Constitutional Convention

In November, the voters will be asked if there should be a Constitutional Convention.

This will be an important and far reaching vote.

This website has been set up to aide in the discussion.

http://www.hawaiiconcon.org/

Critical Habitat Designation Hawaiian picture-wing flies

Aloha, everyone! The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is holding
public hearings and taking public comments on the revised
proposed critical habitat for 12 threatened and endangered
Hawaiian picture-wing fly species. Copies of the proposed
critical habitat rule are at http://www.fws.gov/pacificislands/.
For more information, contact Patrick Leonard at the U.S. Fish
and Wildlife Service in Honolulu: 792-9400 or fax 792-9581

Please testify at the public hearing on April 8 (Hilo) or April
10 (Honolulu), and submit written comments by April 25, 2008.
Support the revised and expanded critical habitat designation
for threatened and endangered Hawaiian picture-wing flies.
Oppose the exclusion of military lands on O’ahu from the
proposed critical habitat. (See Talking Points below.) Sorry for
the short notice. Mahalo nui!

Public Hearings

Tuesday, April 8 Hilo Hawaiian Hotel, Mala ‘Ikena Room, 71
Banyan Drive in Hilo, 5-6:30 pm informational session; 7-8:30 pm
public hearing

Thursday, April 10 Queen Kapi'olani Hotel, Queen's Room, 2nd
Floor, 150 Kapahulu Avenue, 5-6:30 pm informational session;
7-8:30 pm public hearing

Written Comments

Please submit written comments by April 25, 2008

* Via email and the Federal eRulemaking Portal at
http://www.regulations.gov (follow instructions for submitting
comments)

* Via snail mail to Public Comments Processing Attn: RIN
1018-AU93 Division of Policy and Directives Management U.S.
Fish and Wildlife Service 4401 N Fairfax Dr., Ste. 222
Arlington, VA 22203

Talking Points

* Support the increased critical habitat for the Hawaiian
picture-wing flies.

* Oppose exclusion of military land in proposed critical habitat
designation.

* The military should be held to the same standards as other
federal agencies.

* All federal agencies have a mandatory duty to conserve
endangered species.

* Live-fire training, maneuvers, and control burns threaten
endangered species and their habitat.

* There is no guarantee that the Integrated Natural Resource
Management Plan (INRMP) for O’ahu Army land will be funded
adequately or permanently and therefore benefit the endangered
picture-wings specifically.

* Ask the Fish and Wildlife Service to provide information on
the occurrence of picture wings and the plants they need to
survive on Army lands.

* Ask the Fish and Wildlife Service to provide information
supporting its finding that the INRMP will benefit the
endangered picture-wings and that the exclusion of Army land
from the critical habitat designation is justified.

Background

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service currently seeks public
comment on a revised proposal for critical habitat for 12
species of threatened and endangered picture-wing flies in
Hawai’i. Critical habitat is defined as areas that are necessary
to recover the species and which may require special management
or protection.

Some critical habitat for the endangered picture-wings is on
military land on O’ahu. Yet, in 2004, the military received a
special exemption from the federal Endangered Species Act and,
in particular, from critical habitat designation. The result in
this case is that Army lands in the Mount Ka’ala and
Lihu’e/Schofield Barracks area on O’ahu are excluded from the
proposed critical habitat. Military live-fire training,
maneuvers, control burns, and other related activities are among
the biggest threats to endangered Hawaiian species and their
habitat.

Interesting Facts

Picture-wing flies are endangered and unique to Hawai’i. Some
species are found in one valley or mountain. They are considered
to be a wonder of evolution.

As endangered species they require the protection of critical
habitat to help ensure their recovery. This means restricting
activities that may harm the survival of the species and
activities that would destroy or adversely modify critical
habitat.

Julie MacDonald, the ex-Deputy Secretary of Interior for the
FWS, was a pro-industry official, with no real conservation
background, who actually tampered with the findings and
interfered with scientists’ recommendations resulting in easing
environmental protection for endangered species. MacDonald was
forced to resign in disgrace after an investigation exposed the
extent of her abuses.

