Blog
News, updates, finds, stories, and tidbits from staff and community members at KAHEA. Got something to share? Email us at: kahea-alliance@hawaii.rr.com.
- Keep streets, sidewalks, parking lots, and storm drains free of trash to prevent washing trash into the ocean and waterways.
- Take reusable items- and less trash and throw-away containers- to the beach.
- At the beach, be sure to recycle what you can and throw the rest of your trash into trash cans. Do not leave trash or anything else, like plastic toys or containers, at the beach when you leave.
- Pick up debris that other people have left; recycle what you can, and throw the rest away in a trash can.
- When fishing, take all of your nets, gear, and other materials back onshore to recycle or dispose of in a trash can.
- If you smoke, take your butts with you, disposing of them in a trash can.
- When boating, stow and secure all trash on the vessel.
- Participate in local clean-ups. Here’s one resource: http://www.adoptabeachhawaii.com/
- Reduce, reuse, recycle.
- Serve as an example to others.
- Authorize Department of Land and Natural Resources to issue long-term residential leases to Kahana residents;
- Establish planning councils to develop a park Master Plan; and
- Establish a 2-year moritorium on evictions of Kahana valley residents.
Got Input for the Army on its Environmental Investigations? Apply by August 14!
From: Andrea
U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii is soliciting community interest in creating a Restoration Advisory Board as part of the Military Munitions Response Program for two sites near the U.S. Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area. The motivation for the Restoration Advisory Board is to enable community participation in environmental issues on previously used military training sites.
Currently, the focus of the Restoration Advisory Board would be the remedial investigation of two response sites: the closed Humuula Sheep Station and the Kulani Boys’ Home.
The Board will be formed if enough community interest is expressed. The Board would be composed of community members, government representatives, and other stakeholders. The Board members would attend meetings and review and comment on plans and reports related to the investigation.
For more information or to request an application, contact:
Environmental Divison
MMRP Program Manager
Director of Public Works, USAG-HI
948 Santos Dumont Ave.
Building 105, 3rd Floor, WAAF
Schofield Barracks, HI 96857
Phone: 808-656-3109
Fax: 808-656-1039
*Applications must be postmarked or emailed by August 14!
32 Tons of Marine Litter Removed: Sadly, the Tip of the Iceberg
From: Andrea
The U.S. Coast Guard removed 32 tons of debris from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands over the Fourth of July weekend. Much thanks to the Coast Guard for ameliorating the health of our oceans! See the Honolulu Advertiser article:
While I am glad that efforts to clean up marine litter are taking place, especially in such an irreplaceable, nationally protected locale, 32 tons is only the tip of the iceberg. The scale of this problem is vast. Marine litter filling our oceans is a global problem affecting all people and nations. Marine litter, of which 80% are plastics, harms marine life, degrades human health, and results in tremendous social, economic, and cultural costs.
The United Nations Environment Programme recognizes this immense ocean dilemma that affects everyone. In April 2009, the UN Environment Programme released a report titled “Marine Litter: A Global Challenge.” Find the report at:
http://www.unep.org/pdf/UNEP_Marine_Litter-A_Global_Challenge.pdf
“There is an increasingly urgent need to approach the issue of marine litter through better enforcement of laws and regulations, expanded outreach and educational campaigns, and the employment of strong economic instruments and incentives,” the report says.
The report also notes that the “overall situation is not improving.” Thank you, Coast Guard, for your part. But, we must do our part, too.
What can you do to help reduce marine litter?
More Like Department of Health-Right-to-Know Act
From: Andrea
Sparked by curiosity about the legal procedure for chemical spills and releases, I have been researching the Hawaii Emergency Planning and Community-Right-to-Know Act. After days picking apart the details of this Act and related regulations, I am left to wonder where I may find the “Community-Right-to-Know” aspect.
It seems like it should be called Department of Health-Right-to-Know. Nowhere in this Act is there a mandate for notifying the public when there is a chemical release or spill. Facilities that store hazardous and extremely hazardous substances over a threshold amount are bound to report their chemical inventory and releases or spills to the Department. But, what about notifying the public of this danger?
As discovered by a call to the Hawaii Office of Hazard Evaluation and Emergency Response, the Department of Health is not bound to notify the public. The Department decides, within its discretion, whether to notify the public through a general statement about a chemical release in the community.
When I started researching this law, I expected to find public notification requirements about what hazardous substances are present in the community and when they are accidentally released. The only public right-to-know is the ability to request records on particular facilities from the Department of Health. But, this policy does not truly inform the community because members of the public must know exactly what they are looking for in order to request that information.
If the apparent goal of the Act is the community’s right-to-know about the presence and release of hazardous substances within the community, there should be a provision binding the Department of Health to notify the public. In other words, the Department should make records on these hazardous substances more accessible to the public, actually informing the community in a meaningful way.
As it stands now, the Hawaii Emergency Planning and Community-Right-to-Know Act requires notifying the Department, but there is an essential step missing in the process: notifying the public, rather than requiring the public to specifically request information that is not generally public knowledge. The onus should be on the Department, the information-bearing party, not the public.
