Bill Text: HI SR138 | 2023 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft

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Bill Title: Urging The United States Marine Corps To Relocate All Live Fire Training And Aviation Activity Away From Puuloa Range Training Facility.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 1-0)

Status: (Passed) 2023-05-22 - Certified copies of resolutions sent. [SR138 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2023-SR138-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	138
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS TO RELOCATE ALL live FIRE TRAINING AND AVIATION ACTIVITY AWAY FROM PUULOA RANGE TRAINING FACILITY.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the facility now known as Puuloa Range Training Facility was transferred from the United States Army to the United States Navy between 1915 and 1916; and

 

     WHEREAS, during the Vietnam era, the facility supported long-range sniper training until the training was moved in 1979 to what is now called Marine Corps Base Hawaii, in Kaneohe; and

 

     WHEREAS, after the sniper training exercises were relocated to Kaneohe, Iroquois Point was connected to Ewa Beach via an access road mauka of the training facility, allowing TheBus to service Iroquois Point; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2011, the Marine Corps doubled the length of Puuloa Range Training Facility's Alpha Range, the range closest to the Ewa Beach community, and re-established sniper training at the facility, without seeking community input or conducting an environmental assessment; and

 

     WHEREAS, the expansion of the range and reinstatement of sniper training forced the closure of the access road and termination of TheBus service to Iroquois Point, eliminating a tsunami evacuation route; and

 

     WHEREAS, since the reinstatement of sniper training at Puuloa Range Training Facility, the facility's public address system and shooting exercises have prompted hundreds of noise complaints from the surrounding community; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Marine Corps recently announced that Puuloa Range Training Facility will be used as a night landing zone for the Marine Corps' helicopters, which will significantly increase noise pollution outside of the facility's regular hours; and

 

     WHEREAS, persistent noise pollution, like that experienced by residents who live near the training facility, can cause hearing loss, increase the risk of miscarriages or low birth weight, and can cause or exacerbate cardiovascular disease, type two diabetes, sleep disturbances, mental health impairments, childhood learning delays, and other health, developmental, and behavioral issues; and

 

     WHEREAS, the open-air ranges at Puuloa Range Training Facility also create the risk of a stray bullet, ricochet, or an accidental weapons discharge impacting nearby schools, churches, homes, and parks; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 2020, range gunfire was mistaken for an active shooter situation, causing lockdowns at nearby schools; and

 

     WHEREAS, environmental studies of the area surrounding Puuloa Range Training Facility have shown lead contamination that is more than seventy times the legal limit; and

 

     WHEREAS, environmental studies have also found that there is a high risk of munitions constituents, materials originating from unexploded ordnance, migrating to nearshore waters, adjacent parks, and nearby homes; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Department of Hawaiian Home Lands recently announced the planned construction of approximately six hundred homes for Native Hawaiians on land directly adjacent to the Puuloa Range Training Facility; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Native Hawaiian families who reside in these homes will disproportionately bear the risks of noise pollution, environmental pollution, and the possibility of stray gunfire unless the United States Marine Corps relocates shooting exercises and aviation activity and carries out environmental remediation; and

 

     WHEREAS, the First Responder Campus in Mililani and Camp Blaz sniper training facility on Guam are currently under construction, offering possible alternatives for military and non-military training; and

 

     WHEREAS, alternatively, the United States Marine Corps could relocate sniper training to Marine Corps Base Hawaii, as it did in 1979; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Marine Corps' plan to move four of Puuloa Range Training Facility's firing ranges inland to help mitigate coastal erosion does not adequately address the community's concerns about environmental harm, noise pollution, and the dangers associated with the facility's open-air ranges; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, that the United States Marine Corps is urged to relocate all live fire training and aviation activity away from Puuloa Range Training Facility; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Secretary of Defense, Commandant of the Marine Corps, and United States Marine Corps Forces Pacific Commander.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Puuloa Range Training Facility; United States Marine Corps; Relocation; Ewa Beach