Give Native Hawaiians a ‘meaningful voice’ in military land negotiations

This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat.

Blaze Lovell
Honolulu Civil Beat

After mounting criticism of Gov. Josh Green’s approach to renegotiating military leases of state-owned land, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs is asking for a more formal role in the process.

On Friday, OHA Board Chair Kai Kahele wrote a letter to Green calling for his office to collaborate more with OHA and the broader Hawaiian community. The letter came after weeks of pressure by prominent members of the Hawaiian community for OHA to insert itself in the negotiation process.

Specifically, Kahele wants OHA to be a part of the negotiating team that would deal directly with federal officials and co-lead a separate technical working group alongside the state Department of Land and Natural Resources that would hash out the details of a land deal.

Expiration of the Army’s leases for training grounds on Oʻahu and the Big Island “presents a once-in-a-generation opportunity to restore balance — to safeguard public trust lands, honor Native Hawaiian claims, and reset the terms of Hawaiʻi’s relationship with the federal government,” Kahele wrote.

Green was in California this week on a personal trip. On Monday, his office said the governor was convening a Native Hawaiian advisory group, something Green pledged to do in early October, and said OHA would be included. What role the group would have in the lease negotiations wasn’t immediately clear, though the statement said more details would be released in the next two weeks.

The letter from Kahele warned that moving forward without input from the Hawaiian community “risks perpetuating historic inequities and undermining the State’s commitments to its Indigenous people.”

Many who testified at OHA’s community meetings on the Big Island last week were incensed over reports that Green had proposed a multibillion-dollar investment package in exchange for the Army’s use of lands, including across thousands of acres in the Pōhakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.

For those who want to see those lands returned to Hawaiʻi and its people, the negotiations don’t go far enough.

“How long is OHA willing to watch from the sidelines as the rug is pulled from under our feets,” said Makoa Freitas, a member of the Hawaiian independence group Hui Aloha ʻĀina, later adding that, “No amount of blood money can justify what has happened there, and what they’ll continue to do there should we do nothing.”

Under the process outlined in Green’s letter, negotiations would be handled by a team that includes officials from the state and the Army, while the details of a deal would be worked out by a technical group, which would include at least one state agency as the lead negotiator.

Kahele’s letter Friday called for OHA to co-lead the technical group and also be included on the negotiation team.

Kahele also raised concerns with the Army’s quick timeline to resolve the land agreements, something he said could thwart the historical, environmental and cultural reviews required in lease negotiations.

Kahele, a former U.S. congressman who lost to Green in the 2022 governor’s race, suggested temporary lease extensions that would allow the state to conduct those reviews while negotiating with the Army on a long-term deal. 

“A negotiated extension would preserve the State’s credibility and bargaining position, whereas a rushed timeline risks weakening it and advantaging the federal government,” Kahele wrote.

The Army currently leases more than 29,000 acres of land in the state for training purposes under a handful of 60-year-old agreements that will expire in the coming years. The Army has already decided to downsize its use of land on Oʻahu but is proposing to retain a connecting parcel on the Big Island that links federally-owned land in Pōhakuloa.

The retention of Pōhakuloa — and the Green administration’s efforts to play ball with federal officials who want to fast-track land deals — have stirred up tremendous pushback on social media.

Some politicians have also waded into the debate. The Hawaiʻi County Council approved a resolution in August calling for a halt to all “desecration activities” at Pōhakuloa.

OHA has also been trying to insert itself into the conversation in other ways.

The Board of Trustees is expected to vote Thursday on a proposal to hold bimonthly community meetings to inform OHA’s position on the leases.

And on Wednesday, the board is set to ask state lawmakers to pass a constitutional amendment to ban live-fire training on state lands. The biggest impact on such an amendment would be felt at the Pōhakuloa Training Area. Live-fire exercises have largely been phased out on other state-owned lands on Oʻahu that are leased to the Army. 

But Pōhakuloa is still used to conduct live-fire training and hosts an artillery range that military leaders insist is necessary to prepare for large-scale conflicts with Russia or China.

If approved by the trustees, the constitutional amendment banning those exercises would still need to win passage by the Legislature next session. If it clears that high hurdle, the amendment would go to voters during the 2026 General Election.