(BIVN) – The Congressional delegates from Hawaiʻi continue to press top military officials on land lease negotiations, which includes the Pōhakuloa Training Area on the Big Island.
U.S. Senator Brian Schatz (D, Hawaiʻi) on Tuesday questioned Secretary of the Army Dan Driscoll on the land leases, the same day Driscoll was questioned by Senator Mazie Hirono (D, Hawaiʻi) on the same subject.
While Hirono pressed Driscoll for answers as a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Senator Schatz found his opportunity during a Senate Appropriations Subcommittee hearing, A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the Army.
Senator Schatz urged Driscoll to rule out using adverse condemnation as a tool to seize the Hawaiʻi lands, and said that while the Department of the Army “has a legal right to adversely condemn property that they deem in the national security interest of the United States”, such a course of action would “create lots of difficulty back home”.
“We want to come to the most fair resolution as quickly as possible so that we can continue to maintain the relationship with the community and have this national security asset,” Secretary Driscoll said.
The Army is seeking to retain up to approximately 22,750 acres of State-owned land at Pōhakuloa, in order to continue with ongoing training activities at the facility. The lease is set to expire in 2029. There has been public opposition to the land retention based on numerous environmental and cultural concerns.
Here is a full transcript of the exchange:
Senator Schatz: “Secretary, good to see you. I wanted to follow up our ongoing conversation about the lease negotiations. I know you’re in constructive dialogue with the governor and his administration. I want to just sort of set the tone here and make sure we’re on the same page, at least conceptually. Obviously, deals have to be negotiated, but I think the first thing is: do you want a deal with the state government done in a collaborative fashion?”
Secretary Driscoll: “Unequivocally, Senator.”
Senator Schatz: “Okay. And um there are a couple of things that are happening right now. First of all, I think a deal is possible. I want to say that. Um, but the state of Hawaiʻi up until now has provided state lands for Army training for free. And that’s just not a reasonable deal. It’s true that the Department of War, Department of the Army, has a legal right to adversely condemn property that they deem in the national security interest of the United States. That is the kind of thing that sounds easy in Washington and would create lots of difficulty back home, because what we have underlying this relationship is a cooperative attitude between state government, county government, and the federal government in this instance. And there are very few instances of the Army or the Department of War condemning state property. It happened in New York. It happened in Puerto Rico. In both instances, those are moments in history and they’re not good ones. And they weren’t good for the Department of War. And so I would just like to hear from you that you’d like to avoid that outcome of adverse condemnation. Not that you take it off the table. I know that you don’t want to take anything off the table when we’re still in a negotiation, but I’d like to hear that that’s not where you’re sort of barreling towards.”
Secretary Driscoll: “Happy to Senator. Uh, I first always try to say this and I mean it very sincerely. If you talk to any soldier, and I’m sure General Lane could echo this, who has been stationed in Hawaiʻi with their families, they get embraced by that community unlike almost anywhere else our soldiers go. It’s one of the most requested places, not just because it’s beautiful, but because the community is so good to them. And that that trust and relationships takes decades to build up. And so we are incredibly grateful. Um, the second one is I don’t want to underestimate the importance of that training land for our national security and how important it is for the Indo-Pacific. When we reference Alaska and how important it is for our soldiers to get to train there, the triple canopy that 25th ID gets to do impacts how we create our TTPs and will make us stronger to the future. But to your specific question, Senator, the governor’s team, your federal delegation have advocated incredibly tirelessly for the people of Hawai‘i. We want to come to the most fair resolution as quickly as possible so that we can continue to maintain the relationship with the community and have this national security asset.”
Senator Schatz: “Okay. In in the interest of continuing the negotiation, but as we say, hard on the issues, easy on each other, I want to just flag a couple of issues. First, there’s sort of chatter uh about a provision in the House mark of the Defense Authorization Bill, and I think that that is very likely unwise because we’re talking about one chamber, one party, and if we’re going to do anything with the Hawaiʻi Congressional delegation, we’ve got two defense appropriators and two defense authorizers. We should all be in the room and know what the heck is being contemplated as ledge text is being sort of uh transmitted back and forth. And if it’s not, then we should know that that’s not what’s happening. That’s number one. Number two is as we think about the remuneration to the state government, right? It’s a lease. You got a leasie and a lessor, and the lessor should get something for the lease. You agree with that. Now we have to talk about the details. Um, it’s just important to not move anything to the left on the MILCON (Military Construction) list, on the unfunded priorities list. So, think of this as a proper community benefits package. As you know, I’ve been on this committee for a while now, and I’m happy to advocate for increased defense spending, generally, army spending in particular, in the state of Hawaiʻi. However, when you’re talking about a lease negotiation like us doing MILCON and moving it to the left or you know buying down the () list is not going to be something that we can honestly convey is a community benefits package. So, as we’re contemplating how to make the community whole and maintain that level of cooperation, there are some people who believe the Department of Defense just doesn’t belong in the state of Hawaiʻi. Those people will never be satisfied. There are some people who think that the Department of Defense should not give anything to the state of Hawaiʻi. Those people will never be satisfied. But the middle wants a fair deal and that fair deal would not include just increased Army spending on Army stuff, but rather uh a kind of compensation for the ability to use the lands at PTA, PMRF and elsewhere. Thank you.”