Several proposed critical habitat designations around the
country are being reevaluated in light of the MacDonald matter,
including the proposal for the Hawaiian picture-wings. The
initial proposed critical habitat for the flies was an
arbitrarily chosen mere 18 acres. The revised proposed critical
habitat is for 9,238 acres!

Two species of these endangered picture-wings are found on
military-occupied lands on O’ahu. But in 2004 the military got a
special exemption from critical habitat designations if it has
an Integrated Natural Resource Management Plan (INRMP) that
benefits the species for which critical habitat is being
proposed.

Critical habitat for the picture-wings on Army lands in the Mt.
Ka’ala-Lihu’e/Schofield Barracks area on O’ahu is excluded from
the proposed critical habitat designation because the Army has
an INRMP for O’ahu. However, the mere existence of an INRMP does
ensure species recovery. Adequate funding, adequate staff, and
political will are essential to species recovery. We do not
support Congress’s broad military exemption from critical
habitat designation.

From: Marjorie Zigler, Conservation Council for Hawaii.

Ho'opili community

The public has until Friday to weigh in on the draft report for the proposed Ho'opili community on what's now 1,555 acres of active farm land in the heart of West O'ahu.


With up to 11,750 homes, Ho'opili would carve out a community the size of Mililani or Hawai'i Kai bordered by Waipahu to the east, 'Ewa to the south, Kapolei to the west and Makakilo and Kunia to the north.

Critics point to an already congested travel corridor that they believe will only get worse as other developers continue to fill in new homes in booming communities surrounding Ho'opili. They also decry the notion of displacing Aloun Farms and other farmers from what the state Department of Agriculture has defined as prime farming lands.

Leave your comments here and contact:
D.R. Horton-Schuler Division
828 Fort Street Mall, Ste 4
Honolulu, HI 96813

(808) 521-5661
www.drhortonhawaii.com

Alien Species - Imported sand

This weekend there was a 455 foot ship, the CASTLE PEAK from Hong Kong that arrived in Kawaihae. This ship was filled with raw sand from China. This sand was just off loaded in piles from the five giant holds of the ship and placed on the pier of Kawaihae. This is the third shipload of sand brought to Kawaihae. South East Asia is loaded with sea snakes, land snakes, tarantulas, and other organisms, and micro organisms that can severely effect our delicate Hawaiian existence. In the transport from China the ship is like an incubator for snake eggs, bacteria and animals. On the pier at Kawaihae there did not appear to be anybody monitoring if snakes got away, spiders, tarantulas and a myriad of other possible invasive contaminants. In Kohala there is the question of why the corals in Kohala are dying. Could this be a problem. Importation of this sand should be prohibited!!!! Mahalo for your reading this. Please help protect these Islands from invasive species.

Ha'iku Valley cultural park

Posted on: Thursday, February 7, 2008
Bills call for Ha'iku Valley cultural park

• Legislature 2008


By Eloise Aguiar
Advertiser Windward O'ahu Writer



The future of Ha'iku Valley, with its Hawaiian and military historical sites, is before the state Legislature this week with lawmakers considering a bill to create a cultural preserve and education center there.

The House Water, Land, Ocean Resources and Hawaiian Affairs Committee voted 8-0 yesterday to advance House Bill 2704. Three Senate committees will discuss the companion Senate Bill 2727 at 2:45 p.m. tomorrow in Conference Room 414.

The bills call for establishing a commission that would set policy for and have oversight of a Ha'iku Valley Cultural Preserve.

The measures have widespread community support, said Rep. Ken Ito, D-48th (Kane'ohe), who heads the Water, Land, Ocean Resources and Hawaiian Affairs Committee.

"This cultural preserve will really enhance Kane'ohe and protect traditional cultural landscapes," Ito said, adding that the area has a high potential for educational purposes. "It's going to be a treasure for the Windward side."

