By Henry Curtis
On June 23, 2011 Governor Neil Abercrombie hosted a community forum at Washington Middle School.
Permits and Regulations
Should bad projects be stopped? Should the public be able to influence agencies to reject bad projects?
Governor Abercrombie: “Where this is concerned, where business is concerned, we have to make sure that we, don't put artificial barriers up for permitting …to see that the permits are not a barrier or an obstacle but that the permits are there for what it's intended to do, which is to facilitate good projects. The problems with regulations that are seen as just ways to stop everything, is that it ends up stopping good projects as well ... So we are going to take a look at all of those rules and regulations that are actually stopping us from progressing.”
Reappointing Resignees
The Governor recently asked for Board and Commission members appointed by the previous administration and unanimously confirmed by the State Senate to resign.
Governor Abercrombie: “Why do you think it is that I am talking about trying to get Boards and Commissions that are going to reflect the changes that I would like to see. It's not because I'm characterizing those serving now, I might even appoint them back if I had the opportunity. That's not the issue.”
Homelessness
Should soup kitchens only give free food to those who are living in a shelter? Should they require proof of residence? Should they be prevented from feeding people who wander in from parks and streets?
Governor Abercrombie: “Its difficult in a macro micro-sense, to necessarily see that progress is being made every day, but that's what we're doing, that's one of the reasons why we had to make a decision about, saying to people its not a good idea to feed, people, in the park, its not a good idea to aid and abet people in continuing to have the disease they have, that they have a mental illness, a chronic condition that they have to come to grips with, you have to take them out of that context in order to make a change, so that's why we have the hotlines out there, the numbers that can be called, we have coordinated in an unprecedented way over the last 60 days, we're not up to the 90 days yet, with the service organizations that are out there, so that we have actually prevented more people from going into homelessness, we've been able to stop some of that.”
Pineapples
Governor Abercrombie: “We're going to change the diet around, we're going to be doing things like trying to purchase, right now believe it or not pineapple is still part of the landscape, the native cultural landscape in Hawai`i. We should be purchasing pineapples for our schools, for our hospitals, for the prison system, for our public facilities right here in Hawai`i. We have to change some of the rules around.”
Utilizing Unimproved Areas
Governor Abercrombie: “I just finished the conversation yesterday morning with Secretary [of the U.S. Department of the Interior] Salazar ...The other thing the Secretary is very very interested in aiding and assisting us with, and [Lt. Governor] Brian [Schatz] will be working on this, is the, I almost said the ring, but what I'm talking about is the walk, we are know about Kamehameha's walk that saved Kamehameha. All along to coast of Kona from Hapuna all the way down past Pu`uhonua past Honokohau Harbor there's federal parks, there’s state parks, there's hotel entrances, there's harbors, there's agriculture, there's recreational areas. We're going to connect those up and we're going to connect them up in such a way, that you'll be, [able to] literally walk from one end to the other and not have to go to a hotel. The hotels going to help us with that. Because they understand that is part of the idea of Hawai`i. That makes it different from tourist destinations from the rest of the world.
So I can assure you whether it is, whether it is seen to that we, I don't even want to say restore, because it wasn't necessarily available before. We're going to make available, to our people, literally, the Kona Coast, to be able to transverse it as human beings, rather than be isolated in an automobile, and just driving from one hotel to another, or one business activity to another.”
Ka`ena Point
Over the past several decades there have been intense fights over Ka`ena Point. Some want to keep it the way it is, an unimproved wild area. Others want to preserve it by offering amenities that will enable large numbers of people to visit it.
Governor Abercrombie: “We're going to try to do the same at Ka`ena Point, on this island, to see to it that it is preserved, and that it is utilized in a way that reignites our sense of aloha for one another and the blessing that we have for living in paradise.”
Inmate Food
There are several ways of reducing the cost of housing inmates. These include providing cheap foods lacking nutritional value, limiting portion size, and eliminating drug treatment programs. Thin inmates are not always healthy inmates.
Governor Abercrombie: “Jodie Hirata is here tonight, the head of our Department of Public Safety. I can tell you right now when you see stories in the papers about unwanted weight loss, well that's a new affliction to me by the way. I don't know about the struggle you have, but unwanted weight loss is something I could really get or try to figure out.”
Exporting Inmates
The Hawai`i Government just signed an agreement with CCA for the continued export of Hawai`i inmates. The new three-year agreement (with two one-year extensions) will continue the practice of housing inmates abroad and justifying it with shoddy and inaccurate financial accounting methods.
Governor Abercrombie: “Very shortly we'll be coming out with a complete prospectus for you to consider with regard to new prison facilities to make sure we keep all of the prisoners, we don't want more prisoners in Hawai`i, but if somebody has to go away we want to keep them in Hawai`i, so that we can try and keep the families together and give them a chance to straighten their lives out they going to be growing their own food.”
Agriculture
Donalyn Dela Cruz (Governor’s Press Secretary): “Another big issue that came up was growing our own food, importation. ...There are going to be a lot of questions on this issue you can see. ... How can we get more produce, local produce, in our grocery stores? And to that I'll ask the other question as well. Very similar. What's being done to make changes in Hawai`i from being an importer to an exporter?”
Can we grow our own food? Can we eliminate the huge rains on our economy, exporting dollars for foreign food?
Governor Abercrombie: “We'll I start work from the last backwards. We are doing some exports now, niche industries right at the moment, that are out there. What we want to do with the Department of Business and Economic Development is, working right now, we're working with the Department of Consumer Affairs, and so on that has some of the regulations coming around public television, public access, and working on internet issues and broadband issues.
What we intend to do, is see to it that our agricultural industries, which are entrepreneurial and for the most part niche at the moment, are able to be out there. People want coffee from Hawai`i, not just Kona coffee by the way anymore, Ka`u coffee, Moloka`i coffee, Hawai`i coffee. I, we are making tremendous progress in these industries, farmers elsewhere that are providing a living for people I cannot tell you the number of young people who want to farm, but they have to be able to do it in a business-like fashion.
As my friend Richard Ha on the Big Island said to me over and over again, who's a farmer who is growing many of the tomatoes that your enjoying and was a pioneer in that effort. He said that ‘if your not, if your farming and your not in the business of farming your gardening.’ Nothing wrong with gardening. Nothing wrong with that.”
# # #
Henry Curtis
ililani.media@gmail.com
Friday, July 15, 2011
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Pro & Con for Big Wind & Inter-Island High Voltage Transmission Line
By Henry Curtis
Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI)
The Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) is not an energy agreement. If it were, then “clean energy” would be defined somewhere. It isn’t. Not in the agreement and not in state law.
The HCEI is an agreement between former Governor Linda Lingle and HECO that was signed just after oil hit its all time high in the summer of 2008.
The former Governor wanted to reward her financial backers. Castle & Cooke funded mostly Republicans. They wrote large checks to Republicans and also gave small amounts to a large number of Democrats. First Wind gave a minority share of their Maui wind projects to a key Lingle supporter.
HECO wanted economic security during a period of rising and volatile energy prices. HECO feared that as the price of oil rose they would have to raise the cost of electricity, which would encourage more people to leave the grid, which would require spreading the utility’s fixed costs over a smaller rate base, which would require raising rates again, encouraging even more customers to leave the grid, and so on and so forth. They feared a death spiral.
Competitive Bidding
HECO initiated a Competitive Bidding process by publishing a Request for Proposals for 100MW of renewable energy for O`ahu.
In response, Castle & Cooke proposed 400MW of wind power on Lana`i, while First Wind proposed 400 MW of wind power on Moloka`i and smaller wind farms in Kahuku and Haleiwa.
HECO, Castle & Cooke, First Wind & Governor Lingle proposed a backroom deal whereby Castle & Cooke & First Wind would each build a 200MW wind system on Neighbor Islands, connected to O`ahu via a high voltage undersea cable.
The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) noted that this rigged bidding process did not conform to the spirit of the Competitive Bidding process, but accepted the proposal anyway. Commissioner Kondo dissented. (He has since left the PUC and now heads the Hawai`i Ethics Commission).
HECO is traditionally the retirement home for senior Democratic Party officials. Senator Dan Inouye saw a way of funneling pork via the military for this project by insisting that the cable come ashore on O`ahu at either the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex or the Kaneohe Marine Corps Station.
Gubernatorial candidates immediately lined up behind the project
Gubernatorial Candidate Neil Abercrombie: “I have said that becoming independent from foreign oil is Hawaii’s most important energy endeavor. I believe wind projects are part of the energy independence for Hawaii we envision. Projects like Big Wind need to move forward with the full understanding and commitment of the communities that will bear the largest burden of these projects. We must ensure that all people share in the challenges and benefits of our moves toward energy independence in a way that is fair and equitable. We cannot shy away from, or worse, exploit divisions and conflict. We need to join hands with respect, listen to each other, and move forward together without undue delay, through community-based initiatives and public education.”
