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.
City, State Let Garbage Dump on Waianae
From: Stewart
If Waianae residents want to stop people from treating their community like a garbage dump, they shouldn’t expect much from the City and County of Honolulu or the State of Hawaii. It took private citizens – namely a handful of KAHEA allies – to police the neighborhood and call attention to an illegal dump that appears to have been operating for years.
The latest reports of apparent illegal dumping in Waianae come less than a month after reports that Honolulu city workers had been dumping huge amounts of broken concrete in a stream in Waianae in violation of the federal Clean Water Act.
According to Will Hoover’s report in The Honolulu Advertiser, the more recent discovery was prompted by Lucy Gay, director of Continuing Education & Training at Leeward Community College in Wai’anae. Auntie Lucy, Hoover reported, learned about the landfill from a colleague who hiked the isolated area over the July Fourth weekend and stumbled across huge debris piles. Auntie Lucy joined Auntie Alice Greenwood and investigated the site on their own and contacted Carroll Cox of EnviroWatch. The three returned on Thursday, along with students from Leeward Community College.
Although the dump found by Auntie Lucy and Auntie Alice appears to be illegal, the City and County of Honolulu seems intent on taking more formal action to make Waianae the official trash heap of Oahu. Namely, the Honolulu Department of Planning and Permitting is drafting a new development plan for Waianae that will serve as the basis for zoning decisions in the area, and it seems Mayor Hannemann wants to let a landowner rezone some agriculture land into industrial land to allow for a garbage dump. The new plan will have to allow for this change.
The first battle will be before the City Council, which will need to approve the Mayor’s development plan. As with the illegal dump, citizens are going to have to step up. As recent history has shown, City Hall would just as well let Waianae get trashed.
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.
Support The Companies That Mālama Our ʻāina!
From Melissa:
These guys on Maui are dedicated to helping ensure the future health of our islands. From a bamboo construction company to a new recycling center, living in an environmentally-friendly fashion day-to-day has become more accessible to the average person on Maui than ever before.
Yellow Seed Bamboo Nursery
Check out the following article and support the companies who make it their mission to support our ʻāina!
Maui organizations promote environment throughout the year
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
Don't worry shorelines, help is on the way!
From Melissa:
Federal stimulus money will soon be used to put people to work restoring our shorelines and increasing coral reef health.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration will send more than $6 million in federal stimulus money to support two Hawaii projects dedicated to restoring shorelines.
On Oahu, NOAA announced today that The Nature Conservancy and Malama Maunalua’s invasive algae removal project will receive $3.4 million in federal stimulus money to create 73 new jobs and restore marine habitat in Maunalua Bay.
NOAA said it also will send $2.69 million in stimulus money to the Kohala Watershed Partnership as a coastal restoration grant to improve conditions at the Pelekane Bay watershed on the Big Island.
NOAA received $167 million in stimulus funding and today announced the selection of 50 high-priority projects that will support more than 5,000 jobs and help restore American shorelines.
To read the full article, click here.
