Protecting Our Keiki: Lead Exposure Threat Mobilizes ʻEwa Beach Community

On June 22, the Sierra Club of Hawaiʻi and the Relocate Puʻuloa Range Coalition mobilized to raise greater awareness of the lead exposure concerns surrounding the US Marine Corps’ Puʻuloa Range Training Facility (PRTF) in ‘Ewa Beach, Oʻahu.

Volunteers handed out free ice pops and brochures to beachgoers, while also canvassing nearby homes to share information and gather petition signatures from area residents.

Multiple testing efforts, including by the Surfrider Foundation, former Hawaiʻi Representative Rose Martinez’s office, and the U.S. Marine Corps itself, have found lead contamination exceeding environmental and health action levels - in some cases, by orders of magnitude - in the sand, fish, and homes surrounding PRTF.  Of particular concern is the spread of lead dust that is kicked up every time a bullet is shot into PRTF’s century-old, heavily contaminated impact berms, which is then carried by the wind over and into adjacent neighborhoods and the popular Puʻuloa Beach Park. Other lead migration pathways include erosion of the impact berms into the ocean, percolation of lead and other heavy metals into groundwater, and the sudden release of lead from a tsunami, flood, or other extreme weather event.  

Despite recent test results, and notwithstanding the Hawaiʻi Department of Health’s recommendation that further testing be done, the Marine Corps has refused to acknowledge any risk to the public, or to conduct any further testing for lead or other contaminants that may be spreading from PRTF.

Lead is considered extremely toxic, especially for infants, young children, and expecting mothers. Lead exposure can lead to organ damage, developmental delays, reproductive harms, and even cancer, among other illnesses. No amount of lead exposure is considered safe, and health effects can be irreversible.  

Also attending the awareness event was the current Hawai’i representative for ‘Ewa Beach, Representative Julie Reyes Oda, who in this last legislative session introduced and, with the help of community advocates, passed a resolution to address ongoing lead and other concerns with PRTF.  

House Concurrent Resolution 28 would continue the existence of a working group of government and community representatives tasked with addressing these concerns. This working group had been previously established in 2024, but for reasons unknown was not convened by Rep. Reyes Oda’s predecessor.  With growing public education and community engagement around the environmental and public health impacts of the PRTF, and with renewed support from Rep. Reyes Oda, there is hope that the working group will finally convene and take on the task of protecting ʻEwa Beach residents and visitors - including and particularly children and infants - from the potentially lifelong harms of lead toxicity.

For more information on the threats posed by PRTF, you can visit www.relocatepuuloarange.org, and watch this panel of experts convened by the Sierra Club late last year.  You can also add your name to this petition urging expedient action from the US Marine Corps, Hawaiʻi Governor Josh Green, M.D., Hawaiʻi Department of Health, and Hawaiʻi’s Congressional delegation here.