Mission

Our mission is to provide vital public engineering services in peace and war to strengthen our Nation's security, energize the economy, and reduce risks from disasters.

Vision

Our vision is to be a GREAT engineering force of highly disciplined people working with our partners, through disciplined thought and action, to deliver innovative and sustainable solutions to the Nation's engineering challenges.

Civil Works

Examples of our Civil Works projects are everywhere in Hawaii and in U.S. Territories in the Pacific, including Guam, American Samoa, Kwajalein and the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands. Many of our studies and projects are conducted under the Corps' Continuing Authorities Program.

	Navigation Improvement & Maintenance Projects Completed and planned coastal projects include the recently concluded improvements to Kawaihae Harbor on the Big Island of Hawaii, and ongoing plans to expand and make safer Maalaea Harbor on Maui. Both are small-boat harbors, vitally important to citizens of both islands.
	Ecosystem Restoration The Corps oversees the maintenance dredging of harbors throughout this region. When feasible, dredged material is used for beach replenishment. An example is the Sand Island shore protection project on Oahu where material dredged from the Honolulu Harbor was used to prevent additional beach erosion and expand the use of a public park in the area.
	Flood Damage Reduction Nothing could be more important to the saving of lives and property than flood control projects. Completed flood control projects include Kawainui Marsh on Oahu’s windward side and Alenaio Stream on the windward side of the Big Island near Hilo  give local citizens peace of mind and security.
	Storm & Hurricane Damage Reduction We conduct hurricane evacuation studies for Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Marianas Islands and other regions of the Pacific to ensure local governments have the information needed to prepare for hurricanes/typhoons and other potential natural disasters.

Military Programs

A major portion of the Honolulu District’s program is geared toward support of Army service members and their families. Our design and construction projects impact every aspect of their lives -- where they live and work and where they spend their off-duty time as well. Everything needed to support day-to-day training and lifestyles of military personnel and their families falls within our military program. The district also supports the other service components - Air Force, Marines, Reserves, and other remote installations.

Barracks and dormitories to provide quality living conditions has been a key element of our military support program, under the “Whole Barracks Renewal Program”, with a total cost well in excess of a billion dollars. These facilities provide single Soldiers greatly improved living space and more privacy. Additionally the Honolulu district has built world class dining facilities, headquarters facilities, company operations facilities, motorpools, training ranges, and a wide variety of facilities to provide the soldiers and combat units the highest quality facilities and capabilities to work, train and be best prepared for conflicts.

The District’s military program oversees design and construction of work-related projects such as command headquarters facilities, maintenance facilities, and airfield runways as well as child development centers, chapels, fitness centers, and education centers.

Work for Others - (Federal, State, Local, International)

A program that demonstrates the Honolulu District’s flexibility in providing engineering design and construction as needed is our support for others, or reimbursable program. We perform this work for other military commands, government agencies and even foreign governments. Generally we design and build the project or perform the service and then are reimbursed. However, since the Corps has virtually unlimited capabilities, the range of projects in this category is amazing. For example, the Honolulu District completed a $20 million telescope facility atop Haleakala, an extinct volcano on Maui that rises above 10,000 feet, for the Air Force and Phillips Laboratory. We also built a desalinization plant for the Republic of the Marshall Islands.

Perhaps, the greatest impact of the Corps’ services is on the lives of the people of remote island nations of the Pacific. For example, when the primary means of transportation is by water, a Corps harbor improvement project is vitally important for both safety and economic reasons.

Environmental Programs Branch

A large portion of this multi-faceted program consists of environmental engineering studies and services. Some of the work is strictly advisory while other parts may be attributable to standing national programs, such as the Defense Environmental Restoration Program or DERP. A major element of that program is the Formerly Used Defense Sites cleanup program or FUDS. The Honolulu District is the designated Department of Defense manager for FUDS cleanups throughout Hawaii and the Pacific region. The District has ongoing or recently concluded FUDS cleanups on the Big Island of Hawaii, Maui, Guam, Saipan and other parts of the Pacific. In addition, installation restoration projects include cleanup or removal of hazardous and toxic wastes, PCBs, asbestos and lead paint abatement, removal of underground storage tanks and range support to include explosive ordnance and chemical weapon cleanup and removal.