The valley has cultural and historic importance to Native Hawaiians and is renowned for its archaeological sites, according to the bills. But the valley's ownership is split among several entities, which places the resources at high risk.

"Preserving the valley's cultural and historic resources and educating the public about these resources are of paramount importance," the bills say.

Tucked up against the slopes of the Ko'olau Range in Kane'ohe, the site was home to a military radio station from 1942 until 1997 and is known to have taro lo'i, a heiau and burial sites. Native and endangered species are also present.

Recent history there has been tied up in controversy over the Ha'iku Stairs, a 3,922-foot metal stepladder to the top of the Ko'olau Range. The ladder was repaired in 2003 by the city for public use.

Before the city could open it, as many as 200 trespassers a day would reach the area through neighboring properties, clogging streets with parked cars, littering, and arguing with residents.

Some residents think the city, which has jurisdiction over the stairs, will dismantle the bottom segments of the stairs.

City spokesman Bill Brennan was unable to verify that, but said the city has security at the stairs to keep people from climbing it.

Mahealani Cypher, a member of the Ko'olaupoko Hawaiian Civic Club and the Ko'olau Foundation, said if the stairs are dismantled, neighbors would be less likely to oppose the reserve. A charter school has leased some of the old facilities and a farmer is growing crops there, Cypher said. The community, civic club and the foundation have created a plan calling for a passive park and education center that would offer programs, she said.

The bills are part of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs legislative package and the agency has agreed to work with the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, which owns much of the land in the valley, and Kamehameha Schools to secure an access that would be acceptable to neighbors, Cypher said.

"All of those different entities have to come together plus the Legislature has to support it, plus the governor has to agree to cut a couple million out of her North Shore acquisition to allow Kane'ohe to have a little piece of the action," she said. "It's a work in progress."

Residents, Naval Radio Station personnel and community leaders have called for the area's preservation for more than 20 years, said John Flanigan, a member of the Friends of Ha'iku Stairs. The Friends have not taken a stance on the bills but Flanigan said he supports them and so does former Navy radio operator, David Jessup, who has a Web site documenting his stay there at www.davewjessup.smugmug.com. "We're big on the military history and (Cypher's) people are big on the Hawaiian history, when you put those two things together, it's a no-brainer that it ought to be developed into a passive park," Flanigan said.

Federal Budget

WASHINGTON — President Bush yesterday submitted a $3.1 trillion budget for the next fiscal year that reflected his strategy for dealing with a costly war and a troubled economy: substantially boost military expenditures, rein in domestic spending - including for Medicare - and more than double the deficit.

Comment: It is the neo-con strategy is to bankrupt the country so the Federal Government can no longer pay for social programs they oppose. You are seeing their stratedgy pay off with the current cuts in medicare.

The budget proposal is a blue print for depression, inflation and a crashing dollar. How can you have depression and inflation at the same time? Wait and see.

Public Campaign Financing

The question is how do you get legislators who truely represent the public when they have to raise big money from special interests. One solution is provide public funding for candidates running for office.

Like so much in politics, the issue of publicly financed campaigns may finally come down to money.

Supporters of publicly financed elections are looking to the Big Island, hoping County Council members there and the county's lobbyist will lead the effort at the state Legislature this year to establish a system of publicly financed elections for that island's nine council races.

The Big Island council last month became the first elected body in Hawai'i to volunteer to try out the proposed new system, a step that could lead to Hawai'i's first fully publicly funded campaigns there in 2010.

The plan is to provide enough public funding to each qualifying council candidate to run a credible campaign without accepting any campaign contributions from special interests. To qualify for public funding, each candidate would have to collect a signature and a $5 donation from 200 registered voters.

The plan has some popular appeal, but Campaign Spending Commission Executive Director Barbara Wong offers some sobering cost calculations: If 50 candidates qualify for public funding in the council primary election, the primary alone would cost about $1 million.

How many people would want to run if they can use someone elses money rather than their own? How do you limit whose campaign will pay for to only viable candidates. One way would require a larger contribution from more registered voters.

