Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs to which was referred S.C.R. No. 67 entitled:

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the United States Navy to continue to clear the island of Kaho`olawe of unexploded ordnance beyond the date that the island is to be remanded to the State.

Testimony in support of the measure was received from the Kaho`olawe Island Reserve Commission. A private citizen submitted comments.

Specifically, the measure urges that:

Your Committee finds that in 1993, Congress passed Title X of the Department of Defense Appropriations Act (Public Law 103-139, U.S.C. 107 Stat. 1418), requiring the State and Department of the Navy to enter into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) that established the standard of clearance and restoration for the island and authorized $400 million over ten years for this purpose.

In the MOU between the Kaho`olawe Island Reserve Commission and the Department of the Navy, the U.S. Navy was designated as the lead agency responsible for ordnance clearance and environmental restoration on the island to the agreed upon standards until such time as it transfers control of the island to the State. That transfer date was established as November 11, 2003.

Since the signing of the MOU, the Department of the Navy has implemented a plan to remove the unexploded ordnance, but as the November 11, 2003, turnover date draws near, it becomes more and more certain that the remaining time period will not be sufficient to return the island to the previously agreed upon standards.

Your Committee also finds that since the inception of the unexploded ordnance removal program, the U.S. Navy has cleared 11,000 acres of surface ordnance, eradicated goats, and conducted soil conservation and revegetation programs that are helping to restore and revive the environment of Kaho`olawe. However, current projections by the U.S. Navy estimate less than seventy percent of the island will be surface cleared of ordnance and less than ten percent of the island will be certified as reasonably safe for intensive restoration and cultural purposes before the current turnover date.

Your Committee recognizes that action must be taken to ensure that the U.S. Navy fulfills its obligations relating to the removal of unexploded ordnance, regardless who controls access to the island.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Hawaiian Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 67 and recommends that it be referred to the Committee on Transportation, Military Affairs and Government Operations.