Gubernatorial Candidate James Duke Aiona: “The Big Wind project is one component of ensuring a clean energy future, which includes the expansion of wind farms, the development of an undersea cable, and the utility infrastructure upgrades that would allow the integration of a renewable energy electrical grid. By providing a statewide electrical grid and a more flexible and secure system, an undersea interisland cable will help our state move toward a clean energy future. The cable, and the Big Wind project, will help improve our energy security by reducing Hawaii's dependence on the volatile global petroleum market.”
Gubernatorial Candidate Mufi Hannemann: “Big Wind (i.e., large-scale wind farms) remains one of the most cost-efficient, mature alternative energy technologies available for development in Hawaii. We are blessed to have multiple renewable energy sources to tap into, with wind being one of the most reliable and cost-efficient. In order to stay on track with the state’s energy initiative of establishing renewable energy sources to replace our dependence of imported oil (which I support), we must continue to promote the adoption of Big Wind projects.”
Moloka`i and Lana`i residents became the first to express opinions. Some felt they could get a community benefits package. The Moloka`i Community Service Council wanted the wind farm to help them buy Moloka`i Ranch. Others on both islands objected to the destruction of their `aina to power O`ahu. Lana`i residents noted that Castle & Cooke has not honored past agreements with the community.
Self-Sufficiency
The simplest way for O`ahu to deal with its own energy issues is to require solar water heaters on all buildings, to require that hotel windows open to trade winds, that solar dryers (clothes lines) are permitted in all condo and town houses and that rooftops become a resource for housing renewable energy facilities. None of this is occurring.
HECO spent 3 years seeking to get a photovoltaic panel on their Ward Avenue facility. They asked Hoku (the recipient of massive 221 taxpayer subsidies) to install it. Eventually HECO gave up. The roof is available and unused.
Responses to the Environmental Impact Statement Scoping Notice
Life of the Land (December 2010): “The inter-island cable will be the longest transmission line in the state, and the installation of 400 MW of wind will be Hawaii’s largest single energy project ever brought on-line at one time. The proposal is the second multi-island energy project to be extensively studied, and if built will be the first of its kind in existence in Hawai`i. If successful it will transform Hawai`i. It will merge separate island grids into a unified multi-island grid. At the same time, as a result of its cost and the size of the renewable systems being planned, it will displace other alternatives that might achieve the same thing, with different technologies, different costs, and with different winners and losers. This is known as opportunity cost (the cost of passing up the next best choice when making a decision). Legally speaking, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is supposed to analyzes the various alternatives. The required alternatives section is missing in this Hawai‘i Interisland Renewable Energy Program (HIREP) Environmental Impact Statement Preparation Notice (EISPN). Rather than the required “hard look” at alternatives, the EISPN does not even engage in a soft look.”
PRO
Windward Ahupua`a Alliance (May 3, 2011): “I support the interisland cable and am glad that it is on the Gov’s short list. If it weren’t so serious, it would be funny that so many so-called environmentalists oppose wind or solar or biofuels while pretending to be solid opponents of fossil fuels. What do you plan to use? Hamsters running on wheels?”
CONCERNS & OPPOSITION
Maui Tomorrow Foundation (April 4, 2011): “Maui Tomorrow Foundation agrees with the statements below from DBEDT Office of Planning and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that alternatives must be explored.”
Ka Lei Maile Alii Hawaiian Civic Club (April 4, 2011): “Ka Lei Maile Alii Hawaiian Civic Club opposes the generation of power on Lanai and Molokai for use by people on Oahu. Our club is located on Oahu. We support the generation of power on Lanai and Molokai for the use of the people who live there.”
KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance (April 4, 2011): “KAHEA supports renewable energy but opposes SB367.”
Friends of Lanai (April 3, 2011): "Energy conservation on O’ahu and throughout our state would get us much closer to our clean energy goals."
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Feb 28, 2011): “We recommend analysis of additional alternatives as early as possible”
U.S. Dept of the Interior: Fish and Wildlife Service (Feb 25, 2011): “The NOI [EIS Notice of Intent] does not indicate that an appropriate range of alternatives will be analyzed”
U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (Feb 28, 2011): “We advice a precautionary approach”
State of Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT) Office of Planning (March 1, 2011): “It is necessary for the draft EIS to explore alternatives.”
DLNR State Historic Preservation Division (Feb 23, 2011): “Because this is a programmatic EISPN, it does not include specific information … We believe this approach is problematic.”
Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA, Feb 22, 2011): "OHA has strong reservations based on this early phase of the HIREP programmatic plan.”
Maui County (February 28, 2011): "In our opinion …resources in the vicinity of Oahu have been arbitrarily excluded”
Historic Hawai`i Foundation (March 3, 2011): “HHP recommends that the EIS include alternatives”
Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (March 1, 2011): “The EIS must explore reasonable alternatives”
Isaac Davis Hall, Esq. (March 1, 2011): “It is not possible to find that this methodology complies with NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] or HEPA [Hawai`i Environmental Policy Act]”
Indigenous Consultants, LLC (Mililani B. Trask, Principal): “According to Molokai resident Walter Ritte, the entire Island of Molokai could be energy self-sufficient with 1 windmill but is being forced to accommodate over 100.″
American Bird Conservancy, Washington D.C. (March 1, 2011): “Wind power can be an important part of the solution to global warming. …The state of Hawai`i will be a particularly challenging place to develop wind energy because the islands are already the bird extinction capitol of the world.”
Conservation Council for Hawai'i (March 1, 2011) "NEPA and HEPA require a study of alternatives. ...The EIS should describe and analyze the conservation alternative, especially on O'ahu, which would clearly have less of an adverse impact to wildlife, habitat, and other natural resources."
The Nature Conservancy (March 1, 2011): "TNC has held a Conservation Easement at Kanepu`u, Lanai since 1991. The Kanepu`u Preserve was created to protect and enhance the dryland forest community that is now rare across the islands. Road access to development in the area should be routed around the Preserve to avoid potential negative impacts. The EIS currently does not include an explicit evaluation of invasive species impacts. Well trafficked roadways are well known to be a primary conduit for the transport and introduction of invasive species, and the EIS should address mitigation to prevent prolifieration of current invasive plant species found within the affected area and to prevent introduction of new invasive species to the affected area. Further, specific fire prevention measures should be implemented along roadways to prot ect the neighboring Preserve."
Blue Planet Foundation (March 1, 2011): "A thorough analysis of the clean energy alternatives to the interisland wind project should be thoroughly examined in the EIS. ...The potential for off-island wind is mentioned, but there is no further discussion about the impacts, benefits or drawbacks to wind development in areas offshore O‘ahu, nor whether off-shore wind development could be a viable alternative or supplemental source to the selected locations on Lana‘i and Moloka‘i."
Life of the Land (December 11, 2000): "The inter-island cable will be the longest transmission line in the state, and the installation of 400 MW of wind will be Hawaii’s largest single energy project ever brought on-line at one time. The proposal is the second multi-island energy project to be extensively studied, and if built will be the first of its kind in existence in Hawai`i. If successful it will transform Hawai`i. It will merge separate island grids into a unified multi-island grid. At the same time, as a result of its cost and the size of the renewable systems being planned, it will displace other alternatives that might achieve the same thing, with different technologies, different costs, and with different winners and losers. This is known as opportunity cost (the cost of passing up the next best choice when making a decision). ...Rather than the required “hard look” at alternatives, the EISPN does not even engage in a soft look."
Rep. Cynthia Thielen: "There's just been a mad dash to build this wind farm on Lanai and the undersea cable"
PROPONENTS
Castle & Cooke Hawai`i (February 28, 2011): "We concur with the many public comments expressed that the Programmatic EIS should include a thorough analysis of other commercially available renewable energy alternatives and their associated impacts."
First Wind (March 1, 2011): "While First Wind obviously has a vested interest in the Big Wind concept, we strongly believe the HIREP Wind PEIS should equally address scenarios that consider all wind energy deriving from a single island in Maui County (i.e., Lāna‘i, Moloka‘i or Maui), as well as scenarios of all wind energy deriving from a combination of generation on multiple islands, along with associated programmatic approaches to cable corridors and routes and landing site locations."
