Proposed Ewa Beach sea wall raises concerns

When Ewa Beach resident Troy Guerrero heard a sea wall was being proposed for Marine Corps Base Hawaii’s Puuloa Range Training Facility, he wondered whether it would affect his nearby diving spot, where he’d observed a drop-off in some fish since 2013, when nine T-head groins were built to prevent sand erosion at Iroquois Point Beach to the east.

“There used to be big schools of fish, like kala (unicornfish) by the hundreds, but the last four, five years, I’ve noticed they haven’t been coming around,” Guerrero said, adding he worried about possible impacts on marine habitat of shoreline alterations such as the groins and the proposed wall.

“Lots of places have put up sea walls, then the beach up or down shore ended up losing sand from migration; and the beach that gets more sand, it covers up the ecoysystem,” he said.

An August 2019 environmental assessment by MCBH said the proposed 10-foot-high, 1,500-foot-wide steel wall would have no significant impact on the human or natural environment.

The Environmental Assessment’s conclusion is being challenged by Surfrider Foundation O‘ahu and neighborhood residents who say its research was inadequate and that sufficient public notice was not given.

In a June 15 letter to Secretary of the Navy Kenneth Braithwaite, Surfrider demanded that a full environmental impact statement be conducted.

“The EA failed to thoroughly examine issues of not only beach loss and coastal erosion in neighboring areas such as Puuloa, but also impacts to the nearby reefs, surf spots and traditional harvesting,” said Ray Aivazian III, chairman of the national nonprofit’s Oahu chapter.

Ewa Beach resident Alex Gaos, who has a Ph.D. in marine biology, said the EA’s finding of no significant impact was insufficient with regard to fish habitat.

Although the ocean directly offshore from the range is off-limits to the public, Gaos said, he dives in adjacent waters where he sees “a lot of rocky reef habitat where algae grows and there’s a large amount of fish species and octopus, even lobster, and I see turtles hiding under the ledges.”

A 2015 Puuloa Shoreline Erosion Study performed for Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Hawaii, found a “relatively pristine marine habitat” with protected species such as green sea turtles and Hawaiian monk seals makai of the range. Gaos is worried “possible erosion could redistribute the sand and cover up the rocky reef, leaving a sand bottom that doesn’t support such abundance of species.”

Former Island Air pilot Mike Plowman, who served in the Navy, objected to the EA’s modeling of longshore currents.

“They claim (the wall) will not affect anything Ewa of Range Training Facility, but the ocean current doesn’t exclusively go toward Diamond Head the way they say it does,” he said. “We see evidence of sand going back and forth.”

“The Navy built those groins (at Iroquois Point), and then we started noticing more and more sand in our area,” said resident Karen Luke, “ but farther down, people have lost their fences and lawns.”

In a section on shoreline hardening, the 2015 study says shore-parallel structures such as sea walls “not only do nothing to reduce erosion of the beach,” but “will likely result in the loss of the sand beach” in areas undergoing long-term beach erosion.

Possible erosion at neighboring Puuloa Beach Park would be a “significant impact to the community,” said Plowman, the father of two young children. “It’s our legacy beach, where we hold our baby luaus, graduation parties, weddings and funerals.”

The shoreline study recommends that MCBH take no action beyond planting vegetation in the near term, while conducting shoreline monitoring to determine whether the beach is eroding in the long term.

The study was mentioned as a source in the EA but was not posted with the EA on MCBH’s website. It was obtained by Plowman through a Freedom of Information Act request.

In a June 25 email to the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, then-MCBH spokesman Maj. Roberto Martins said he could not address Surf­rider’s EIS request until Braithwaite replied. As of press time, Aivazian said he had not received replies to Surfrider’s letter or a follow-up email.

Martins said MCBH proposed a wall because “erosion of the beach has threatened the berms which are the primary safety feature of the firing range,” noting that “one of the firing range berms had already begun to erode from wave action.” The EA also warns of leaching of toxic lead from spent bullets.

Native vegetation has been planted in the area, but there was “no budget or immediate plan” to build the sea wall, Martins said.

He added that MCBH’s determination of no significant impacts was based on consultations with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration and the state’s Coastal Zone Management Act.

Martins also disagreed with Surfrider’s allegation that beyond placing classified ads in the Star-Advertiser inviting public comment, MCBH failed to sufficiently notify and engage the public as required by the National Environmental Policy Act.

“MCBH’s Environmental Director presented at the Ewa Beach Neighborhood Board in November, in reference to the analysis,” Martins said. “MCBH has participated in a number of dialogues, responding to numerous Legislative Affairs requests and Congressional Inquiries.”

But Plowman said MCBH representatives, who regularly attend meetings of the Ewa Beach Neighborhood Board, failed to mention the wall until he learned of the project and asked questions at the October meeting.

A petition calling for an EIS, now bearing 1,414 online and 362 hard-copy signatures, was presented to the neighborhood board, state Sens. Mike Gabbard and Kurt Fevella, and Rep. Rida Cabanilla, who have introduced resolutions.

“As the Marine Corps continues to explore ways to protect the Puuloa Range Training Facility from coastal erosion, they must avoid unnecessary environmental impacts on Hawaii’s beaches and the residents of Ewa Beach,” U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said in an email to the Star-Advertiser. “They should consider all alternatives, including using natural and nature-based features to avoid impacts.”

Guerrero, a father of five who works in construction, said he wasn’t opposed to the wall if thorough research could convince him “this beautiful beach will still be there for generations to come.”