Feeling threatened by a recent bill in the U.S. House of Representatives to cut off earmarks to for-profit corporations, one of the big beneficiaries of earmarks in Hawai’i, Trex is trying to argue their case. But why is Trex on Kaua’i? It’s not to bring economic opportunity or “ministries” to Kaua’i. Trex is one of a number of military companies that flocked to Hawai’i after the missile defense floodgates were opened by the Cochran-Inouye bill. Trex participates in the expanded missile defense and other military tech systems being tested and developed on Kaua’i with earmarks pumped in by Senator Inouye. The military is taking over Kaua’i. Full spectrum dominance on the bones of ancient Hawaiians. It already controls 1,100 square miles of instrumented underwater range and more than 42,000 square miles of controlled airspace. The shoreline at Nohili is closed to the general public, and rumors are circulating of cutting off access to Polihale Beach.
Here’s an example of how the earmarks-militarization-dispossession of Hawaiian lands happens. The Hawaii Technology Development Venture (HTDV), a nonprofit project headed by Harold Masumoto was a product of the Project Kai e’e / UARC earmarks scandal. Earmarks by Senator Inouye are directed to HTDV via the Office of Naval Research. HTDV then issues requests for proposals and awards small grants to small tech companies to perform research and development on technologies that fit the Navy’s interest areas. Essentially public funds are being used as venture capital for small tech companies in Hawai’i in support of military objectives. But the awards are being made by a nonprofit that is not directly under federal control. This is precisely where the lack of oversight and accountability has led to problems in the past. A recent RFP by the HTDV asks for proof of concept demonstrations of remote security measures for the Pacific Missile Range Facility on Kaua’i, using small business innovation “to improve the installations ability to monitor and respond to the flight line area by implementing novel and innovative security countermeasures with the intention to deter, detect, prevent, and identify potential threats” while denying access to traditional users of the sand dunes and ocean area.
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http://www.starbulletin.com/editorials/20100325_earmarks_help_fill_strategic_gaps.html
Earmarks help fill strategic gaps
By David E. Kane
POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Mar 25, 2010
I am responsible for a high-tech, 24/7 manufacturing operation on Kauai. We employ 24 people, 22 of whom were hired locally. About two-thirds of our ohana have no college degree. Because of the nature of our business, we are fortunate to be able to provide a wage and benefit package far in excess of typical employment opportunities here on Kauai. Without the earmark process in general, and Sen. Dan Inouye in particular, we wouldn’t be here. We would probably be “over there” somewhere, benefiting some other community, maybe not even a U.S. community.
Our product is a unique-in-the-world ceramic material that provides solutions to issues in both Department of Defense and commercial applications. Without small, nimble, innovative firms like ours, the DoD would lack adequate innovative resources. The big prime contractors no longer spend such development money. They look to buy innovation from small firms like us.
The budget submitted to the Congress each year by the president continues the practice of recent decades to seek fiscal accountability by reducing R&D spending. Thankfully there are those in the Congress like Sen. Inouye who recognize that such strategic gaps need to be filled and can marry the filling of those gaps for the country with local imperatives like economic diversification.
In the DoD world, we are providing solutions to prime defense contractors and the government, primarily in the areas of aeronautical and aerospace applications, most having to do with defense of the homeland. In the commercial world, we are a 100-percent exporter from Hawaii with about 15 percent of those exports going outside the U.S. to Europe and Asia.
Finally, I’d like to mention an important and gratifying byproduct of the earmark process — at least here in Hawaii under Sen. Inouye’s leadership. In no small part due to his example, our company enjoys a culture that is heavy on community service. Our employees spend countless hours in the community serving in a variety of ministries. Would we have developed such a culture without having known Sen. Inouye? Perhaps. But one thing is certain: It is impossible to spend any amount of time around the senator without being inspired to use your talents to serve.
One more thing: Our operation here on Kauai does not make political contributions. As to what individual employees do in that regard, we know not nor care not. It is never discussed.
David E. Kane is general manager of Trex Advanced Materials in Lihue, Kauai.
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