Pattern Renewables Development Company LLC and Bio-Logical Capital, LLC (March 1, 2011): "A cost-benefit analysis of wind energy development in Hawai’i should be performed. This effort will require a regional analysis of the comparative economic and environmental costs of wind energy development compared with other forms of electricity generation and conservation measures. Such an analysis will also require data on the impact of wind development on fossil fuel consumption, land and water resources, emissions from conventional power plants, and the impact on greenhouse gases."
Robbie Alm, HECO (January 22, 2011): "I like to suggest we all watch out for two things. One is NIMBYism. Everybody love renewable energy until it comes to them next door, and at that point it’s like oh I love renewable energy, but not that one. You know if we’re going to allow that to stop us were we won’t make it. We just won’t. If every, if every community does not see itself as being a part of this we really are going to get stuck where we are today. And so I think we should all congratulate the Kahuku-Laie community for accepting that wind farm out there. Good for them. ...and we need other communities to do that."
Hawaiian Electric (HECO) (April 5, 2011): "We believe that SB 367, SD 3, HD 1 provides a strong public policy foundation and regulatory structure to protect the public interest with the ultimate goal of interconnecting the separate island grids."
The Division of Consumer Advocacy (“Consumer Advocate”) (April 5, 2011): "The proposed 400 MW wind farms will be instrumental in keeping electricity prices in Hawaii at affordable and level rates. This legislation that sets the regulatory structure for the undersea cable that will connect the wind farms to Cahu is key to obtaining the necessary financing for the undersea cable."
Representative Mina Morita (January 22, 2011): "The recent announcements of the community benefit agreements by Castle & Cooke and Hawaiian Electric Company for the Lana`i wind project can open up real substantive discussions for both the Lana`i and Molokai communities, and so I think an important discussion to have in the Legislature is the State’s role in enforcing the terms and conditions of these agreements, especially when these agreements are contingent on the State’s permitting and approval process."
# # #
Henry Curtis
ililani.media@gmail.com
Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI)
The Hawai`i Clean Energy Initiative (HCEI) is not an energy agreement. If it were, then “clean energy” would be defined somewhere. It isn’t. Not in the agreement and not in state law.
The HCEI is an agreement between former Governor Linda Lingle and HECO that was signed just after oil hit its all time high in the summer of 2008.
The former Governor wanted to reward her financial backers. Castle & Cooke funded mostly Republicans. They wrote large checks to Republicans and also gave small amounts to a large number of Democrats. First Wind gave a minority share of their Maui wind projects to a key Lingle supporter.
HECO wanted economic security during a period of rising and volatile energy prices. HECO feared that as the price of oil rose they would have to raise the cost of electricity, which would encourage more people to leave the grid, which would require spreading the utility’s fixed costs over a smaller rate base, which would require raising rates again, encouraging even more customers to leave the grid, and so on and so forth. They feared a death spiral.
Competitive Bidding
HECO initiated a Competitive Bidding process by publishing a Request for Proposals for 100MW of renewable energy for O`ahu.
In response, Castle & Cooke proposed 400MW of wind power on Lana`i, while First Wind proposed 400 MW of wind power on Moloka`i and smaller wind farms in Kahuku and Haleiwa.
HECO, Castle & Cooke, First Wind & Governor Lingle proposed a backroom deal whereby Castle & Cooke & First Wind would each build a 200MW wind system on Neighbor Islands, connected to O`ahu via a high voltage undersea cable.
The Public Utilities Commission (PUC) noted that this rigged bidding process did not conform to the spirit of the Competitive Bidding process, but accepted the proposal anyway. Commissioner Kondo dissented. (He has since left the PUC and now heads the Hawai`i Ethics Commission).
HECO is traditionally the retirement home for senior Democratic Party officials. Senator Dan Inouye saw a way of funneling pork via the military for this project by insisting that the cable come ashore on O`ahu at either the Pearl Harbor Naval Complex or the Kaneohe Marine Corps Station.
Gubernatorial candidates immediately lined up behind the project
Gubernatorial Candidate Neil Abercrombie: “I have said that becoming independent from foreign oil is Hawaii’s most important energy endeavor. I believe wind projects are part of the energy independence for Hawaii we envision. Projects like Big Wind need to move forward with the full understanding and commitment of the communities that will bear the largest burden of these projects. We must ensure that all people share in the challenges and benefits of our moves toward energy independence in a way that is fair and equitable. We cannot shy away from, or worse, exploit divisions and conflict. We need to join hands with respect, listen to each other, and move forward together without undue delay, through community-based initiatives and public education.”
Gubernatorial Candidate James Duke Aiona: “The Big Wind project is one component of ensuring a clean energy future, which includes the expansion of wind farms, the development of an undersea cable, and the utility infrastructure upgrades that would allow the integration of a renewable energy electrical grid. By providing a statewide electrical grid and a more flexible and secure system, an undersea interisland cable will help our state move toward a clean energy future. The cable, and the Big Wind project, will help improve our energy security by reducing Hawaii's dependence on the volatile global petroleum market.”
Gubernatorial Candidate Mufi Hannemann: “Big Wind (i.e., large-scale wind farms) remains one of the most cost-efficient, mature alternative energy technologies available for development in Hawaii. We are blessed to have multiple renewable energy sources to tap into, with wind being one of the most reliable and cost-efficient. In order to stay on track with the state’s energy initiative of establishing renewable energy sources to replace our dependence of imported oil (which I support), we must continue to promote the adoption of Big Wind projects.”
Moloka`i and Lana`i residents became the first to express opinions. Some felt they could get a community benefits package. The Moloka`i Community Service Council wanted the wind farm to help them buy Moloka`i Ranch. Others on both islands objected to the destruction of their `aina to power O`ahu. Lana`i residents noted that Castle & Cooke has not honored past agreements with the community.
Self-Sufficiency
The simplest way for O`ahu to deal with its own energy issues is to require solar water heaters on all buildings, to require that hotel windows open to trade winds, that solar dryers (clothes lines) are permitted in all condo and town houses and that rooftops become a resource for housing renewable energy facilities. None of this is occurring.
HECO spent 3 years seeking to get a photovoltaic panel on their Ward Avenue facility. They asked Hoku (the recipient of massive 221 taxpayer subsidies) to install it. Eventually HECO gave up. The roof is available and unused.
Responses to the Environmental Impact Statement Scoping Notice
Life of the Land (December 2010): “The inter-island cable will be the longest transmission line in the state, and the installation of 400 MW of wind will be Hawaii’s largest single energy project ever brought on-line at one time. The proposal is the second multi-island energy project to be extensively studied, and if built will be the first of its kind in existence in Hawai`i. If successful it will transform Hawai`i. It will merge separate island grids into a unified multi-island grid. At the same time, as a result of its cost and the size of the renewable systems being planned, it will displace other alternatives that might achieve the same thing, with different technologies, different costs, and with different winners and losers. This is known as opportunity cost (the cost of passing up the next best choice when making a decision). Legally speaking, an Environmental Impact Statement (EIS) is supposed to analyzes the various alternatives. The required alternatives section is missing in this Hawai‘i Interisland Renewable Energy Program (HIREP) Environmental Impact Statement Preparation Notice (EISPN). Rather than the required “hard look” at alternatives, the EISPN does not even engage in a soft look.”
PRO
Windward Ahupua`a Alliance (May 3, 2011): “I support the interisland cable and am glad that it is on the Gov’s short list. If it weren’t so serious, it would be funny that so many so-called environmentalists oppose wind or solar or biofuels while pretending to be solid opponents of fossil fuels. What do you plan to use? Hamsters running on wheels?”
CONCERNS & OPPOSITION
Maui Tomorrow Foundation (April 4, 2011): “Maui Tomorrow Foundation agrees with the statements below from DBEDT Office of Planning and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that alternatives must be explored.”
Ka Lei Maile Alii Hawaiian Civic Club (April 4, 2011): “Ka Lei Maile Alii Hawaiian Civic Club opposes the generation of power on Lanai and Molokai for use by people on Oahu. Our club is located on Oahu. We support the generation of power on Lanai and Molokai for the use of the people who live there.”
KAHEA: The Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance (April 4, 2011): “KAHEA supports renewable energy but opposes SB367.”
Friends of Lanai (April 3, 2011): "Energy conservation on O’ahu and throughout our state would get us much closer to our clean energy goals."
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA, Feb 28, 2011): “We recommend analysis of additional alternatives as early as possible”
U.S. Dept of the Interior: Fish and Wildlife Service (Feb 25, 2011): “The NOI [EIS Notice of Intent] does not indicate that an appropriate range of alternatives will be analyzed”
U.S. Department of Commerce, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) (Feb 28, 2011): “We advice a precautionary approach”
State of Hawaii’s Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism (DBEDT) Office of Planning (March 1, 2011): “It is necessary for the draft EIS to explore alternatives.”
