Navy holds public meetings over mine warfare training plan around Hawaii

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) - The Navy is meeting with the public Wednesday night about its plan to increase mine warfare training in the Pacific Ocean.

Activists are pushing back on the military exercises, but Navy project managers say any explosions are carefully managed.

Mine warfare training was conducted during last year’s Rim of the Pacific Exercise (RIMPAC) exercises. A Navy aviation unit based in San Diego, Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron 21, nicknamed “Blackjacks,” is trying to detect dummy mines in the ocean.

“That really involves putting mine shapes in the water and then the training or testing is to be able to locate those areas, but not do actual explosives just to find the mine shapes,” Alex Stone, environmental impact statement project manager for the U.S. Pacific Fleet, told Hawaii News Now.

LEARN MORE: Proposal to expand mine warfare training around Hawaii sparks concerns

Explosive mine training is already occurring in Pearl Harbor, off Barber’s Point, Ewa, and Puuloa.

Stone said the Navy does not want to increase those exercises and is concerned about the environment.

“For the explosives, we do have an area where the detonation is going to occur and we clear that zone to make sure there is not marine mammals or other wildlife that are present there, and if there are, we do not do the explosives,” he said.

“My message to the Navy is we will be there. We will be organized,” said Ka Lahui Hawaii’s Healani Sonoda-Pale.

She is not happy about increased military exercises.

“They are trying to justify the fact that they are here. We are trying to justify the fact that we need clean water. We need a livable Hawaii,” she said.

This type of training is traditionally done in Southern California, but the Navy wants more of it around Hawaii. As for why, project managers would only say it’s to respond to a requirement from operational commanders.

View the Navy’s Draft Environmental Impact Statement/Overseas Environmental Impact Statement.

There is an open house Wednesday, 4 to 7 p.m., at Weinberg Hall, 2685 N. Nimitz Highway, and Thursday, 4 to 7 p.m., at the Kauai Veterans Center.

A virtual public meeting will take place Wednesday, Jan. 22, 3 to 4 p.m.

The public comment period is open until Feb. 11.

Copyright 2025 Hawaii News Now. All rights reserved.