HB 1522: Kahana Residents Still Fighting to Retain Their Homes
From: Andrea
Kahana residents have not ceased their tireless fight to stay in their homes. Since their homeland was condemned as a state park in the ’60s, the people of Kahana have had to battle the State of Hawaii to stay in their homes.
And, now, after the State found illegal the law passed in ’93 to allow long-term leases for pre-existing residents in Kahana State Park, legislation has been proposed to ameliorate this unsettling situation for now.
House Bill 1552 presented Kahana residents an interim solution from being forced to leave their homes. Public process gave them a way to voice their interests within the decision-making arena. Reflecting Kahana residents’ input, the bill would help Kahana residents in the following ways:
But, now, Governor Lingle has voiced her intent to veto the bill, apparently under the guise of prohibiting illegal activities in Kahana. If that’s the case, go after the illegal activities as the government would do so anywhere else! The State should not perpetuate the suffering of long-time Kahana residents who are not participating in illegal activities because some residents are breaking the law there.
Want to support Kahana residents in their fight to protect their homes?
Oppose Governor Lingle’s intent to veto HB 1522:
Wednesday, July 8, 11 a.m.
Demonstration at the State Capitol
TMT on Mauna Kea Public Hearing- You Can't Sell Us TMT with Turkey Rolls
From Melissa:
Walking into the Farrington High School cafeteria for the Mauna Kea Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) hearing for the draft EIS, was like walking into a world of glossy posters and seductive color schemes. TMT staff were present in great numbers, anxiously awaiting questions from the 
community. More of a sales pitch at the beginning than a hearing, the TMT guys tried to entice the crowd with turkey rolls, brownie bites and promises of community benefit and higher education packages that sound more beneficial to the community than what they really offer.
From cultural education programs for the employees of TMT to a zero discharge wastewater plan for the facility, the mitigation measures brought forth did not seem to address the legitimate concerns of the Hawaiian people. Mitigation measures for the decimation of a cultural site of extreme importance, not to mention the irreparable damage the TMT would cause to the environment, were not attended to because these two issues are inevitable and irreversible.
The oral testimonies given were fairly balanced between support and opposition. Those in favor of the TMT went first, followed by those in opposition. TMT supporters mainly argued that the monetary packages offered to the community would be a godsend, and that Hawaii should be on the forefront of astronomical advances.
Our Program Director, Marti (who blew us away) and those in opposition brought up several interesting and valid points. The main issues brought up were that a federal EIS is required because TMT is funded by federal money, a permit for TMT will not be issued as it is in a conservation district, TMT doesn’t show a comprehensive management plan, the Board of Land and Natural Resources should be reviewing the EIS because TMT would be in a conservation district, students shouldn’t have to give up a cultural site just to receive chump change (education package), and the fact that the site has great environmental and cultural significance.
Overall, the hearing was informative, and those in opposition got to voice their opinion to the people that are carrying out the project, who are fully aware their work will devastate the land and decimate a culturally significant site. Whether or not TMT will actually be built is not yet known (our fingers crossed are it will fall through).
To learn more about this issue please visit the following site:
If you wish to voice your opinion, please click on the following link to submit testimony:
Defend Mauna Kea’s Last Pristine Plateau
Shrug it off or contemplate security on the ground level?
From: Andrea
The article says Hawaiians are shrugging off the North Korean missile threat.
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/06/23/us/23hawaii.html?ref=americas
After all, Hawaiians are accustomed to the various threats and dangers of inhabiting the Planet’s most isolated archipelago. We are out here far from quick and convenient aid from the mainland.
But, perhaps, this threat should be an opportunity to reconsider how secure and independent Hawaii truly is, out here in the middle of the Pacific. While it may not be time to start worrying about missiles and the universe of possible terroristic threats, which may be unstoppable on a community level, the time is ripe to consider security the people of Hawaii can control.
For instance, food security is something as tangible as dirt in your hands and food in your belly. Obvious to everyone who buys groceries around here, a huge amount of food sold in stores is imported, reflected by the price. The exact percentage of imported food may be debatable, but the need for more food production here in Hawaii is undebatable.
What’s an easy way to improve food security here in Hawaii? Support local farmers markets! For instance:
Kapiolani Community College Farmers Market
4303 Diamond Head Road
Honolulu, HI 96805
Saturdays, 7:30 a.m. – 11 a.m.
For more info, see:
The EPA Just Doin' Their Job...
From Melissa:
The Environmental Protection Agency gets on the Department of Transportation’s Harbor division to clean up their act. It’s a start, thanks guys.
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency said today it recently ordered the state Department of Transportation’s Harbors Division to comply with federal Clean Water Act stormwater regulations at Honolulu and Kalaeloa-Barbers Point Harbors.
Fuel, oil and debris carried by stormwater from the Harbors Division and tenant facilities discharge directly into harbor waters and through municipal storm drains running to harbor waters.
To read the full article click here
