HR317

WHEREAS, the United States Congress approved legislation on May 13, 1908 to establish the “Navy Yard Pearl Harbor,” which has grown over the past 100 years from a “coaling and repair station” to become the “No Ka Oi Shipyard” and a national treasure, strategically important to our nation and equally vital to the State of Hawai'i; and

WHEREAS, Shipyard workers earned the motto “We Keep Them Fit to Fight” during World War II by resurrecting the U.S. Pacific Fleet from the bottom of Pearl Harbor, helping to turn the tide of the war at Midway, and maintaining the ships that would ultimately win victory at sea and sail triumphantly into Tokyo Bay; and

WHEREAS, the Shipyard has supported and continues to support our nation’s Pacific Fleet, from the days of World War II, through Korea, Vietnam, the long Cold War, and the Gulf War, to the current war in Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere around the world, and, as the largest ship repair facility between the West Coast of the United States and the Far East, provides full-service regional maintenance for the ships and submarines of the Navy’s fleet throughout the Asia-Pacific theater; and

WHEREAS, through times of war and times of peace, the Shipyard has become the largest single industrial employer in the State of Hawai`i, and the largest fully integrated military-civilian workforce involved in full-service shipyard work in the United States, earning along the way multiple national-level awards for its dedicated environmental stewardship and excellent safety programs (such as the prestigious Occupational Safety and Health Administration’s “Star” award in May 2007); and

WHEREAS, the Shipyard plays an equally important role in the State of Hawai`i, both economically and socially, with an annual economic impact of more than $600 million, and, through its Apprentice, Engineer Co-Op, and other student-hire programs, on-going training and employment opportunities that for several generations have provided and now continue to provide great careers for Hawai`i’s sons and daughters, so that they may remain in Hawai`i to live and work near their families; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-fourth Legislature of the State of Hawai`i, Regular Session of 2008, that the Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard and Intermediate Maintenance Facility be commended and congratulated for its 100 years of exemplary service to the State of Hawai`i and to our Nation, and extends this body’s warmest aloha and best wishes for continued success.

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title:

Pearl Harbor Naval Shipyard; 100 years of service; honoring

HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	317
TWENTY-FOURTH LEGISLATURE, 2008
STATE OF HAWAII