A Rock in the Crosshairs

Kaʻula Island—an uninhabited (by humans), crescent-shaped volcanic outcrop roughly 20 miles southwest of Niʻihau—is a place most Americans have never heard of. But for the U.S. Navy, it’s been a bullseye since 1952. Once home to a lighthouse and now designated as a state seabird sanctuary, Kaʻula has been pummeled by bombs for over 70 years. The Navy is now proposing to more than double the number of inert bombing and gunnery exercises on the island, from 12 to 31 and 14 to 24 per year, respectively.

This is not a tale of live-fire warfare—these are inert bombs, cold steel dropped from the sky. But the impact is far from harmless. The island is littered with twisted pieces of ordnance, and the surrounding waters are off-limits to the public within a

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