Tag: Environmental Justice

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Army finishes ordnance clearing off Waianae coast

The AP reports that the army completed a demonstration project to remove underwater unexploded ordnance from “ordnance reef” off the Wai’anae coast using unmanned underwater vehicles:

The Army said Friday it recovered 74 pieces of decades-old exploded ordnance from the ocean floor off Oahu’s Waianae coast during a three-week effort to clear out most of the munitions the military dumped in the area years ago.

The cleanup also recovered 2,300 small arms munitions, U.S. Army Garrison Hawaii said in a news release.

The Army left alone munitions so encrusted with coral that removing them would have damaged the reef. Using a remote controlled robot, the cleanup team attempted to recover more than 150 small, medium and large items that appeared to be weapons. It got 80 of these, but six turned out to not be munitions.

It destroyed more than 330 pounds of explosives, 135 pounds of propellant, and all of the small arms munitions recovered.

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Making Waves: Defending Ka’ena

Making Waves: Defending Ka’ena, Episode 55

Length: 0:27
Social issues & cultural programming dedicated to peace and social justice.
7/19/2011 Tue 9:30 am, Channel NATV Channel 53
Or streaming online:  http://olelo.granicus.com/MediaPlayer.php?view_id=30&clip_id=21987

I speak with Summer Mullins and Uncle Fred Mullins about their efforts to protect Ka’ena from the scourge of off-roaders destroying the sand dunes with their mud bogging, drunken crashes, bonfires and garbage. According to Uncle Fred Mullins, 90% of the offenders are military.  We show some video and photos from Ka’ena.

Also, you can watch past episodes online.

Making Waves, Episode 54 “No Can Eat Concrete!”

I speak with Wai’anae kupuna, Auntie Alice Greenwood (Concerned Elders of Wai’anae) and Candace Fujikane (UH Manoa English Professor) about the struggle for environmental justice to preserve Wai’anae’s cultural sites and agricultural lands from industrial encroachment.

Making Waves, Episode 51, “Violence and the Military Culture”

Darlene Rodrigues speaks with Col. Ann Wright about the epidemic of violence against women in the military and discuss how the military culture exacerbates the violence.

 

 

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Pearl Harbor Restoration Advisory Board Meeting, July 12, 2011

The next Pearl Harbor Restoration Advisory Board (RAB) meeting will be held at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, July 12, 2011 at the Holomua Elementary School Cafeteria, 911561 Keaunui Drive, ʻEwa Beach.

On the agenda:

  • Draft Engineering Evaluation/Cost Analysis for Substation P, Kalaeloa
  • Draft Final Remedial Investigation for West Loch 4th Street Coral Pit Disposal Area
  • Underwater Navy Defensive Sea Area Site Investigation Status (Underwater unexploded ordnance)

For more information contact Rachel Gilhooly, Ph. 808.356.5343, Rachel.Gilhooly@aecom.com

 

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A Win for Environmental Justice! People of Wai’anae Save Farmland

The people of Wai’anae won a big victory for environmental justice. KAHEA reports, “Tropic Land’s petition for a boundary amendment to allow an industrial park on fertile farmland was DENIED today, April 21, 2011.”  The post continues:

The Petitioner recognized that Commissioners had concerns about the proposed industrial park, especially whether they had access to use the Navy-owned road to leads to the property site.  So in a last minute hail-mary, the Petitioner told the Commission that the Navy was now considering dedicating the land to the City.  Interestingly, the City’s attorney did not know about the proposed dedication.

The Elders reminded the Commission that for six years the Navy and the City negotiated over dedicating the Lualualei Naval Access Road, which did not result in any change in the ownership or use of the road.  The question of proper access to the property is something Tropic Land should have figured out long before proposing a permanent change in the land use designation of their property.

This is a campaign that began back in 2009 when the Wai’anae Environmental Justice Working Group was formed.    Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae youth participated in documenting and raising awareness about the issues related to the encroachment of industrial and military activity into farm land, protection of cultural sites, including the important sites pertaining to Maui the demigod, and health effects of environmental contamination.