Our Environmental Quality expertise in the areas of endangered species, native habitats and historic preservation remains unmatched in the Pacific. Rapidly emerging changes in implementation of the plethora of laws and regulations makes for a challenging environment in which to operate for the Army, other Department of Defense components and local governments. The Honolulu District has been at the forefront of assisting others with their diverse environmental needs in this far-reaching geographical region, from Schofield Barracks on Oahu to Pohakuloa Military Reservation on the Big Island of Hawaii to Johnston Island to Kure Atoll to Palau.

We use innovative technologies to meet real-world considerations. We have the right personnel and techniques at our disposal for every job. That ranges from a PCB remediation project in Saipan which requires field installation of thermal desorption equipment to phytoremediation of heavy metals in dredge materials at Pearl Harbor using native plants and related micro-organisms to remediate the soil.

Honolulu District leverages its technical resources, and those of worldwide Corps of Engineers, by forming partnerships and alliances with research institutions, federal and state agencies and the private sector. All these efforts are undertaken with the common mission of advancing a thriving, economically secure, and environmentally conscious future for the state of Hawaii and the Asia-Pacific region through sustainable technologies, systems and services.

Regulatory

An unusual side to the Corps’ Civil Works mission is our regulatory role to control and protect the nation’s aquatic environment, particularly our rapidly disappearing wetlands. Two major federal laws -- one reaching all the way back to the turn of the century -- guide this program.

The Rivers and Harbors Act of 1899 was designed to help regulate activities that might impede interstate commerce. This legislation gave the Corps of Engineers regulatory authority over virtually any construction, excavation or fill activities that impacted navigable waters of the United States.

By 1970 it was generally understood that discharge of dredged and fill material into water bodies and wetlands during construction projects was seriously damaging our environment. Recognizing this, in 1972 Congress passed the Water Pollution Control Act, now known as the Clean Water Act. That legislation gave the Corps much broader authority to regulate dredge and fill activities in “waters of the United States” and their tributaries and adjacent wetlands. This added a preservation mission to go along with the Corps’ traditional safe-navigability role that was established by the Rivers and Harbors Act.

Since the 1970s, this mission has grown and evolved. Today the Corps of Engineers serves as an impartial decision-maker. The Corps’ permit decisions weigh the rights of the property owner and regulated public against the need to protect the aquatic environment with the goal of making timely, fair and reasonable decisions in the public interest.

In Hawaii environmental issues are of great interest and the Honolulu District evaluated about 300 permit issues each year under its regulatory program. A contributing factor is our state’s unique environment. Hawaii has only 2/10 of 1 percent of the United States’ total land area, but more than 25 percent of the entire nation’s endangered species.

Real Estate

The U.S. Army and the Air Force own or control thousands of acres of real estate in Hawaii and in U.S. territories in the Pacific. Our Real Estate program secures and disposes of this property when needed. Often it requires the negotiation of a long-term lease with local landowners. This is especially true in the real estate category of training areas. In Hawaii, the Army owns or leases parcels of land for training amounting to more than 156,000 acres, or 244 square miles. Recently, our real estate specialists negotiated the purchase of the 8,216-acre Kahuku Training Area, near the North Shore of Oahu for the Army. That acquisition assured an important training area would always be available for military units in Hawaii to maintain their combat readiness.

Emergency Response

The Emergency Management Division provides essential and superior contingency planning and response services throughout the Pacific and Continental US to support civil emergencies and military contingencies. For local disasters, the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) serves as the primary Federal agency for public works, also referred to as emergency support function #3, in support of the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the State and local governments. The Honolulu District also provides teams and individual personnel to support USACE National disaster response capabilities. In addition, the District provides a Forward Engineering Support Team-Advance and a Base Development Team to support USACE military contingency operations.