Environmental Caucus

of the Democratic Party of Hawaii

Newsletter 1/15/2013
FOOD AND FARM SUSTAINABLE COMMITTEE: Juania Kawamoto, Chair
1.continue to support establishment of school garden farms and training of garden educators -encourage the use of STEM system materials and techniques. TheNational Association of Agricultural Educatorspromotes STEM education through its advocacy and programsspecicallyrelated to teaching the science of agriculture. The Association organizes the National Agriscience Teacher of the Year Award, which recognizes teachers who have inspired and enlightened their students through engaging and interactive lessons in the science of agriculture. The NAAE also provides a number of other resources for agriscience educators, including online professional development tools for Agriscience teachers. 2. Continue work to resolve long-term ag lease for small farms. This goal was modiedthis year to reect our focus on community concerns and values including environmental impacts 3. We are adding this year labeling of GMO foods sold to consumers. The public has the right to know what they are eating. 4.Investigate and follow activities the Agricultural Development Corp. The ADC needs to shift its focus from strictly Big Ag to include encouraging small family farms and implement a program to provide small farmers long term leases. A management audit is needed because as it stands now, anything goes - they are also exempt from public auction. 5. Food safety is currently a major issue because inspectors have to be imported from the mainland. The cost is prohibitive to small farmers.

ENERGY AND CLIMATE CHANGE COMMITTEE: Mike DeWert, Chair

1. bike safety is improving with the passage of the vunerable user bill in 2012. It is now amisdemenor for a driver to kill or injure a vulnerable user dened as apedestrian, someone in a wheel chair, a road worker or a bicyclist. A comprehensive program for complete streets, streets that are people friendly as well as vehicle friendly. The DOT must be required to include provision for pedestrians and bicyclists in their transportation planning. barrel tax should be used correctly 2. Place emphasis on smart grid technology that will enable HEI to accept power from diverse sources. HEI should be broken up so that they are responsible for distribution and power production can be enabled in as many sources as possible. Power should be produced as close to the user as possible. Hawaii needs to developways to storepower from wind and solar sources. HEI needs to receive 80% of its power from rm sources that can be relied on. Storage is needed in order to make solar more effective we have seen wind energy project being exempted but these dont make economic sense

3. We will resist the assault on solar tax credits and work to fairly distribute tax credits to all alternate energy sources. Also, we recognize that what are currently being called abuses of the solar tax credits needs to be studied and if solar tax credits are being abused such abuse must be corrected. One of our members who is an alternate energy specialist analyzed the relative economic value of wind vssolarenergy. His analysis shows that we can install solar power on every roof on Oahu far more economical than the proposedwind farmsand cabletransmission system from Molokai and Lanai.

NATURAL RESOURCE SUBCOMMITTEE: Bill Sager, Chair

The two top priorities identified by the natural resources subcommittee are: 1. Invasive species, support for control programs. 2. Opposition to legislation authorizing government projects to excempt Government projects from the bidding process, severely limit citizen over site and exempt project from permitting requirements. Also, we advocate for a telework bill that will help minimize traffic. Permitting exemptions The recent approval of a 650 foot high-rise in Kakaako is an example of what can happen when Government projects advance without public knowledge. While 40 development oriented organizations where consulted, the community developed master plan was ignored and no local environmental or cultural organizations where consulted. Read more: http://www.kitv.com/news/hawaii/Forest-City-wins-bid-to-develop-Kakaakohigh-rise/-/8905354/17778684/-/xt0riqz/-/index.html#ixzz2HoqYBgqk The HCDA is one of the organization created to facilitate development of State land. The HCDA is exempt from many of our bidding and zoning requirements. The Public Land Development Corporation, and organization authorized by Act55-11, has even more onerous exemptions. The combination of the ability to conduct back-room negotiations, the exemption from all state and county land use laws, and the mandate to provide accommodations for emerging international tourism markets are unique to the PLDC. This law gives the state the ability to ramrod projects through that will increase tourism at a pace we havent seen since the wave of Japanese investment in the 1980-90s. Many people are working to develop Rules which will guide the PLDC activities. But the bottom line is only the law can truly define what the PLDC can do. If Act 55 cannot be repealed, it should be amended to require the PLDC to abide by state permitting and zoning requirements, be transparent in all negotiation and provide for full public involvement in the planning process. Invasive Species Your chair attended a hearing conducted by the Senate Energy and Environment Committee.(ENE) The Committee heard testimony from the DLNR, DOH and DOA and from all the Watershed Partnerships and Invasive Species Committees. The theme that ran through all the testimony is that they are overwhelmed by the enormity of their mission, that their staffs have been decimated by budget cuts, that they need bio-secure facilities to inspect incoming cargo and they need dedicated funding that will assure they can do an effective job. Several organization pointed out that even with their skelton staff, they intercepted several dangerous invasive species, but that they also had several bad guys slip through. When that happens emergency response teams must be available to take aggressive action to eradicate incipient infestations. Most people do not recognize the threats invasive species pose to our islands. Mosquitoes can bring tropical diseases with a major impact on both public health and on tourism. Organisms that affect our farm crops can cost millions of dollars to control and invasive plants that like strawberry guava can destroy our native forest

with devastating impact on our watersheds. We cannot tolerate a program that provides to little to late. An affective program to prevent and control invasive species introductions is essential to the quality of life in Hawaii.