Congratulations and thanks go out to the Concerned Elders of Wai’anae, the Wai’anae Environmental Justice Working Group, KAHEA, MA’O Farms and the many groups and individuals who worked on this campaign. For now the agricultural land in Lualualei will be spared an industrial onslaught.   However, the threat is still looming, and struggle continues on another front.  The City and County of Honolulu Planning Commission is in the process of reviewing and receiving public comments on the Wai’anae Sustainable Communities Plan (WSCP). The community has long fought to preserve the natural, cultural and human waiwai (wealth) of Wai’anae, but this latest version of the plan includes an invasive ‘spot’ of industrial use where the Tropic Land LLC industrial park is proposed in the middle of agricultural land.    Yesterday, I testified in the second of two long days of hearings on the WSCP.  The Planning Commission will make a decision on the plan in May.

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California study shows low levels of perchlorate affect infants

A new study shows newborns in perchlorate contaminated areas have a 50% chance of having impaired thyroid function. Perchlorate is an oxidizer used in rocket propellant that attacks the thyroid. It has been detected in groundwater in Nohili, Kaua’i near the caves where munitions are stored. I think it was also detected in Schofield (Lihu’e). The levels detected in Hawai’i were below the federal limit (around 25 parts per billion) but above the California limit (5 ppb).   Needless to say, when asked about conducting further investigations and cleaning  up the contamination, the military dismissed the perchlorate contamination as insignificant. The Department of Defense has fought efforts to set tougher standards for perchlorate.  Here’s an excerpt from a Press Enterprise article on the California infant health study:

A new analysis by state scientists found that low levels of a rocket fuel chemical common in Inland drinking water supplies appear to be more harmful to newborn babies than previously believed, prompting calls for a tougher limit for tap water.

Scientists with the Office of Environmental Health Hazard Assessment examined records of blood samples drawn from the heels of 497,458 newborns in 1998 as part of a California disease-screening program.

The researchers found that the babies born in areas where tap water was contaminated with perchlorate — including babies in Riverside and San Bernardino — had a 50 percent chance of having a poorly performing thyroid gland, said Dr. Craig Steinmaus, lead author of the study published in this month’s Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.

READ THE FULL ARTICLE

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Wai’anae voices its support for preserving agricultural land

On November 10, 2010, there was a public informational meeting on the Wai’anae Sustainable Communities Plan.  This is the plan that guides development decisions for the Wai’anae region of O’ahu. Wai’anae has always had a very strong plan, with clear limits on the growth boundary, provisions to ensure that the rural character of the community is perpetuated, and protections for the rich cultural resources and traditions.  The planning consultants have had numerous meetings with the community and worked on the updated plan for three years.   The new plan reaffirms many of the provisions in earlier plans.  It strengthened language calling for the return of military controlled land in Makua and Lualualei.   However, developers and some community members have inserted a change in the land use map that includes an aberrant spot of urban zoning in the middle of agricultural land, a notorious “purple spot” on the land use map.
This is the site of the proposed industrial park in Lualualei at a site that was once a productive farm and that sits at the base of a ridge that represents the sleeping demigod Maui.  This change in zoning in this one spot would break up the integrity of the land use designations and change the character of the area.  Lualualei is already facing negative impacts from the Navy telecommunication towers and munitions magazine and the PVT industrial landfill.  Community residents fear that this change in zoning would set a precedent for rezoning other lands nearby and open up the area for more industrial development.
Working with the Wai’anae Environmental Justice Working Group and the Concerned Elders of Wai’anae, the American Friends Service Committee Hawai’i Area Program is working on the campaign to protect the farm land in Lualualei.
At the public informational meeting, the consultants began by reviewing the plan and the key points and changes.  More than a  hundred people turned out for the meeting. The overwhelming majority of testimony was for maintaining the rural, agricultural character of Wai’anae.  A strong contingent of youth from MA’O farms turned out and expressed their desire to farm and the need to have adequate farm land available. The urban spot zone was the main source of contention and discussion.
Proponents of the industrial park talked about economic development and the fact that there were no sites where light industrial facilities could be situated in Wai’anae.  But many countered that there is ample industrial sites available nearby in Campbell Industrial park and that the benefit to the community would be negligible compared to the social, environmental and cultural costs.  It seemed that there was some agreement between the proponents and opponents of the  industrial park; all wanted to protect the rural character of their community and provide economic opportunities for their youth.   The difference seems to boil down to: some believe in their community being able to develop and thrive on their own terms, while others feel desperate and feel they must settle for whatever they can get.