DLNR State Historic Preservation Division (Feb 23, 2011): “Because this is a programmatic EISPN, it does not include specific information … We believe this approach is problematic.”
Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA, Feb 22, 2011): "OHA has strong reservations based on this early phase of the HIREP programmatic plan.”
Maui County (February 28, 2011): "In our opinion …resources in the vicinity of Oahu have been arbitrarily excluded”
Historic Hawai`i Foundation (March 3, 2011): “HHP recommends that the EIS include alternatives”
Native Hawaiian Legal Corporation (March 1, 2011): “The EIS must explore reasonable alternatives”
Isaac Davis Hall, Esq. (March 1, 2011): “It is not possible to find that this methodology complies with NEPA [National Environmental Policy Act] or HEPA [Hawai`i Environmental Policy Act]”
Indigenous Consultants, LLC (Mililani B. Trask, Principal): “According to Molokai resident Walter Ritte, the entire Island of Molokai could be energy self-sufficient with 1 windmill but is being forced to accommodate over 100.″
American Bird Conservancy, Washington D.C. (March 1, 2011): “Wind power can be an important part of the solution to global warming. …The state of Hawai`i will be a particularly challenging place to develop wind energy because the islands are already the bird extinction capitol of the world.”
Conservation Council for Hawai'i (March 1, 2011) "NEPA and HEPA require a study of alternatives. ...The EIS should describe and analyze the conservation alternative, especially on O'ahu, which would clearly have less of an adverse impact to wildlife, habitat, and other natural resources."
The Nature Conservancy (March 1, 2011): "TNC has held a Conservation Easement at Kanepu`u, Lanai since 1991. The Kanepu`u Preserve was created to protect and enhance the dryland forest community that is now rare across the islands. Road access to development in the area should be routed around the Preserve to avoid potential negative impacts. The EIS currently does not include an explicit evaluation of invasive species impacts. Well trafficked roadways are well known to be a primary conduit for the transport and introduction of invasive species, and the EIS should address mitigation to prevent prolifieration of current invasive plant species found within the affected area and to prevent introduction of new invasive species to the affected area. Further, specific fire prevention measures should be implemented along roadways to prot ect the neighboring Preserve."
Blue Planet Foundation (March 1, 2011): "A thorough analysis of the clean energy alternatives to the interisland wind project should be thoroughly examined in the EIS. ...The potential for off-island wind is mentioned, but there is no further discussion about the impacts, benefits or drawbacks to wind development in areas offshore O‘ahu, nor whether off-shore wind development could be a viable alternative or supplemental source to the selected locations on Lana‘i and Moloka‘i."
Life of the Land (December 11, 2000): "The inter-island cable will be the longest transmission line in the state, and the installation of 400 MW of wind will be Hawaii’s largest single energy project ever brought on-line at one time. The proposal is the second multi-island energy project to be extensively studied, and if built will be the first of its kind in existence in Hawai`i. If successful it will transform Hawai`i. It will merge separate island grids into a unified multi-island grid. At the same time, as a result of its cost and the size of the renewable systems being planned, it will displace other alternatives that might achieve the same thing, with different technologies, different costs, and with different winners and losers. This is known as opportunity cost (the cost of passing up the next best choice when making a decision). ...Rather than the required “hard look” at alternatives, the EISPN does not even engage in a soft look."
Rep. Cynthia Thielen: "There's just been a mad dash to build this wind farm on Lanai and the undersea cable"
PROPONENTS
Castle & Cooke Hawai`i (February 28, 2011): "We concur with the many public comments expressed that the Programmatic EIS should include a thorough analysis of other commercially available renewable energy alternatives and their associated impacts."
First Wind (March 1, 2011): "While First Wind obviously has a vested interest in the Big Wind concept, we strongly believe the HIREP Wind PEIS should equally address scenarios that consider all wind energy deriving from a single island in Maui County (i.e., Lāna‘i, Moloka‘i or Maui), as well as scenarios of all wind energy deriving from a combination of generation on multiple islands, along with associated programmatic approaches to cable corridors and routes and landing site locations."
Pattern Renewables Development Company LLC and Bio-Logical Capital, LLC (March 1, 2011): "A cost-benefit analysis of wind energy development in Hawai’i should be performed. This effort will require a regional analysis of the comparative economic and environmental costs of wind energy development compared with other forms of electricity generation and conservation measures. Such an analysis will also require data on the impact of wind development on fossil fuel consumption, land and water resources, emissions from conventional power plants, and the impact on greenhouse gases."
Robbie Alm, HECO (January 22, 2011): "I like to suggest we all watch out for two things. One is NIMBYism. Everybody love renewable energy until it comes to them next door, and at that point it’s like oh I love renewable energy, but not that one. You know if we’re going to allow that to stop us were we won’t make it. We just won’t. If every, if every community does not see itself as being a part of this we really are going to get stuck where we are today. And so I think we should all congratulate the Kahuku-Laie community for accepting that wind farm out there. Good for them. ...and we need other communities to do that."
Hawaiian Electric (HECO) (April 5, 2011): "We believe that SB 367, SD 3, HD 1 provides a strong public policy foundation and regulatory structure to protect the public interest with the ultimate goal of interconnecting the separate island grids."
The Division of Consumer Advocacy (“Consumer Advocate”) (April 5, 2011): "The proposed 400 MW wind farms will be instrumental in keeping electricity prices in Hawaii at affordable and level rates. This legislation that sets the regulatory structure for the undersea cable that will connect the wind farms to Cahu is key to obtaining the necessary financing for the undersea cable."
Representative Mina Morita (January 22, 2011): "The recent announcements of the community benefit agreements by Castle & Cooke and Hawaiian Electric Company for the Lana`i wind project can open up real substantive discussions for both the Lana`i and Molokai communities, and so I think an important discussion to have in the Legislature is the State’s role in enforcing the terms and conditions of these agreements, especially when these agreements are contingent on the State’s permitting and approval process."
# # #
Henry Curtis
ililani.media@gmail.com
Thursday, February 17, 2011
Mauna Kea
Searching the Universe while Destroying the Earth
By Henry Curtis
The Geography
Imagine a single mountain 60 miles long and 30 miles wide, standing almost five miles tall. Mauna Loa (Long Mountain) is the second highest mountain in the world.
Mauna Loa is dwarfed by the world’s tallest mountain: Mauna Wakea (Mountain of Wakea) aka Mauna Kea (White Mountain). Like Mauna Loa, Mauna Kea rises from the seabed with less than half of its height above sea level.
The third tallest mountain in the chain is Haleakala (House of the Sun). Through eons of erosion Haleakala has shrunk in size, and the island it sat on (Maui Nui) has retreated under the ocean, creating the separate islands of Maui, Lana`i, Moloka`i, Kaho`olawe, etc.
Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Haleakala are tall peaks within a vast ocean; the Pacific Ocean covers nearly 1/3 of the Earth’s surface.
Mauna Kea is significantly taller than Mt. Everest. From seabed to mountain tip, Mauna Kea is only slightly less in elevation that from the bottom of the deepest point in the Mariana Trench to sea level.
Mauna Kea: Picture by SOEST
The Northern Pacific Ocean extends from just off the islands on the edge of North America (Vancouver Island, etc.) to the islands on the edge of Asia (Philippines, etc.), from islands below the North Pole (the Aleutians) to the Equator. In this vast Northern Pacific Ocean region there are only a few land masses, most of which are low to the horizon. They are mostly atolls and islets. By contrast, Hawai`i (4000 square miles) has 7 of the ten largest islands of the Northern Pacific Ocean and over half the land mass of this vast empty oceanic region.
The Southern Pacific Ocean has more land areas, and many famous islands, but is still fairly sparse in terms of the land area compared to the ocean area.
Snow and Ice
Snow falls on Mauna Kea, Mauna Loa and Haleakala, unlike most of the Pacific islands located on either side of the equator.
Snow on Mauna Kea: Picture by NASA
To find snow outside of Hawai`i one has to travel 2,000-6,000 miles away: east to California; southwest to Puncak Jaya, Indonesia; southwest to Aoraki, New Zealand; and southeast to Ojos del Salado, Chile.
The Native People
The Pacific Ocean was settled by oceanic explorers travelling by double hold canoes over a period of several thousand years. They explored and settled in areas from what is now called Alaska, California and Chile, and all of the islands of the North and South Pacific.
Reaching Hawai`i from Tahiti in the south, they discovered a very large mountain. They named it Mauna Wakea, named after the great sky god Wakea. A shortened form of Wakea is Kea which has a second meaning: the color white. Hence Mauna Kea, with its snow belts visible from the sea, is sometimes translated to be White Mountain.
