Hawai‘i understands and deeply respects the concerns expressed by community members,  cultural practitioners and environmental advocates regarding the Army’s presence and activities at  Pōhakuloa Training Area. We recognize that past actions have caused harm and eroded trust, and we continue to seek a balance with  consideration for the cultural and environmental significance of this land.” 

The Army published its first draft environmental impact statement in April 2022. In response to comments received from agencies and the public, the Army published a second draft in April 2024.

To date, Chang said the board’s received 1,300 comments on the final study.

All comments received on the second draft were reviewed and considered in preparing the final statement.

Col. Rachel Sullivan, commander of the U.S. Army Garrison Hawai’i, presented to the board the significance of accepting the final Environmental Impact Statement.

“Hawai’i’s location at the crossroads of the Pacific makes it critical for national defense,” Sullivan told the Board. “The army’s presence in Hawai’i is vital to our national security strategy to deter conflict and maintain a safe, stable and secure Indo-Pacific.”

Sullivan said Pohakuloa Training Area serves as a premier joint and combined arms facility that provides logistics, public works, and airfield capabilities to support the Army’s training strategy while maintaining enduring partnerships with the Hawaiʻi Island community and upholding environmental and cultural stewardship.

“The state-owned lands provide access between the major parcels of U.S. government-owned lands at PTA and include maneuver area, training facilities, infrastructure, and U.S. government-owned utilities that are essential for military, state and local agency training.”

Pohakuloa Training area provides a space where the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Army Reserve and the Hawaiʻi Army and Air National Guard are given tactical training, including live fire and maneuver training.

“Training our forces to the highest standard is critical for readiness, preparedness and safety,” Sullivan said. “We have a responsibility to prepare our soldiers, our nation’s youth who have volunteered to be warriors.”

At the start of the meeting, Lauren Yasaka, staff planner at the Land Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, explained the process of the Environmental Impact Statement and the state’s opinion on the Army’s final draft.

Throughout the EIS process, Yasaka said the department continues to have concerns that the contents of the draft and essentially the final EIS does not fully declare the environmental implications of the proposed action, does not discuss all reasonable foreseeable consequences, and that the data and analysis provided does 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,” 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.

“We don’t believe that having it be not used for training or being fenced precludes the Army from conducting their proper due diligence,” Yasaka said. “And they also believe that this is purely an administrative action and we don’t agree with that. We believe that by issuing a long-term lease, it would continue. It would allow them to continue any impacts.”

Located between Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea and Hualālai, Pōhakuloa collectively makes up 132,000 acres and is located at just over 6,000 feet above sea level along the Saddle Road region. The training area is the largest contiguous live-fire range and maneuver training area in the state, Army officials said.

The Army leased the land in 1964 for a mere $1. As the 65-year lease is set to expire in August 2029, military officials say the land is considered a premier military training center in the Pacific region because it is the only site where battalions and brigades, encompassing hundreds to thousands of soldiers, can come for live-fire training all at once.

But the testimony was overwhelmingly against the board accepting the EIS study, which many described as incomplete, inadequate and deficient. Testifiers adamantly expressed frustration and concern over the years of bombed lands, unexploded ordnances and depleted uranium.

One testifier said the military would never bomb Arlington National Cemetery or Gettysburg. “So why is it OK to do it in Hawai‘i?”

Sen. Samantha DeCorte, who represents the Wai’anae community on O’ahu, urged the board to reject the study saying it fails to address critical concerns about environmental safety and Hawai’i’s sovereignty.

DeCorte specifically pointed to the fact that the Army didn’t disclose the discovery of cultural artifacts – moepū (funerary objects), specifically wooden ki’i – that were found in a lava tube on the impacted lands.

State Historic Preservation Division staff said it could be “one of the most significant finds in the last 100 years.”

“This shows a clear pattern of neglect and disrespect for our cultural heritage,” the senator said. “The Army’s failure to fully see and protect these sacred sites is yet another reason to reject this flawed plan. The U.S. refusal to properly assess or mitigate the harm they cause is unacceptable.”

Gil Tan, who described himself as a son of Hawai‘i, urged the board to accept the impact statement.

“Today, you have heard heartfelt testimony,” Tan said. “These voices speak with passion and the weight of generational trauma and cultural loss.”

He said sacred sites have been damaged. Commitments have not always been honored. These truths must be acknowledged and cared for with humility and care.

But Tan said they must also face another essential truth: Pōhakuloa Training Area is not only where the military trains, but where “Hawai‘i trains to protect Hawai‘i.”

It is a foundation of local resilience, Tan said, adding it is where the military prepares to respond to wildfires, hurricanes and other disasters. It is where the state’s emergency personnel rehearses saving operations.

“I deeply empathize with the pain of cultural loss,” he said. “I also know the pride and responsibility that comes with military service. We don’t have to choose mālama ‘āina or military security. We must demand both.”