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In the U.S. military’s environmental impact statement for the expansion of the RIMPAC training area, it says it don’t anticipate causing too much harm. It doesn’t anticipate killing too many whales, damaging too much coral or polluting too much of Hawaii’s land, air and sea.
Unfortunately the military has never anticipated the true negative consequences of its actions in Hawaii. That, or it’s just never cared.
From the devastation of Kahoolawe, unexploded ordnance left behind on every island including Molokai’s Kalaupapa peninsula, contamination of Oahu’s aquifer, invasive species like the coconut rhinoceros beetle likely arriving on unchecked military aircraft, its role in exasperating the housing crisis and the violent crimes committed by military members against local women and children, the unanticipated consequences have been severe.
They’ve given us no reason to believe things will be different this time.
Jayson Mizula
Waikiki
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