Nearshore Aquatic Resources Sub Committee of the Natural Resource Committee:

Wayne Tanaka, Chair 1. Resources Enforcement and Aquatic Resource Management Needs More Funding Our nearshore environment contributes greatly to the cultural, social, and economic wealth of the state.Recent economic analyses have estimated the value of our nearshore reefs at $34 billion dollars a year, and that revenues generated from these resources approximate $800 million a year.However, the amount of money that Hawaii invests in managing its aquatic resources has been ranked as 48thout of 50 states.Similarly, Hawaiis Division of Conservation and Natural Resources Enforcement (DOCARE), responsible for enforcing all natural resource, boating, state parks, and historic and cultural preservation laws throughout the state receives less than $10 million a year.In contrast, the Honolulu Police Department, which is responsible primarily for enforcing county ordinances in populated areas on Oahu alone, has an annual budget of over $220 million dollars over twenty times the amount of money that DOCARE receives. What will our legislature do to increase the capacity of our state agencies to manage our aquatic resources, and afford them a meaningful level of protection through enforcement and substantive rules?Will they seek to invest meaningfully in the economic, social, and cultural foundation of our islands?Why did Department of Land & Natural Resources chairperson William Ail state that he did not request funding for more enforcement ofcers because the Governors ofce told him not to go there at a DLNR budget brieng?Will our states Democratic Party recognize the need to start investing in our states most valuable asset, before it is too late? 2. Community Based Subsistence Fishing Areas The concept of community-based subsistence shing areas (CBSFAs) traces back to the days of precontact Hawaii, when residents of an ahupuaa abided by place-based kapu based upon specic and localized knowledge of the nearshore resources in the area.Similar management approaches have successfully allowed communities in other jurisdictions to sustainably and equitably utilize commonly shared resources, and CBSFAs have repeatedly been cited as key to the successful management of our nearshore aquatic resources.The Department of Land & Natural Resources (DLNR) has had the authority to implement CBSFAs since 1994, and communities from Hena to Milolii have worked diligently to develop and share their CBSFA proposals with the DLNR.However, not a single CBSFA has yet to be implemented despite twenty years of having these approaches recognized by the legislature. Will the DLNR propose budget appropriations or other legislation to nally get a CBSFA program off the ground?Will our legislators on the House Finance and Senate Ways and Means Committees provide the funding to support such requests? 3. AquaticInvasive Species Control The Hawaii Invasive Species Council is an interagency body tasked with addressing the threats to Hawaiis economy, public health, and natural and cultural resources from invasive species.In the aquatic resources context, much funding has been invested in the councils Supersucker partnership, which employs a oating barge and vacuums to carefully clean our nearshore reefs of invasive species such as gorilla ogo and mudweed.However, this funding has been largely provided by third parties including the federal government and The Nature Conservancy.As these funds dry up, will our legislators fulll the DLNRs request to nally ensure stable funding for this important and highly successful project that maintains the states nearshore

reefs?

Advocacy
Your committee chairs have to limit their advocacy to a handful of the most important bills in their areas of interest (diversified agriculture, energy and natural resources) Your Natural Resource Chair is committed to tracking the most important legislation both good and bad. He will try to keep you informed as to when a bill needs you to provide testimony. I you are tracking specific legislation let Bill Sager know at bsager42@gmail.com or if you want to post your information directly to our blog let Bill know. We certainly want to avoid duplication. You can use the legislative tracking software to stay on top of bills you are interested in. You can also use policy ninja to facilitate and encourage testimony on any bill. Both the apps are very important to anyone who wants to advocate for or against any bill. If you need help, let us know or come to our Executive Committee meetings which are held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of the month at 6pm at Democratic Party Headquarters. We will provide training after the Executive Committee meeting is pau. We urge you to take an active part in the Caucus. Pick a subject area you are interested in and do all you can to build support for it.

Outreach
Your outreach committee chaired by Barbara Borgain is doing all it can to spread our message. This newsletter is part of that effort. If you have a passion for a particular subject, join us. If you are a writer contribute to the newsletter, post to our blog or write an opt- on a subject that is important to you. Share information with the Caucus, and share information about the Caucus with your social media friends. We are still looking for people to represent Kona side of the Big Island and the island of Molokai. You can log into our meetings at: 1.Please join my meeting. https://www1.gotomeeting.com/join/857988025 2.Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) - a headset is recommended. Or, call in using your telephone. Dial+1 (312) 878-3071 Access Code: 857-988-025 Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting Meeting Password: GreenHawaii Meeting ID: 857-988-025 We are limited to 17 participants so Neighbor Island reps have priority. It will help if the reps coordinate who logs in and encourage people to open their homes to anyone who wants to participate in the meeting. You can participate in the Caucus by participating in our meetings either in person or remotely. Our blog(environmentalcaucusorthedemocraticparty.wordpress.com) is open to everyone. We invite you to comment on any subjected that strikes your fancy or just visit to keep up to date on what is happening. You can subscribe to the blog and you can subscribe to our newsletter. The blog is an open discussion which does not reect the ofcial position of either the Caucus or the Democratic Party. We use our news letter to communicate ofcial correspondence of the Environmental Caucus. We hope you will take an active part in your Caucus. Advocate for legislation that is important to you. Build

coalitions with other members to work together on issues. Publicizethe Caucus in meetings you attend, in the media and with you friends in social media. Join the Environmental Caucus of the Democratic Party. It is easy. Just subscribe to our newsletter. If you are a member of our mailing list you are amemberof the Caucus. Everyone is welcome, but to vote on Caucus business you must be a member of the Democratic Party.