Travelling 1000s of miles by canoe and beholding the majestic Mauna Kea with its snow belt must have been breathtaking for the first explorers.
Mauna Kea is considered the piko by Native Hawaiians, a place of great spiritual value. Wākea (the sky father) married Pāpā (the earth mother) and their first born son is Mauna Kea. The summit is a taboo place, a region for high chiefs and a realm of the gods. The mountain is also known as Mauna o Wākea.
Four water goddesses ruled over the mountains north of Kilauea: Poliahu is usually referred to as the snow goddess; Lilinoe to fog, mist and rain; Waiau to the lake; and Houpo o Kane (the breast of Kane) is usually referred to at that point on the south side of Mauna Kea where springs break out and a small stream of water runs down the mountainside - as Kepa Maly describes - like a trickle of milk from a breast.
Clarence Ching notes "to have observed the 'trickle' of water around a foot wide at its beginnings calmly working its way down the mountain for at least a hundred yards of so, between, on both sides, a narrow, green carpet of grass (maybe 2 feet wide on each side), is a marvel to behold."
Kealoha Pisciotta: “It’s referred to up here as an alpine desert. But it’s important to realize there is a lot of water on Mauna Kea. Sometimes when you walk around, there are places where you can hear the water and it’s running. You can hear big drips. ...Like the pure water captured in the piko of a taro leaf before it can reach the ground, the waters of Mauna Kea, suspended high above in the realm of the sky father, Wakea, is considered pure and life giving. ...It is so pristine, it is the perfect water. It was the water that was able to bring back life, to resurrect someone who had already passed. That is how sacred the water from Mauna Kea is considered. It is not just water in liquid form, but water as ice, water as snow and also water from Lake Waiau. These are all considered sacred waters, and any water that’s harvested directly from the sky. ...Sometimes people harvest as the snow is falling. They collect it because that really hasn’t touched anything. ...Mauna Kea was one of the few places in the tropics that was repeatedly covered by glaciers during the ice ages. An ice cap as much as 400 feet thick once covered about 26 square miles of the summit area. The effects of the last ice age are still felt on the mountain. Permafrost, or ground ice, found just a few feet below the surface, is all that is left of a once-giant glacier."
Keawe Vredenburg: “Lilinoe is the kupua of fog and mist. And you can see Lilinoe as she comes down over the mountain sometimes. She flows up and over, very gently, very soft, like very fine kapa, white kapa*. It’s a remarkable sight and it really makes you very aware of the mist, of how mist flows around. It’s not obtrusive, it doesn’t get in your face. But it’s there and it’s obvious that it’s very, very beautiful.”
Lake Waiau: Photo by Na Maka o ka Aina
The Tsunami
Tsunamis struck Hilo in 1960 resulting in heavy damage to downtown Hilo. The Hawai`i Island Chamber of Commerce turned to astronomy as a possible economic answer. In 1961 the University of Hawai`i’s Hawai`i Institute of Geophysics (HIG) was founded with a solar observatory was planned for Haleakala. Thus a competition resulted between business interests in Maui and Hawai`i Counties for the future location of astronomical facilities.
The Moon Race and Mars
The world's first artificial satellite, Sputnik I was launched by the Soviet Union in 1957 and circled the world in 98 minutes. President John F Kennedy initiated a decade long drive to land a man on the Moon. In 1969 crew members from Apollo 11 landed on the lunar plain called the Sea of Tranquility.
NASA felt that Hawai`i would be the ideal place to build an observatory to monitor the Apollo spaceships. Hawai`i Governor John A. Burns agreed.
Honolulu Star-Bulletin Editorial (September 28, 1964): “Suddenly, in the rush to Space, the peaks of the Hawaiian Islands have become a scientific asset of incalculable value. They are unique; nowhere else do peaks rise so high surrounded by sea. Thus their tops are (1) high enough to be above most cloud formations and (2) in air uncontaminated by dust. ...Nobody is going to 'destroy' the peaks in the sense of bulldozing them down. But installations on their slopes which produce dust, bugs or other contaminators of pure skies would render them useless. ... Only the hand of man can destroy them as such. This must not be allowed to happen.”
In 1964 initial planning began for a road to the summit. Mauna Kea became home to an astronomy observatory to assist the Moon Mission. Then scientists began envisioning more telescopes. In 1965 plans were under way for a telescope designed to monitor Earth’s 1967 close encounter with Mars.
Gov Burns favored a road from the peak of Mauna Kea to the new science city of Waimea. "Burns cherishes the idea of a science city at Waimea, generated by the community of space scientists who will stare at the stars through giant telescopes at Mauna Kea's summit. It would be backed by a four-year residential liberal arts college, also at Waimea. ...‘Any development you get on any part of this Island helps the whole Island and the whole State,’ Burns said firmly. Now is a 'very real time of change and challenge,’ for the Big Island, not a time for 'parochialism,' said Burns." (Honolulu Star-Bulletin Editorial (October 20, 1967)
Gov. Burns wanted the scientists to live in Waimea. Burns stated: "Hilo is fighting to keep them in Hilo, but they don't want to go to Hilo. They want to come here. You've got such a nice place, people are going to move in. ...We can't hold up the progress of time. Change is with us." (Honolulu Advertiser, October 21, 1967)
The Hawaiian-Polynesian Rebirth
Following the illegal 1893 overthrow of the Hawaiian Nation, and decades of cultural and language suppression, Native Hawaiians began to reassert themselves in the 1970s.
In 1973 the Polynesian Voyaging Society (PVS) was founded. The Society sought to answer questions relating to how Polynesians voyage across vast sections of the ocean. In 1975 the Polynesian Voyaging Society began building the Hōkūle‘a and the following year the Hōkūle‘a sailed on its maiden international voyage, travelling from Hawai‘i to Tahiti, guided by master navigator Pius Mau Piailug, a resident of Satawal (Yap, Micronesia).
“Since its first voyage to Tahiti in 1976, PVS has journeyed across the islands of Hawai'i, from Cape Kumukahi and Ka Lae on the Big Island to Papahānaumokuākea; to the far corners of Polynesia (Aotearoa and Rapanui); from Vancouver south to San Diego and north to Alaska; and through Micronesia to Japan. It has explored the ocean of our ancestors in order to rediscover and perpetuate through practice Hawaiian voyaging traditions and values and to bring together communities throughout the Pacific”.
The navigation took place relying on ancient knowledge of the sea, the stars, the weather, without the use of modern technology.
Multiplying Pimples
The University of Hawai`i’s Institute for Astronomy (IfA) was established in 1967, and planning was initiated for the first telescopes on the summit. Following delays due to altitude, ice, storms, and telescope equipment, the first major telescope on Mauna Kea, the UH 88-inch telescope (1970), was dedicated as the seventh largest optical/infrared telescope in the world. Others followed: UKIRT infrared reflecting telescope (1979); Canada-France-Hawaii optical reflecting telescope (1979); and the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility (1979).
Mauna Kea Telescopes: Photo by IFA
Hawai`i County Mayor Herbert Matayoshi (1974–1984) considered the astronomical facilities on Mauna Kea to be “pimples of the face of a beautiful mountain."
Mae Mull of Sierra Club began to call for a limit on the proliferation of telescopes and improved management of the fragile summit in the late 1970s. The efforts of Sierra Club, and the complaints of hunters, skiers, and others including Mayor Matayoshi, led to a call by Governor Ariyoshi for a management plan for the summit.
Mae Mull of Sierra Club began to call for a limit on the proliferation of telescopes and improved management of the fragile summit in the late 1970s. The efforts of Sierra Club, and the complaints of hunters, skiers, and others including Mayor Matayoshi, led to a call by Governor Ariyoshi for a management plan for the summit.
Mauna Kea Management Plans
The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) and the University of Hawai`i (UH) created a series of management plans for Mauna Kea including the DLNR Mauna Kea Plan (1977); Hale Pōhaku Complex Development Plan (1980), the University's 1985 Mauna Kea Management Plan (approved by BLNR); the 1995 Management Plan (approved by BLNR); and the University’s 2000 Mauna Kea Science Reserve Master Plan (developed by Group 70 International; not approved by BLNR).
Group 70 International wrote the 1983/85 plan. The plan called for a maximum of 13 telescopes atop the mountain; the limit of 2 minor telescopes and 11 major telescopes, less than 125 feet tall, was based on the best available science. That number became a source of some of the conflict to follow. The 1983/85 master plan was intended to govern development on the mountain through 2000.
