Tor Ohnson | USFWS
Protect Kalama (Johnston Atoll) from U.S. Military Cargo Rocket Testing
The U.S. military announced plans to construct and operate rocket cargo landing pads at Kalama (Johnston Atoll)—an ecologically and culturally significant area protected within the Pacific Islands Heritage Marine National Monument (PIHMNM) and a National Wildlife Refuge.
These waters tell the stories of our ancestors and connect us to our cultural heritage and cousins across the Pacific. Johnston Atoll, given the Hawaiian name Kalama, acts as a stepping stone of connectivity for marine life–including fishes, corals, and other organisms–bridging the main Hawaiian Islands and Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument, with the broader tropical Pacific, including the Marshall Islands and Kiribati.
Despite Kalama’s status as a protected area, the U.S. military plans to begin testing as soon as 2025 after releasing only a limited Environmental Assessment (EA) and Finding of No Significant Impact (FONSI) with a 30-day public comment period expected this April.
The construction and operation of commercial rockets pose significant risks from habitat destruction, contaminants, debris, noise, and potential catastrophic landings in a protected area. The Pacific is not a dumping ground or a place for high-risk activity threatening our ocean, communities, and cultural heritage.
The Pacific Islands Heritage Coalition strongly opposes this reckless plan and calls for the U.S. military to halt the project and conduct a full Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) to assess the risks to Kalama and this significant area.
Take Action Now
This toolkit provides key messages, sample posts, and ways to take action, including signing this petition to share your voice.
✔️ Sign and share the petition with your networks
✔️ Post on social media using our sample messages & hashtags.
✔️ Share this toolkit with your networks.
✔️ Submit a public comment when the Draft EA is released later this April.
Why Kalama Matters
Wildlife Refuge
Kalama is a habitat for nearly 1.5 million seabirds of 15 different species, and is home to the world’s largest known nesting population of red-tailed tropicbirds. Its surrounding waters contain more than 300 species of fish – including at least one endemic species found nowhere else on Earth – and a coral reef spanning 32,000 acres. The area is a habitat for dolphins, apex predators like tiger sharks, and threatened and endangered wildlife, including the green sea turtle and Hawaiian monk seals.
Invaluable Cultural Heritage
The area has invaluable cultural and spiritual significance, including for Indigenous Pacific Islanders’ cross-oceanic migration and voyaging traditions. Yet, the island has endured nearly a century of military control, including nuclear testing, toxic chemical munitions stockpiling, and hazardous waste incineration.
History of Harm
For nearly a century, Kalama has been controlled by the US Armed Forces and has endured the destructive practices of coral dredging and filling, atmospheric nuclear testing, and stockpiling and incineration of toxic chemical munitions, including over two million tons of Agent Orange. The area needs to heal, but instead, the military is choosing to cause more irreversible harm. Enough is enough.
Dangerous Testing Record and Risks
Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which has been identified as a potential defense contractor for this project, has experienced various catastrophic rocket failures, including explosive incidents as recently as January and March 2025. These explosions disrupted commercial flights and rained hazardous space debris—risks that will cause irreversible damage to this habitat and its species. Further, the proposed rocket testing is dangerously close to buried radioactive plutonium-contaminated soil from failed nuclear testing that could jeopardize the health of marine life and human health in the Pacific.