A Marine waits to fire from the 1,000-yard line at the Pu’uloa Range Training Facility, Ewa Beach, Hawaii, Aug. 1, 2019. (Jesus Sepulveda Torres/U.S. Marine Corps)
(Tribune News Service) — Community concerns over the Marine Corps’ Ewa Beach Pu’uloa Range Training Facility escalated Tuesday when the state House passed a nonbinding resolution urging the relocation of the firing range due to noise, safety and possible lead exposure to nearby homes, the shoreline and sea.
A similar resolution is being considered by the state Senate.
The Marines began using the firing range in the early 1900s.
But complaints have increased as Ewa Beach has evolved from an agricultural community to suburbs full of families, and now there are plans for the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands to develop 600 homes near the firing range.
It's the Marines' only 1,000-yard "known distance firing range" for sniper training in Hawaii and the only location where all 7,000 Hawaii-based Marines can undergo annual rifle qualifications out to 500 yards, said Marine Lt. Mark McDonough, spokesperson for Marine Corps Base Hawaii.
“There’s been a lot of criticism of the sniper training,” McDonough told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser following passage of the House resolution. “But the most important training is the annual rifle qualification that everyone — all 7,000 active-duty Marines — have to do at PRTF (Pu’uloa Range Training Facility). We need both. We can’t have one or the other.”
State Rep. Rose Martinez (D, Ewa Beach-Iroquois Point) introduced the House resolution and said she hopes it leads to discussions with the Marines over moving the firing range somewhere else.
Her constituents have suggested several alternative locations, all of them outside of Martinez's district, she said.
But McDonough said discussions already have begun, including invitations to city, state and congressional members and their representatives that included a tour of the firing range on April 17 in response to community concerns and questions.
"Marine Corps Base Hawaii is completely supportive … to help with the comfort of our neighbors in the community," McDonough said.
The call to relocate the Pu’uloa Range Training Facility comes amid growing concerns about the military’s presence in Hawaii following outrage over a series of leaks into Oahu’s drinking water supply from the Navy’s Red Hill Fuel Storage Facility.
Then in January an estimated 700 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from the U.S. Space Force Maui Space Surveillance Complex at the summit of Haleakala.
Legislators have been pushing state officials to take hard-line positions on upcoming negotiations with the military on leases of state land to continue military operations in Hawaii.
Asked about the timing of the House resolution urging relocation of the Marines' firing range, Mike Plowman — a member of the Ewa Neighborhood Board — said, "You strike while the iron's hot."
Plowman is also a member of the Surfrider Foundation of Oahu Beach Protection Committee who supports relocating the firing range.
Multiple people who supported the House and Senate resolutions emphasized that "we are not anti-military," as Martinez put it.
Martinez said she introduced the House resolution in response to "public outcry" that begins with loudspeaker orders that blare across the firing range beginning at 6 a.m., followed by live fire that lasts until 7 p.m.
Ewa Neighborhood Board member Alexander Gaos called living next to the firing range "essentially a fireworks show."
Along with environmental concerns over lead exposure, Martinez said that Ewa Beach residents overall have concerns of "family health, safety and quality of life."
In response to complaints over constant loudspeaker orders — such as "cease fire, cease fire" — the Marines are looking at first-of-its kind technology for smaller, more individualized speakers on individual firing lanes.
McDonough said environmental assessments have not found any evidence that lead bullets have left the firing range.
The Marine Corps already has relocated its most precarious short-range firing range (known as Foxtrot) 40 meters inland to reduce the threat of shoreline erosion.
Its sister ranges — Charlie, Delta and Echo — do not have the same erosion risks, McDonough said.
There is no room to relocate the Bravo 600-yard firing range or the Alpha 1, 000-yard firing range, but there also is no current erosion threat, McDonough said.
In a March statement announcing the relocation of the Foxtrot firing range, Marine Maj. Jeffry P. Hart said, "We have a responsibility to protect the natural resources we are entrusted to manage. As stewards of this land, we must preserve and protect resources while maintaining the operational effectiveness of PRTF to keep Marines, Joint Force members and law enforcement officers trained and ready. These upcoming plans are a great step in the right direction for (Marine Corps Base Hawaii)."
He said the Marines are working with the state Department of Health to sample and analyze potential lead around the firing range perimeter.
In a statement, Col. Speros C. Koumparakis, commanding officer of Marine Corps Base Hawaii, said in the March announcement, "It is my intent for MCBH to pursue these changes at PRTF to ensure the longevity of the training facility and the health and safety of the surrounding environment and community."
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