Hawaii conservation groups are voicing their opposition to plans by the U.S. Space Force to conduct cargo rocket testing at Johnston Atoll, a national wildlife refuge in the Pacific.
The atoll, known as Kalama to Hawaiians, lies within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument. It was used in earlier decades as a nuclear testing site but is now a refuge to seabirds, including one of the largest known nesting populations of red-tailed tropicbirds, more than 300 species of fish and a shallow coral reef.
They say Kalama, about 800 miles southwest of Honolulu, shares an ecological and spiritual connection to Hawaii and must be protected.
The Pacific Islands Heritage coalition — a diverse network of scientists, cultural practitioners and community leaders — already has launched a petition strongly objecting to the plan announced in March by the Department of the Air Force.
Rocket testing poses serious risks, the coalition said, including contamination, debris, noise pollution and the potential for failed landings within protected waters.
This is not unprecedented, according to the coalition, which noted that Elon Musk’s Space X Starship, which is being considered for the project, already has had several explosive failures — including on Jan. 17 and March 6.
These explosions disrupted commercial flights and rained space debris down into the ocean.
The coalition is calling for an immediate halt to any construction plans, and a full environmental impact statement with a thorough evaluation of its effects on the atoll’s fragile ecosystem.
“In a time when our Earth is rapidly changing, we must commit to its restoration and healing,” said Solomon Kaho‘ohalahala, coalition chair, in a statement. “The proposal by the Air Force to construct landing pads and test massive rocket cargo operations at Kalama only continues decades of harm and abuse to a place that is culturally and biologically tied to us as Pacific people. We say enough is enough. Aole (No)!”
Kaho‘ohalahala, a Native Hawaiian elder, said these testing plans, to him, “have untold kinds of impacts that we have not even had to consider.”
Rocket testing plans
The U.S. Space Force under the Department of the Air Force in March issued a notice of intent to build two landing pads at Johnston Atoll, to be designed for up to 10 reentry vehicle landings per year over four consecutive years.
The purpose is to “safely test and demonstrate the |expeditious delivery of tons of materiel (military equipment) through space” to support ongoing research for the department’s rocket cargo program.
Testing is expected to begin sometime this year to help determine whether commercial rockets can transport military equipment more speedily around the globe, in hours rather than days to weeks that current modes of transportation require.
The Air Force said the testing must be done in a remote, securable, U.S. government-controlled location — and that of all potential sites identified, Johnston met all operational requirements.
Other sites considered were Kwajalein Atoll, Midway Island and Wake Island.
A draft environment assessment, which would analyze potential effects to the fish, migratory birds and other protected species in consultation with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and finding of no significant impact was originally due out in early April but has been delayed.
The Air Force said in an email it was taking longer than expected and is anticipated to be available for public review in the summer. Once published, a 30-day public-comment period begins.
A jewel in the sea
Opposition to the proposal, however, is mounting.
Among the more than 3,500 people who have signed the petition are biologists, conservationists and others who say the atoll is one of the last wild, healthy ocean ecosystems remaining on Earth.
Others call it a sacred Hawaiian atoll — a jewel in the sea — with deep cultural and spiritual significance.
Kalama has made incredible progress in recovery 20 years after enduring military use, which included coral dredging, atmospheric nuclear testing and the stockpiling and burning of toxic chemical munitions — including more than 2 million gallons of Agent Orange.
The island is now healing, they said, and it would be a shame for this progress to be undone with potentially irreparable harm.
Marine biologist Alan Friedlander, former chief scientist for National Geographic’s Pristine Seas program, says Johnston is one of the “few rare places” left in the world with a rich diversity of species.
He has traveled from the Arctic to the Antarctic during his 15-year tenure at Pristine Seas, and said, “There are not many places left like this.”
In fact, all isles within the monument are “like jewels in the crown,” he said, not just for the U.S., but for the world.
The atoll is significant as a “steppingstone” for species on their way to the Hawaiian Islands, whether it be invertebrates, corals, fishes or birds. Both Johnston and Hawaii share many of the same endemic species.
It is now thriving, he said, with the ocean full of a beautiful and diverse array of of sharks, fish and corals. He described it as a “kind of a living laboratory of sorts.”