Don't dismiss public campaign financing as just another impractical and expensive idea.

Public Campaign Financing may be the only way we will be able to get the big money lobbiests out of government and bring our government back to the people.

The question truely is money. How much are we willing to pay to have our government leaders accountable to us rather than to Big Business?

Water Use in Hawaii

WAILUKU, Maui — Steve Holaday, the former manager of Maui's last sugar plantation, testified at Thursday's session of the Na Wai Eha contested case that more is involved than allocated water from four West Maui watersheds, The Maui News reported.

"My fear is that no matter what happens here, it's going to be the triggering event for what happens to use in East Maui, and the triggering event for the rest of the state. This is the tip of the iceberg," he said.

The result, Holaday said, could be the collapse of agriculture throughout the Islands.

This came on direct examination by Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar Co. attorney David Schulmeister, who was trying to show the effects on the 36,000-acre sugar plantation if water from the four streams in West Maui known as Na Wai Eha are redirected away from sugar.

At the end of 90 minutes, Schulmeister asked Holaday, "Is there anything else you would like to tell Dr. (Lawrence) Miike?," the hearings officer.

"Not without getting tears in my eyes," Holaday said.

HC&S draws as much as 30 million gallons a day from Na Wai Eha — the Waihe'e, Waiehu, 'Iao and Waikapu streams. It gets as much as 300 million gallons a day from the East Maui Irrigation system, which taps watersheds from Ha'iku to Nahiku under permits from the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

Hui O Na Wai Eha and Maui Tomorrow Foundation have petitioned the state Commission on Water Resource Management to set permanent instream flow standards for the Na Wai Eha streams that would reduce the amount now diverted to the plantation irrigation systems.

Bicycle Safety Resolution

Having ridden bicycles as a primary mode of transportation for at least 10 years, having been forced of the road many times and nearly killed twice this is a subject that is important to me. I suggest you get as many people as possible to send a version modified for your local situation to your local legislators. There is still time to for your legislators to submit resolutions.

Bicycle Safety Resolution
Kaneohe Neighborhood Board No. 30
WHEREAS, the voters passed City Charter Amendment 8 by approximately 77% in the 2006 general election asking the city to make Honolulu a pedestrian and bicycle-friendly city, and
WHEREAS, there are a large number of bicyclists that ride through the Kaneohe neighborhood and surrounding area, and
WHEREAS, many of the roads used by bicyclists and residents are poorly maintained, and
WHEREAS, it is the duty of the state and county to ensure that the roads and paths that are marked as bike routes are safe and well maintained, and
WHEREAS, there has been an increase in area traffic in the Kaneohe neighborhood and the surrounding communities bringing a greater chance of accidents with bicyclists occurring, and
WHEREAS, it is in the best interest of the City and County of Honolulu and State of Hawaii to encourage people to exercise, especially children, and
WHEREAS, the year-round good weather makes it possible to commute to work and school by bicycle, thus decreasing the number of cars on the road, and
WHEREAS, the Koolaupoko Sustainable Communities Plan states that one of the planning principles is to “encourage . . . bicycle travel, particularly to reach neighborhood destinations such as schools, parks, and convenience stores,” therefore
BE IT RESOLVED, that the Kaneohe Neighborhood Board asks the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu and its relevant Departments and the State of Hawaii’s Department of Transportation to improve conditions for bicyclists by:

