Board member Jon Osorio testifies at the PLDC hearing on Oahu
"My name is Jonathan Osorio. I am a professor of Hawaiian Studies at the University of Hawaiʻi Mānoa and board member of the KAHEA Hawaiian Environmental Alliance. KAHEA calls for the repeal of ACT 55 and believes that there are no rules that can alter the intent and eventual outcomes of this legislation.
Act 55 is designed to allow commercial interests to ignore territorial, state and local regulations that have been implemented since before Hawaiʻi was a state to protect our Islands forests, streams, oceans and beaches and more recently to concede Native Hawaiians unrelinquished claims to what this Act refers to as the public lands.
Rules notwithstanding, the Act will produce new opportunities for a taking of Ceded Lands, whether through outright sales and transfers or through long term leases that might just as well be sales. And Hawaiians will sue. In fact, I think that the ultimate product of Act 55 will be endless litigation and a deepening mistrust of a state government that cannot manage our resources or plan effectively for the future."
Mahalo to Pono Kealoha for the video footage