This was the last plan to describe how many telescopes should be on the summit. The 1995 plan was silent as to the telescope limit and the carrying capacity.
There are now at least 20 individual telescopes. (The Smithsonian submilimeter array has 8 individual telescopes).
This was the last plan to describe how many telescopes should be on the summit. The 1995 plan was silent as to the telescope limit and the carrying capacity.
There are now at least 20 individual telescopes. (The Smithsonian submilimeter array has 8 individual telescopes).
Flair Ups
Kahea: “The law requires the state to collect fair market rent on our mountains, for the benefit of the people of Hawai'i. (HRS 171) We know that telescope time can go for as much as $80,000 per night; yet revenues from telescope time are collected by the observatories and remain with the observatories. For decades, summit conservation lands have been leased to some of the wealthiest national governments, institutions, corporations in the world for a mere $1/year.”
Sacred temple or window on the universe — or both? By Leslie Lang (Honolulu Weekly, March 27, 2002): “The 11,300-acre Mauna Kea Science Preserve, most of it at the summit of Mauna Kea, sits on ceded land. That’s land belonging to the Hawaiian Kingdom that was ceded to the U.S. government with the 1898 annexation. In 1993, Congress and President Clinton issued a formal apology for what they acknowledged was an illegal overthrow of the Hawaiian monarchy. Hawaiians are still trying to regain control of those 1.8 million acres of ceded land, most of which was turned over to the state at statehood in 1959. The land beneath the astronomical observatories, which themselves generate a not-insignificant $142 million per year to the state’s economy, is leased by the state to the University of Hawai‘i through 2033. UH, in turn, leases land to the observatories for $1 per year.”
Destruction
While astronomers were exploring the stars, Native Hawaiians were finding that their family shrines were being removed by those connected to astronomy. Environmentalists noticed construction debris blowing down the mountain. Toxic chemicals were dumped. Summit cinder cones were flattened.
The summit ecosystems have been altered by dust, compaction, habitat alteration, pollution, and runoff. The habitat for the native alpine plants and insects has been diminished, but studies to monitor the impacts have not been funded as promised by the management plans dating back 1983. Fred Stone, an entomologist who participated in the studies leading the the first EIS, discovered major wekiu bug habitat destruction had occurred when the base of the Pu`u Hau`oki cinder cone was dozed for a construction site in 1996, contrary to protections outlined in the management plan.
An early study found that in less than two decades the wëkiu decreased in population by 99.7%. The studies funded since the discovery of habitat destruction (and since the study stating the 99.7% number) indicate that wekiu are widespread, but their numbers are affected by many factors, including compacted substrate and reduced snow cover.
It appeared to many that the summit was destined to become an industrial city. The use of cesspools has led to seepage of thousands of gallons of sewage and spills of hazardous fluids into the ground at the summit. This is an affront to the Native Hawaiians and practitioners who feel that the waters of Kane originate at the summit, and that the purity of the aquifer is tainted by this offense.
The summit ecosystems have been altered by dust, compaction, habitat alteration, pollution, and runoff. The habitat for the native alpine plants and insects has been diminished, but studies to monitor the impacts have not been funded as promised by the management plans dating back 1983. Fred Stone, an entomologist who participated in the studies leading the the first EIS, discovered major wekiu bug habitat destruction had occurred when the base of the Pu`u Hau`oki cinder cone was dozed for a construction site in 1996, contrary to protections outlined in the management plan.
An early study found that in less than two decades the wëkiu decreased in population by 99.7%. The studies funded since the discovery of habitat destruction (and since the study stating the 99.7% number) indicate that wekiu are widespread, but their numbers are affected by many factors, including compacted substrate and reduced snow cover.
It appeared to many that the summit was destined to become an industrial city. The use of cesspools has led to seepage of thousands of gallons of sewage and spills of hazardous fluids into the ground at the summit. This is an affront to the Native Hawaiians and practitioners who feel that the waters of Kane originate at the summit, and that the purity of the aquifer is tainted by this offense.
Kealoha Pisciotta (Mauna Kea Anaina Hou) and Nelson Ho (Sierra Club) has raised the issue of hazardous materials used in the telescope industry. For example, telescopes use mercury which is highly toxic. There have been a number of accidental mercury spills on the Mauna Kea Summit.
Subaru Excavation
The 1998 State Legislative Audit
At the request of the legislature, the State auditor conducted an audit of the management of Mauna Kea and the Mauna Kea Science Reserve.
Audit of the management of Mauna Kea and the Mauna Kea Science Reserve: "We found that the University of Hawai`i’s management of the Mauna Kea Science Reserve is inadequate to insure protection of natural resources. The university focused primarily on the development of Mauna Kea and tied the benefits gained to its research program. Controls were outlined in the management plans that were often late and weakly implemented. The university’s control over public access was weak and its efforts to protect natural resources were piecemeal. The university neglected historic preservation, and the cultural value of Mauna Kea was largely unrecognized. Efforts to gather information on the Wekiu bug came after damage had already been done. Trash from construction was cleaned up only after concerns were raised by the public. Old testing equipment constructed in the early years of development has not been removed as required by the lease agreement."
Life of the Land testimony to the UH Board of Regents (September 9, 1999): “The development of Mauna Kea is a huge issue in communities all around Hawai`i nei. The mismanagement of our natural and cultural resources was severely criticized in the February 1998 Legislative Auditor’s Report and the serious breach of trust with the community was the paramount issue at three public hearings held in late May in Kona, Waimea, and Hilo. This breach of trust is so serious that kupuna, Hawaiian organizations, community people, environmental groups, the Hawai`i Island Chamber of Commerce and the Big Island Economic Development Board have all called for a moratorium on development”.
Life of the Land testimony to the UH Board of Regents (September 9, 1999): “The development of Mauna Kea is a huge issue in communities all around Hawai`i nei. The mismanagement of our natural and cultural resources was severely criticized in the February 1998 Legislative Auditor’s Report and the serious breach of trust with the community was the paramount issue at three public hearings held in late May in Kona, Waimea, and Hilo. This breach of trust is so serious that kupuna, Hawaiian organizations, community people, environmental groups, the Hawai`i Island Chamber of Commerce and the Big Island Economic Development Board have all called for a moratorium on development”.
Telescopes and the Courts (2001-07)
Unable to stop the University of Hawai`i and the Board of Land and Natural Resources from rubber stamping development plans in the sacred summit area, environmentalists and Native Hawaiians turned to the courts. These groups and individuals included OHA, Mauna Kea Anaina Hou, The Royal Order of Kamehameha I, Sierra Club and Clarence Kukauakahi Ching.
In 2003, The Office of Hawaiian Affairs sued NASA to compel it to comply with the National Environmental Policy Act. OHA prevailed. Judge Susan Oki Mollway ruled that “The court specifically holds that the present EA does not adequately consider the impact of development of the outrigger telescope site when added to other past, present, and reasonably foreseeable actions.”
The University of Hawai‘i Institute for Astronomy filed a Conservation District Use Permit application (CDUA) with the BLNR to construct and operate up to 6 telescopes at the summit. The EIS eventual completed for the NASA Keck Outrigger telescopes revealed that the cumulative impact of telescope development on natural and cultural resources had been significant, adverse and severe. Following public hearings and a contested case proceeding, the Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) approved the CDUA is 2004. On appeal, in 2007 Judge Hara ruled in favor of Mauna Kea Anaina Hou et al, noting that approval of a management plan was a “precondition to granting CDUP.” The last valid comprehensive management plan (the one approved by the BLNR in 1995) was silent on telescope development. Because no additional development was planned for, the permit granted by the BLNR for the Keck Outrigger project was in conflict with the plan they themselves approved. He therefore revoked the permit.
The 2005 State Legislative Audit
Follow up audit of the management of Mauna Kea and the Mauna Kea Science Reserve: The audit found that many of the recommendations from the 1998 audit had been acted on but that more needed to be done. The Management Plans needed updating, provide greater transparency and accountability, and increase community involvement. The audit found that the University had the responsibility for the protection of cultural and natural resources within its jurisdiction, but it could not legally establish and enforce administrative rules.
The Proposed Expansion Continues
Further Astronomical Facilities are being planned for Mauna Kea: Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT); Pan-STARRS; and the Subaru Telescope.