Brad Keitt of the American Bird Conservancy is just as concerned about the direct as well as indirect impacts of rocket testing, which include disturbing the balance of nature and bringing invasive species back to the atoll.
The USFWS — after more than a decade of efforts — finally eradicated the invasive, yellow crazy ants brought by humans that were destroying nests.
Seabird nesting refuge
Johnston Atoll is also home to nearly 1.5 million seabirds of 15 species, according to Keitt.
While seabird populations are declining around the world due to habitat loss and introduced predators, the island is one of the few “bright spots,” he said, where the population is increasing.
The American Bird Conservancy is requesting the military look for an alternative site because the rocket landing pads cannot be built without significant harm to bird colonies there.
The atoll is home to nearly half of the global population of red-tailed tropicbirds, or koaeula, as well as sooty terns and brown- and red-footed boobies.
He is concerned about the impact of extremely loud sounds associated with rockets, he said, which possibly could cause irreparable, permanent damage to the birds.
Seabirds play an important role in the ecology of islands, with emerging research showing their guano fertilizes the isles and nearshore environments, which helps fish and corals grow faster.
The remoteness of Johnston also makes it difficult to get to, requiring several days over the ocean. The airstrip at Johnston has long been decommissioned, he said, and has since been overtaken by nesting terns.
Friedlander said rocket launches are likely less expensive on the mainland or elsewhere.
“On a small atoll, everything is magnified because you have such limited space and all the animals are concentrated into a very narrow area, both on land and in the sea,” he said, “so the impacts are much more direct.”
Several environmental groups, including the Conservation Council of Hawaii, have taken a stand with the council, while others are closely watching developments.
The groups were dismayed at President Donald Trump’s executive order in April overturning a ban on commercial fishing at the monument.
Earthjustice, a national environmental law firm, has vowed to fight the order, saying it threatens critical species’ habitat within and around the monument.
David Henkin, Earthjustice attorney, said in a statement that the group is closely monitoring the “reckless proposal.”
“The rockets that the military has in mind have a lousy track record, with several blowing up shortly after launch,” Henkin said. “Even one such mishap would devastate wildlife at Johnston. That the military is trying to get away with preparing only an environmental assessment — a cursory review appropriate for only projects with absolutely no potential to cause significant environmental harm — is outrageous.”
The military, the Pacific Islands Heritage Coalition said, must pursue alternatives that will not damage environmental and cultural treasures in its wake.
For Kaho‘ohalahala, who launched the petition, the ocean is one, without division, despite the various jurisdictions that humans have established.
“These waters are sacred; they tell the stories of our ancestors and connect us to our cultural heritage and cousins across the Pacific,” he said.
What happens in one part of the ocean affects other parts of it, including the Hawaiian Islands, and he is most concerned about the consequences of the destruction for future generations.
“As an indigenous Hawaiian, those lines do not exist in our ocean,” he said. “Our whales, our sharks, our turtles, they move across those lines. For us to think that by drawing a line we’re somehow about to act independently without any impact to the whole is a false kind of perspective.”
Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge
>> Managed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Johnston Atoll is an unincorporated U.S. territory made up of four islands (Johnston, Sand, North and East islands).
>> Located 716 nautical miles (824 miles) southwest of Honolulu.
>> In 1926, Johnston was designated a refuge for native birds. This status as a refuge was retained after the U.S. took control in 1934.
>> From late 1950s to 1962, Johnston was the site of high-altitude nuclear testing. Chemical munitions were stockpiled there, and incinerated in a disposal system built in 1990, then disassembled in 2004.
>> By November 2003 the U.S. Air Force demolished the incinerator buildings. By May 2005 almost all of the infrastructure had been removed, and all personnel left the atoll.
>> On Jan. 6, 2009, the Pacific Remote Islands Marine National Monument was established by President George W. Bush, with Johnston Atoll within its boundaries. In 2014, President Barack Obama expanded the boundaries of the monument.
>> In 2010, USFWS identifies an invasion of yellow crazy ants at Johnston that are blinding and maiming nesting red-tailed tropicbirds. Efforts to eradicate them begin.
>> In 2021, USFWS declares eradication of yellow crazy ants from Johnston.
Source: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
