More Papaya Trees Chopped as Anti-GMO Councilmembers Demand List of Future Targets
A Week on an Island of Angst
Kym Pine: Progress Against Illegal Dumping
VIDEO: HSTA Leaders talk about priorities for 2013-2014
Progressives: Hawaii Ranks #2 in Progressive Agenda for Women
Hawaii SAT Scores Remain Stagnant
Mercado Kim for Congress?
HNN: Kim (D-Kapalama, Alewa, Kalihi Valley, Moanalua Valley) has been in the legislature and Honolulu City Council for 31 years, and has been a state senator since 2000. She became Senate president late last year.
"I'm considering a run for Congress but won't make a decision until later this year," Kim told Hawaii News Now. Kim declined an on-camera interview.
Sources said she's been consulting people for advice on her run and quietly asking for support in recent weeks.
read ... Senate president expected to run for Congress
Accidents Expose Permits not Being Followed
SA: Transportation officials said workers had spotted a leak in July 2012 and informed Matson; the company said it investigated but found no leak. Then in May, state workers again reported leakage, but this time failed to notify Matson. The apparent lack of follow-up and concern after the 2012 incident is bad enough, but the serious failure in May suggests a negligence for which someone must be held to account.
The molasses spill put a harsh light on a "breakdown in our procedures and practices," as acknowledged by state Transportation Deputy Director Randy Grune. At the very least, the state now will be requiring all pipeline tenants to file, by next month, a written response of inspection dates, findings and a spill response plan for regulated and unregulated products. And that's all for the good.
Like the molasses spill, it took a very public accident, with very public consequence, to reveal a faulty operation.
A major traffic jam was caused on Aug. 31 when sludge dredged from a Hawaii Kai marina spilled onto the H-1 freeway in Aiea. Investigation into that incident would reveal that SER Silva Equipment, the company hired by contractor American Marine Corp. to dispose of the marina sludge, was apparently dumping the material illegally in Waianae.
Under a February permit issued by the Army Corps of Engineers, the sludge was supposed to be dumped only in five Hawaii Kai-area sites. How much has been dumped, for how long, and how it might affect the Waianae environment for which it was not intended, are among the serious questions still to be answered.
Now, the federal Army Corps, state Department of Land and Natural Resources and city Department of Planning and Permitting are all looking into possible action against the Hawaii Kai marina association and its contractors. The sludge dumper will likely be required to remove the sludge from Waianae and return it to East Honolulu — as it should, as quickly as possible. Misuse of federal, state and city permits also may bring revocation of them as well as fines — as it should, as quickly as possible.
read ... Permits and rules must be followed
Panel reconsiders sections of pesticide/GMO legislation
SA: A Kauai County Council committee spent much of Friday discussing proposed amendments to provisions of a bill that calls for new regulations on pesticides and the farming of genetically modified crops.
The Council's Economic Development (Sustainability/Agriculture/Food/Energy) and Intergovernmental Relations Committee considered changing sections of Bill 2491 pertaining to a call for mandatory disclosures about pesticide use and for reporting the presence of genetically modified organisms. The committee also debated the bill's proposal for a 500-foot buffer zone around schools, hospitals and other sensitive areas, such as public roads, streams and shorelines.
Co-introduced by Councilmen Gary Hooser and Tim Bynum, the proposed Kauai County ordinance applies only to "large" consumers of restricted-use pesticides — agricultural operations purchasing or using more than five pounds or 15 gallons of restricted-use pesticides, or any amount of experimental pesticides, annually.
Reality: A Week on an Island of Angst
read ... Kauai Crazy
Chevron's Hawaii refinery to Close or Sell?
PBN: While the largest of Hawaii’s two oil refineries recently underwent a change in ownership from Tesoro Corp. to Par Petroleum Corp., it may not be too long before Chevron Corp., the state’s other refinery, shuts down, sells or changes its operation in Hawaii as well, a source tells PBN.
The source also pointed out that during Chevron’s recent “major turnaround” — which happens every five years as standard procedure, where the refinery shuts down for repairs, work on compliance issues and conduct modifications — it was close to $80 million over budget in that initiative.
read ... Chevron
Government Shutdown Propaganda Floods Airwaves
State’s Catchment Policy Hits Vets
MW: According to the 2000 census, there are 16,298 veterans living on Hawaii Island, of which 4,500 are using rainwater catchment systems to satisfy their water needs. Owing to Hawaii’s rural and more natural environment, such catchment systems are common throughout the state. Even on Oahu, the most urban of all the islands, there is a high percentage of systems scattered through both the Koolau and Waianae mountains. I have family members dependent upon catchment water in the Koolaus only a few miles from downtown Honolulu.
For decades, these systems have made countless building sites viable, especially for lower-income families like many of our veterans seeking a new start, but who cannot afford more developed land where water is part of the existing infrastructure. That is, until 2011, when the state Department of Health, for no apparent reason that anyone in the system can explain, arbitrarily changed the existing requirements by declaring rain catchment water non-potable. When properly maintained and tested, nothing could be further from the truth.
The Veterans Administration, which posts four straightforward requirements for a property to qualify for a VA loan (domestic hot water, a continuing supply of safe and potable water, sanitary facilities and a safe method of sewage disposal), immediately declared Hawaii properties dependent upon water catchment unqualified for a VA loan, one of a veteran’s most valuable benefits. Hawaii’s vets have been hung out to dry.
read ... State’s Catchment Policy Hits Vets
Guilty: Fake Ministry Camouflaged Long-Term Marijuana Trafficking Organization
HTH: Federal authorities said they seized 3,000 plants with a retail value of $4.8 million during raids on the Christies and their co-defendants three years ago. They also said they recovered nine firearms.
The prosecutor, Assistant U.S. Attorney Michael Kawahara, said there was little religion in Roger Christie’s ministry.
“We believe, and from the undercover wiretapping investigation that we did in this case, that the religious idea is merely a front that camouflaged a long-term marijuana trafficking operation,” Kawahara said.
Under Christie’s “express” orientation to the ministry, started in 2009, new members just showed their ID card, paid the full donation price for marijuana, then walked off with their “sacrament,” he said.
KITV: Christie Could be out in 6 mos
read ... Pleads Guilty
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