State Laws Continue to be Ignored
Miwa Tamanaha (Kahea, 2011): “The law requires the protection, preservation and conservation of Mauna Kea and Haleakalā through "appropriate management" and promotion of "long-term sustainability and the public health, safety and welfare." (HRS 183C)
The law requires the state to develop comprehensive management plans, (HAR 183C) to be approved by the State Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) when astronomy developments are proposed in the conservation district. A proper planning process begins with the resource management agency (DLNR) from thorough baseline information on ecosystems, including habitat, hydrology, vegetation, cultural sites, traditional and customary practice, native species, and geology, and lead to a public, community-driven process for designating appropriate land use. In contrast, we have yet to see any study of the carrying capacity of Mauna Kea for industrial development. To date, few conservation districts anywhere in the world have been so industrialized with so little basic planning, so few basic studies of ecosystems and resources, and so little assessment of how ecosystems might be impacted by proposed development.
In April 2009 (Mauna Kea) and December 2010 (Haleakalā), over protests of community members and cultural practitioners, the BLNR instead signed off on plans written by the lead developer, the University of Hawai'i. These plans are not based on any study of carrying capacity of these summits for development. Nor do they attempt to place any upper limit on development. In approving these development plans, the BLNR literally "paved the way" for the largest expansion of industrial land use on these summits in nearly a decade--the 18-story Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea, and the 14-story Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) on Haleakalā, and supporting new roads, construction staging area (batch plant), parking, people, and vehicle traffic.”
The law requires the state to develop comprehensive management plans, (HAR 183C) to be approved by the State Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) when astronomy developments are proposed in the conservation district. A proper planning process begins with the resource management agency (DLNR) from thorough baseline information on ecosystems, including habitat, hydrology, vegetation, cultural sites, traditional and customary practice, native species, and geology, and lead to a public, community-driven process for designating appropriate land use. In contrast, we have yet to see any study of the carrying capacity of Mauna Kea for industrial development. To date, few conservation districts anywhere in the world have been so industrialized with so little basic planning, so few basic studies of ecosystems and resources, and so little assessment of how ecosystems might be impacted by proposed development.
In April 2009 (Mauna Kea) and December 2010 (Haleakalā), over protests of community members and cultural practitioners, the BLNR instead signed off on plans written by the lead developer, the University of Hawai'i. These plans are not based on any study of carrying capacity of these summits for development. Nor do they attempt to place any upper limit on development. In approving these development plans, the BLNR literally "paved the way" for the largest expansion of industrial land use on these summits in nearly a decade--the 18-story Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) on Mauna Kea, and the 14-story Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST) on Haleakalā, and supporting new roads, construction staging area (batch plant), parking, people, and vehicle traffic.”
The Cultural Clash Continues
Mauna Kea Anaina Hou et al (2010): “Mauna Kea has been and continues to be held in reverence by the Hawaiian people as a Wahi Pana and Wahi Kapu. Mauna Kea is revered in the same way that other religions revere churches, temples, synagogues, and mosques.
The upper regions of Mauna Kea reside in Wao Akua, the realm of the Akua-Creator. It is the burial ground of the most sacred of our ancestors. It is considered the Temple of the Supreme Being and is acknowledged as such in many oral and written histories throughout Polynesia. It is home of Na Akua (the Divine Deities), Na 'Aumakua (the Divine Ancestors), and the meeting place of Papa (Earth Mother) and Wakea (Sky Father) who are considered to be the progenitors of the Hawaiian People. It is where the Sky and Earth separated to form the Great-Expanse-of-Space and the Heavenly Realms. Lake Waiau is considered (among other things) to be the doorway into the Po (i.e., the mystical realm of the ancestors). Mauna Kea in every respect represents the zenith of the Native Hawaiian people's ancestral ties to the process of creation itself.
The ceremonies and practices on Mauna Kea (practiced nowhere else) formed the basis of the navigational knowledge that allowed Hawaiians to navigate over ten million square miles of the Pacific Ocean millennia before modern science and before Captain Cook ever set eyes on Hawai`i Nei. Hawaiian navigation is both a cultural and scientific contribution, not only to Hawai`i but also to the world and the global knowledge base. ...
The summit lands are designated conservation lands not only because of their unique cultural, historic, geological, and climatic features, but also because they are watershed lands. Mauna Kea is the principle aquifer for the island of Hawai`i.
If these waters are contaminated, they can no longer be used for ceremonies, healing, and/or for drinking. Mauna Kea's highly protected status as a National Landmark, a National Historic District, and a State Conservation District are because of these unique, rare and fragile features. These natural resources are part of the public trust recognized in Hawai‘i's Admission Act, the Hawai'i State Constitution, and in the judicially recognized public trust duties and responsibilities of the State. By comparison, the development of astronomy facilities, however valuable they may be in their own right, are not afforded this level of reverence and protection by our society.
Unlike the summit district and the practices related to it, construction of astronomy facilities is not mentioned in any state statute or the constitution. It is not a protected public trust activity.”
The Public Trust
The public trust is supposed to be enforced by the government, but sadly, it is being ignored at Mauna Kea. Instead, the public trust is being enforced by the courts as a result of actions by a handful of dedicated environmentalists and Native Hawaiians.
** The author wishes to thank Miwa Tamanaha, Clarence Ching, Deborah Ward and others for suggesting editorial changes which are reflected in this revised article.
Monday, February 14, 2011
Justice and InJustice in Hawai`i (November 18, 2010)
By Henry Curtis
Prisons aren’t a sexy topic. It’s not a subject matter many care about. But on the other hand, 95% of all incarcerated individuals will be released and in the community. Hawai`i has the 5th worst parole revocation rate in the nation. Only four states have higher failure rates than Hawai`i.
Over the past 8 years we have made the situation worse.
The Maui Economic Opportunity Being Empowered and Safe Together (MEO BEST) Reintegration Program developed a reentry program aimed at serious and violent felons. While the State had a recidivism rate of 60% or more, MECO Best had a recidivism rate of 40%. Governor Lingle defunded the MEO Best Reintegration Program.
The State of Hawai`i Kulani Prison was the top rated sex treatment facility in the United States. Its recidivism rate was less than 2% since 1988. Governor Lingle defunded Kulani and sent the inmates to serve dead time at other facilities despite the promise of uninterrupted programming.
Hale Na'au Pono is the only national (CARF) accreditation, non-State operated community mental health center (CMHC) in Hawai`i. The facility has received national and local recognition. Governor Lingle defunded Hale Na'au Pono.
Emphasis on lowering recidivism rates can be justified on the grounds that it reduces crime, it saves money, and from many religious perspectives, it is simply the right thing to do when one believes in redemption.
Jesus said (Matthew 25:35-40) we are judged by how we treat the least among us: “I was ahungered, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee ahungered, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me.”
National Conference of State Legislatures
The National Conference of State Legislatures (NCSL) is a national bipartisan organization that advocates for the interests of state governments, and provides research and policy information to state legislators and staff.
Exit Strategy for Parolees: (NCSL, June 2010) “Returning to prison—for everything from committing a new crime to violating parole—is referred to as recidivism, and it’s a huge and costly problem for states. Lawmakers increasingly are turning to a growing body of information on what works and what doesn’t in supervising offenders. They’re using it to create policies that reduce recidivism, increase public safety and decrease prison costs.”
“In 2007, the U.S. state prison population was at 1.4 million inmates at a cost of $34 billion to states, and parolee recidivism accounted for about one-third of all prison admissions. That year, the Pew Center on the States reported that if nothing was done, the prison population would continue to grow to 1.7 million inmates by 2011 at an additional cost of $27.5 billion.
Although states have been experimenting with programs to reduce recidivism for years, the federal government got behind the effort in 2008 with the Second Chance Act. The law provides grants to states, local governments and nonprofit groups to improve community safety by providing services that will help ensure offenders’ successful transition back into the community.”
“In March 2010, the Public Safety Performance Project of the Pew Center on the States released a report that found, for first time in 38 years, the overall state prison population has declined. ‘Prison populations and costs have been going up for so long that many policymakers just assumed there wasn’t anything they could do about it,’ says Adam Gelb, director of the Public Safety Performance Project. ‘But it’s not fate. In the last couple of years, Texas, Kansas and other states have taken steps that keep the size of their systems in check while also protecting public safety and holding offenders accountable.’”
Howard Snyder, chief of Recidivism, Reentry and Special Projects, Bureau of Justice Statistics stated: “We must understand which intervention strategies used while in prison or after release are most effective in protecting the public.”
The Council of State Governments
The Council of State Governments (CSG) is a national organization serving the Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches of government. The CSG created a Justice Center to develop data-driven consensus-driven strategies particularly in multi-disciplinary arenas such as criminal justice and public health; strengthen communities; and increase public safety. “Justice Reinvestment” is a “data-driven approach to reduce corrections spending and improve conditions in the handful of neighborhoods to which most people released from prison return. Justice reinvestment strategies are designed to help reduce recidivism while making these communities safer and stronger.”