The Final Draft of the Wai’anae Sustainable Communities Plan will go to the City and County Planning Commission where there will be a public hearing.  After that, it will go to the Plannning Committee of the City Council, then on to the full Council to have three readings.   These will all be critical opportunities to testify and demonstrate the commitment to protecting Wai’anae.

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Take a Stand to Defend Lualualei Farm Land!

Take a Stand to Defend Lualualei Farm Land!

There will be an important community meeting for protection of agricultural land in Lualualei. The Wai’anae Sustainable Community Plan final draft will be discussed. The developers who want to industrialize Wai’anae have inserted a “purple spot” of urban zoning into the plan in the middle of historically productive agricultural land in Lualualei. This is also an important site to Maui the Demigod, who according to legend was born in Lualualei.

PLEASE HELP WITH THESE TWO ACTIONS:

1. The Concerned Elders of Wai’anae are organizing sign holding   Wednesday, November 10, 4:00 pm at the MacDonalds in Lualualei

2. Come to the Public Meeting.

CALL TO ACTION!

Public Meeting

Wednesday Nov. 10, 2010 – 7PM

Wai‘anae Sustainable Community Plan

St. Philip’s Church in Ma‘ili

87-227 St. John’s Road, Waianae, HI 96792

KEEP WAI’ANAE COUNTRY!

For more information: http://bit.ly/purplespot, call 524-8220 or marti@kahea.org.

• Until the 1980s, this land was a working farm.

• A corporation from Japan evicted the farmer, to try to build a golf course. Waiʻanae residents protested, and the golf course proposal failed.

• Today, developers are working to change the zoning from agricultural to industrial. These developers want to build a new industrial park on this land.

• This is one of three major proposals to expand industrial land use in Lualualei Valley–including new landfills—right next to existing farms, schools, and homes.

Samson Reiny writes in the Hawaii Independent:

Another feature that differentiates Waianae from other rural areas is that its valleys aren’t always reminiscent of the pastoral idyllic. Waianae is also home to vast military operations and is the place where much of the island’s waste is sent.

The Army has leased Makua Valley since World War II for live-fire training, and the Navy commandeers over 9,000 acres in Lualualei valley for ordnance storage and radio communications.

The PVT Landfill in Waianae is the island’s only industrial waste disposal and is situated on Lualualei Naval Access Road.

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In Wai’anae: Army delays ‘Ordnance Reef’ study

Ordnance Reef study pushed back

By William Cole

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Aug 20, 2010

The Army said yesterday that it is delaying a $2.5 million study of grenades, bombs and other ordnance dumped in shallow water off Waianae that was scheduled for October because it first needs to do an environmental assessment.

Conducting the assessment for what is known as Ordnance Reef will push back the technology demonstration project until April or May, the Army said. It said it determined an assessment is required under federal law.

READ MORE

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Environmental Racism in Wai’anae – “disposable humanity” in the “dumping ground of O’ahu”

On July 19th, the City and Count of Honolulu executed its sweep of more than 350 residents from the strip of land at Maili point known as “Guardrails”.   The majority of the persons evicted were Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian). Among the evicted were many women and children.

Much of the news coverage has been biased against the houseless residents, framing them as a nuisance to be disposed of.   Bizarrely, KHON and KITV went so far as to give more time to the plight of evicted animals than to the stories of the people being evicted.  The Honolulu Star Advertiser, arriving late on the scene, emphasized the “fiery protest”, but not the distress and desperation.

The Hawaii Independent published an excellent series that captured the human tragedy of the eviction. It was the only news source that reported on the man who committed suicide the night before the sweeps due to the distress of enduring five evictions.  Residents reported that there were two other attempted suicides: another man tried to hang himself; and a woman went into the oncoming traffic on the highway.

