Navy NavFac Hawaii Allows Extensive Damage, Illegal Dumping at Sacred Leina a ka Uhane - Wahi Pana identified in 2012 Federal EIS.
Nearly
all of the dumping is being done on property NOT LEASED by
Hunt
Corp from Navy- but Navy does nothing and doesn't care what Hunt Corp does on this Federal property.
It is apparent that NavFac Navy Pacific allows Hunt Corp to evade
State and Federal NEPA and NHPA laws and NavFac staff are apparently
involved in supporting this wahi pana site desecration.
Hunt
Corporation is aggressively moving ahead with site construction
throughout
identified historic MCAS Ewa Field without benefit of a FederalSection 106, as was originally promised and ASSURED (on video) by
Navy officials to the Ewa community in 2011 after an initial Battlefield
Survey and historic building inventory was conducted.
Further the area was identified as a very sacred wahi pana in an April
2012 Honolulu Area Rapid Transit - Federal Transit Administration
Environmental Impact Assessment cultural-archeological survey
report as the Leina a ka Uhane- a sacred corridor and portal for native
Hawaiian souls making the journey into the afterlife.
So many community promises continue to be broken and the deception never
stops on this historic site, as was the case with a previous 106 project
the entire community refused to sign.
The
latest Hunt Corp project right now is digging a large pit into the ancient coral limestone
Karst layer only feet away from a previously identified ancient Hawaiian Karst
wall structure that exists throughout a large area directly next to
this
current construction pit. Karst is well documented as native burial areas and previous successful lawsuits
have been won about lack of respect for native Hawaiian cultural burial sites.
There
was no monitoring archeologist on site while aggressive digging was
underway
this past week. The Navy NavFac staff has repeatedly misinformed
or not informed the local community about projects like this. It was promised that anything beyond general land surface clearing would bring about a Section 106 under Federal NHPA laws. This has never happened and large steel beam structures and other building additions are being put up in this location.
The area was identified in 1999 Navy BRAC surveys as the
most likely site for the 1825 Malden Trail- actually a very ancient
Hawaiian trail system linking Honouliuli West-Loch with the Ewa
shoreline at Kualaka'i and One'ula Beach.
The Navy in Hawaii has allowed Hunt Corp to turn this into a construction and
dump site, including using land that isn't even on their leased areas.
This
entire local area is known to have numerous Hawaiian archeological
sites,
burial sites, Karst caves, rare native plants, birds and many sinkholes (which Hunt Corp is filling
in whenever found) and most importantly, has been identified in the FTA HART
Federal Rail EIS as the "Leina a ka Uhane" a very sacred spirit portal
back to the ancient homeland of Tahiti. This means it is a very special,
sacred area to native Hawaiians. This could likely be grounds fora lawsuit.
It is
not a coincidence that the sacred "Leina" spirit leap area and ancient trails
are in
the same place and this entire area is archeologically and culturally very significant on many
levels. Yet the Navy has consistently refused to do any Archeological Inventory Surveys and Cultural Landscape survey- claiming
that everything "they want to know" was done decades ago. In reality it is totally an illegal act and counter to Federal laws and best practice land management of government properties.
This is
all counter to all recent high level State court cases. The
NavFac Hunt Corp Navy acts in a very lawless manner and greatly damages
public goodwill and opinion about the Navy in Hawaii. They have intentionally ignored the important historic and cultural features of this area and have
continued to dig up, plow over and evade public land responsibilities on this
property that the Navy said was part of the original lease agreement.
This area was also identified in a public State House and Senate Resolution, NCR-49, in 2009 as recommended for historic and cultural preservation, and supported also by three local Neighborhood Board resolutions. Every possible notice of public concern has been made and filed about this area for years but the Hunt Corp Navy continues to completely disregard and effectively deceive repeated stated public opinion. Totally lawless is how this Navy operation is run.
Illegal dumping without permits on property not even leased from Navy
Illegal dumping without permits on property not even leased from Navy
Hawaiian Rock Wall runs through a large part of this property
The entire Ewa Plain is a vast Karst (ancient Coral Reef) shelf
Construction work into Karst without any archeological survey (typical on Navy land)
1825 Malden Trails shown running through historic MCAS Ewa Warehouse District
1825 Malden Trails shown running near Coral Sea Road, former NAS Barbers Point - Kalaeloa
1825 Malden Trails shown running through former NAS Barbers Point - Kalaeloa
The Ahupua'a of Honouliuli
1825 Mapped Malden Trails running through ancient Kanehili
Malden Trail shown running from Honouliuli - West Loch across historic Ewa Plantation
Malden Trail shown running across historic Ewa Plantation
Pearl Harbor Historic Trail follows the Oahu Railway line
HCR 49, HD1 2009
MARINE CORPS AIR STATION EWA, OAHU, AS A NATIONAL MONUMENT AND PLACEMENT OF EWA FIELD ON THE REGISTERS OF HISTORIC PLACES.
Urges the President of the United States, the Secretary of Defense, Secretary of the Interior, and United States Navy to preserve Marine Corps Air Station Ewa, or a portion of it, as a
National Monument.
Requests the United States Navy and its private, public and non-profit partners to proceed with the research, battlefield analysis, and other activities necessary to designate an appropriate boundary for nomination of Ewa Field to the Hawaii State and National
Registers of Historic Places.