1. Developing new bike paths, routes or bikeways in all communities.
2. Maintaining and improving all existing bike lanes, routes and paths.
3. Placing bike racks in all city, county and state parks.
4. Implementing procedures for the safe placement of residential garbage receptacles and temporary construction signs and equipment so as not to intrude in bike lanes.
5. Enforcing existing parking regulations.
6. Restriping, painting and cleaning the existing bike lanes and routes on all major streets and roads.
7. Regularly trimming trees, bushes and grass and clearing sand and gravel that encroach on bike lanes and shoulders along all major streets and roads.
8. Including input from the bicycling community on ways to improve safety for bicyclists during construction projects and the final design.
9. Maintaining and not paving over traffic sensor loops at intersections in order to allow bicyclists to easily trigger a change in signal lights.
10. Including additional bicycle safety questions in the state driver’s license exam.
11. Continuing funding for the Hawaii Bicycling League’s BikeEd program, which has been educating fourth grade students how to ride bicycles safely since 1988.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that copies of this Bicycle Safety Resolution be transmitted to: the Governor of the State of Hawaii, State of Hawaii Department of Transportation, Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, City Council members, the City Department of Transportation Services, Department of Planning and Permitting, Department of Parks and Recreation, Department of Facilities Maintenance, all Neighborhood Boards, Hawaii Bicycling League, Senators Hee and Tokuda, and Representatives Chong and Ito.

Keana Point

Nothing is ever simple. Fisherman access to Kaena Point is the downside of trying to protect the area from off road vehicles that have been tearing up the area for years. What is at stake? Both Hawaiian graves and endangered plants and birds are being run over and distrode by irresponsible off roading.

Off road vehicles have been largely ignore, but recently DOCARE has been issueing tickets to trespassers both off road vehicles and fisherman vehicles.

Carol Cox has a detailed and fairly balanced article at:

http://www.envirowatch.org/KaenaPT.htm

What he didn't cover and what has ulua fishermen even more upset than vehicle access is that if they set up a bed for the kids with a mosquito net over it they are being sited for camping and removed from the beach. Seems like an unreasonable interpretation of the camping regulations, but what's new in a buracracy?

The proposal to fence the extreme end of Kaena Point to protect birds and endangered plants from preditors will exclude fishermen's vehicles. They are going to have to pack their gear in if they want to fish.

Kaena point represents some of Hawaii's most fragile ecosystems. In the controversy between fishermen access and protecting the birds, I side with the birds but expect strong opposition to the fencing project.

Ka Iwi Ridge

For Opponents of Development on East Oahu's Ka Iwi Ridge,
There Isn't Much Good News By Rep. Gene Ward, 1/19/2008
4:03:46 PM

Due to the confusion created by missed communications
between the developer's attorney William McCorriston and the
Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board members and a 60-day rule, the
Hawaii Kai Neighborhood Board was forced to call an emergency
meeting on Jan. 8, 2008, instead of the normal meeting
scheduled for January 29th to hear about the cabins proposals
on the Ka Iwi Coast.

The meeting started off with a briefing and a sour note by
Mr. McCorriston, lawyer and spokesman for QRM LLC, who said
upfront, "The cabins are not located on Ka Iwi, if so, Aina
Haina is also on the coast."

While his definition was quickly disputed his ensuing
comments cut to the chase: "QRM does not intend to go away,"
suggesting this was going to be a long and protracted affair.
The options? "You either buy out my client, or let him build
the cabins, or we'll sue you and keep this in court," is the
best summary and paraphrase of the gist of the entire meeting.

For the entire article see:

http://www.hawaiireporter.com/story.aspx?32057de2-c7fe-444c-aadc-3d6f2ae54781

Then tell us what you think

Changes to EIS trigger

Interpretation of the recently passed legislation to permit Super Ferry operation without an EIS requires an project that fronts on a state or county road to do an EIS.

It is causing a major burden on small projects. On the other hand, patching the EIS law with a band aide may also have unintended consequences.

This article in the Advertiser outlines the problem pretty well and interview people on both sides of the issue.

http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080120/NEWS02/801200357/1001/

I cannot post it because of copyright issues so take a look at it and let us know what you think. It is a complicated and potentially damaging issue. I'm always leary when an administration want to push through a "fix" without adequate discussion.

Governor Lingle has created a major mess when she circumvented EIS requirements for the super ferry. Also, she refused 2 years ago to release funds for a study of the EIS requirement. Neocons in the Bush administration have done all they can to gut the federal EIS law. Looks like Lingle is in step with the national.

No one intended that an EIS be triggered simply because a project fronts on a publick road, but what are the consequences of a quick fix?