(BIVN) – A pivotal moment in the U.S. Army’s effort to retain use of state land at the Pōhakuloa Training Area will take place Friday.

The Hawaiʻi Board of Land and Natural Resources is set to decide on whether to accept or reject the Army’s Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) for its live-fire training use of 23,000-acres on Hawaiʻi island.

Public testimony will be taken at the BLNR meeting on Oʻahu on Friday, before board members take a vote.

Figure 1-2 from the EIS showing the U.S. Government-owned and State-owned land at Pōhakuloa Training Area

In the 44-page submittal for the agenda item, the Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Land Division did not make a recommendation to the land board, writing:

Staff acknowledges that the Board will ultimately determine whether the final EIS satisfactorily meets the criteria for acceptance. Given the high level of public interest and involvement in this matter, Staff defers on a formal recommendation and instead recommends that the Board consider all testimony on this matter analysis prior to determining whether the criteria for acceptance has been satisfied.

Hundreds of pages of written testimony have already been submitted on the agenda item.

The meeting will be livestreamed here on YouTube.