The video posted by Darlene Rodrigues and Ikaika Hussey is an indictment of a society that treats people as disposable:

Some of the youth from Ka Makani Kaiaulu ‘O Wai’anae came down to “Guardrails” to document the eviction and gather stories from the residents.  Kuaika Kaeo wrote about what he witnessed, as did Kahaku Pinero here and here.

Meanwhile, as human beings are swept off the land, developers and officials eye Wai’anae for another landfill.   In an op ed piece, Bill Lyon argues against a regional park at a parcel in Lualualei and that the”highest and best use” of the land is another landfill. The site is near the existing construction and demolition landfill (PVT).  According to Mr. Lyon: “Leeward Land LLC, a sister company of PVT Land Co. Ltd., owns the land. Adjacent to the PVT construction and demolition (C&D) landfill, the land has been held in reserve for future expansion of the PVT landfill and has been on the city’s short list of potential landfill sites for 40 years.”

PVT literally sits in the backyard of several hundred families where high cancer and asthma rates have been reported by residents.  In Wai’anae, trash and toxic waste are a better use of land than people living or playing.

Meanwhile a man convicted of illegally dumping toxic tetracholoroethylene in Wai’anae was sentenced to prison. The link to the Honolulu Star Advertiser article seems to be broken.

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EPA Releases Rulemaking Guidance on Environmental Justice

Although “Executive Order 12898, Federal Actions To Address Environmental Justice in Minority Populations and Low-lncome Populations” has been in effect since 1994, the US Environmental Protection Agency has only now released new rulemaking guidance on environmental justice.   This is good step forward, but it fails to provide enough “teeth” in the law for communities to stop destructive and environmentally unjust actions by the government.  The military is the worst polluter and may have the worst environmental justice record.  But the military has been given broad exemptions from many of the laws that are meant to protect human health and the environment.  Nevertheless, this guidance gives reinforcement to the issues that communities have often raised in Hawai’i during the preparation of environmental impact statements:  lack of meaningful public participation in decision making, lack of meaningful alternatives, lack of environmental justice analysis, and a lack of cumulative impacts analysis.

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From: U.S. EPA <usaepa@govdelivery.com>
Date: Mon, 26 Jul 2010 12:13:12 -0500 (CDT)
Subject: Compliance and Enforcement News Release (HQ): EPA Releases Rulemaking Guidance on Environmental Justice

CONTACT:

Dave Ryan (News Media Only)

ryan.dave@epa.gov

202-564-7827

202-564-4355

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

July 26, 2010

EPA Releases Rulemaking Guidance on Environmental Justice

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) is releasing an interim guidance document to help agency staff incorporate environmental justice into the agency’s rulemaking process.  The rulemaking guidance is an important and positive step toward meeting EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson’s priority to work for environmental justice and protect the health and safety of communities who have been disproportionally impacted by pollution.

“Historically, the low-income and minority communities that carry the greatest environmental burdens haven’t had a voice in our policy development or rulemaking.  We want to expand the conversation to the places where EPA’s work can make a real difference for health and the economy,” said EPA Administrator Lisa P. Jackson.  “This plan is part of my ongoing commitment to give all communities a seat at the decision-making table.  Making environmental justice a consideration in our rulemaking changes both the perception and practice of how we work with overburdened communities, and opens this conversation up to new voices.”

The document, Interim Guidance on Considering Environmental Justice During the Development of an Action, seeks to advance environmental justice for low-income, minority and indigenous communities and tribal governments who have been historically underrepresented in the regulatory decision-making process. The guidance also outlines the multiple steps that every EPA program office can take to incorporate the needs of overburdened neighborhoods into the agency’s decision-making, scientific analysis, and rule development. EPA staff is encouraged to become familiar with environmental justice concepts and the many ways they should inform agency decision-making.

EPA is seeking public feedback on how to best implement and improve the guide for agency staff to further advance efforts toward environmental justice.

To view the interim guidance and submit feedback: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/resources/policy/ej-rulemaking.html

More information on environmental justice: http://www.epa.gov/environmentaljustice/

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