The Second Chance Act of 2007 was a landmark bipartisan bill aimed at making better use of tax revenue in reducing crime and making communities safer. The bill was introduced by Senators Joseph Biden (D-DE), Sam Brownback (R-KS), Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Arlen Specter (R-PA).
Senator Leahy: “It is vitally important that we do everything we can to ensure that, when people get out of prison, they enter our communities as productive members of society, so we can start to reverse the dangerous cycles of recidivism and violence ...I hope that the Second Chance Act will help us begin to break that cycle.”
Governor Cayetano
Governor Cayetano sent inmates to the mainland in 1995 as a temporary solution to over crowding. Incarcerated men and women were sent to a number of privately owned facilities including Bobby Ross (Texas), CCA (Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, and Arizona), Dominion (Oklahoma), and GRW (Colorado).
Governor Lingle
Governor Lingle took office on December 2, 2002, committed to bringing about a “New Beginning” for the people of Hawai‘i by making state government more open, accountable and responsive.
“Restoring integrity to government requires us to share information openly with the public so the people of Hawai`i will know the true condition of state government, the programs it operates and the results of its efforts. Both elected leaders and the public must know the information essential to good decision-making. Government resources are limited, so all spending and policy choices must be based on reliable information and clearly articulated values and objectives, rather than short-term political considerations. ...Financial accountability and openness are essential if government leaders are able to make sound decision and then be held accountable for the actual results. They are absolutely necessary to break the vicious cycle of corruption and favoritism in state contracting, and to restore trust and integrity in government service.”
Making Government Work Better
“Restoring integrity to government requires us to share information openly with the public so the people of Hawai`i will know the true condition of state government, the programs it operates and the results of its efforts. Both elected leaders and the public must know the information essential to good decision-making. Government resources are limited, so all spending and policy choices must be based on reliable information and clearly articulated values and objectives, rather than short-term political considerations. ...Financial accountability and openness are essential if government leaders are able to make sound decision and then be held accountable for the actual results. They are absolutely necessary to break the vicious cycle of corruption and favoritism in state contracting, and to restore trust and integrity in government service.”
Governor Lingle got rid of state researchers and planners, severely restricted outside researchers from reviewing and analyzing data on incarcerated people to develop better tools to reduce recidivism, outsourced state jobs including expanding the use of privatize prisons, and allowed CCA to comb through the State of Hawai`i Department of Public Safety incarceration files to cherry pick inmates that would maximize their bottom line.
The cost to house inmates varies considerably. One could divide incarcerated people into two groups: those that would be cheaper to manage, and those with special needs (medical, health, mental issues, and/or violent tendencies) that would cost more to manage. By exporting only the first group, it would appear that it is cheaper incarcerated people on the mainland than to keep them in-State. However, the first group is cheaper to manage no matter where they are housed. The private prison charges an average cost to house all incarcerated people rather than the average cost to incarcerate people in the first group. Thus it is possible to game the system. This requires understanding who is incarcerated, and this can be achieved by allowing private companies to review confidential information held by the State.
Since Hawai`i began exporting inmates to the mainland, there have been unanticipated side effects. Hawai`i exported female inmates to a private prison in Kentucky where it is only a misdemeanor for a guard to rape an inmate. Inmates housed on the mainland have led to the formation of new gangs and gang activities that have spilled over into the streets of Hawaii.
Meda Chesney-Lind
Meda Chesney-Lind Ph.D. is a nationally recognized criminologist, a Fellow of the American Society of Criminology and the Western Society of Criminology, a Professor of Women’s Studies at the University of Hawaii at Manoa, and the author of Beyond Bad Girls: Gender, Violence and Hype written with Katherine Irwin and Fighting for Girls co-edited with Nikki Jones. She received the Bruce Smith, Sr. Award “for outstanding contributions to Criminal Justice” from the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in April, 2001. She was named a fellow of the American Society of Criminology in 1996 and has also received the Herbert Block Award for service to the society and the profession from the American Society of Criminology. She has also received the Donald Cressey Award from the National Council on Crime and Delinquency for “outstanding contributions to the field of criminology,” the Founders award of the Western Society of Criminology for "significant improvement of the quality of justice,” and the University of Hawaii Board of Regent's Medal for "Excellence in Research." Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii (DPFH)
The Drug Policy Forum of Hawaii (DPFH) was founded in 1993 by Pamela G. Lichty and Don Topping to “encourage the development of effective drug policies that minimize economic, social, and human costs, and to promote the consideration of pragmatic approaches to drug policy based on: scientific principles, effective outcomes, public-health considerations, concern for human dignity, and enhancing the well-being of individuals and communities.”
Pam Lichty obtained her M.A. in Public Health (MPH) from the University of Hawai`i at Manoa in 1987. She served as Committee Clerk for the House Committee on Health 1988-89, a planner on the Governor’s Committee on HIV/AIDS for 2.5 years, and was instrumental in establishing Hawaii’s Sterile Needle Exchange Program. Pam has served as president of the American Civil Liberties Union of Hawai`i (http://www.acluhawaii.org/) and on the Board of Directors of the national Drug Policy Alliance. Her focus is on harm reduction, human rights, civil rights, medical marijuana, and public policy.
Community Alliance on Prisons (CAP)
The Community Alliance on Prisons (CAP) was founded in the mid 1990s to focus on reforming Hawaii’s criminal justice system. The original name adopted by the founding members was Rethinking Prisons Working Group (RPWG – not an easy acronym). The name scared people and it became Community Alliance on Prisons after its first conference, with CAP becoming its acronym. Putting a cap on prisons resonated with the first group that came together.
The Community Alliance on Prisons (CAP) Brain Trust
Carrie Ann Shirota is a Soros Fellow, attorney, justice advocate, a former enforcement officer with the U.S. Civil Rights Commission, and the former director of the Mau`i Economic Opportunity (MEO) Best Re-entry Program on Maui.
Marilyn Brown is an Associate Professor at University of Hawai`i, Hilo and a criminologist who focuses on correctional policy, re-entry, incarcerated parents, and children of incarcerated parents.
Janet T. Davidson, Ph.D. is Assistant Professor of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Chaminade University. Dr. Davidson has a Ph.D. in Sociology with a specific focus on crime, law and deviance. She also earned an M.A. and B.A. in sociology. Her research interests include institutional and community corrections, recidivism, and issues related to gender and crime. She has published numerous peer viewed and applied research publications, including “Female Offenders and Risk Assessment: Hidden in Plain Sight” (2009).
RaeDeen Keahiolalo Karasuda, Ph.D., Research Analyst, Kamehameha Schools
Jeanne Ohta, Executive Director of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai`i.
Kat Brady serves as Coordinator of Community Alliance on Prisons; Assistant Executive Director of Life of the Land, a 40-year old environmental and community action group; (Board member of Hawai`i Friends of Law & Civic Related Education;) member of the Hawai`i Women's Coalition; and Chair of the Honolulu County Committee on the Status of Women (2001-); the only prisoner advocate in the state on the UH Institutional Review Board reviewing social science research (2001-); the only community member of the (Judiciary) Interagency Working Group for Intermediate Sanctions ; Vice President and Board member of the Drug Policy Forum of Hawai`i, Secretary of Drug Policy Action Group, Path Clinic Advisory Board, Co-Chair Children of Incarcerated Parents Task Force, member of Women’s Community Correctional Center Trauma Informed Care Working Group, and `Olelo producer of Hawai`i InJustice broadcast the first Tuesday of each month at 8:30 pm and everything Thursday morning at 8:00 am on Channel 54 or at www.olelo.org.Kat Brady was Legislative Coordinator for the Hawai‘`i Juvenile Justice Project; Legislative Coordinator for the ACLU of Hawai`i; A community member of the Act 161 Interagency Council; the only community member of the Intermediate Sanctions Working Group formed by the Judiciary and Certificate of Recognition for Leo Ikaika, the strong voice for justice. (2010).
Kat is the proud recipient of the 2003 National Association of Hawaiian Civic Club’s Kako`o o Kalaniana`ole Award, which recognized her as the Outstanding Non-Hawaiian for Service to the Hawaiian Community. Her other awards include: the Interfaith Alliance of Hawai`i Certificate for Community Mobilization in 2004; Hawai`i Senate Certificate of Recognition for Social Justice Advocacy in 2005; Friend of Social Work awarded by the National Association of Social Workers in 2005; Hawai`i Friends of Civil Rights – Martin Luther King Jr. Friends Award in 2009; and the Critical Criminology & Justice Study's first recipient of the Advocacy for Justice Award (2010).
Hawai`i: Criminology 101
Dr. Meda Chesney-Lind, criminologist and professor of women studies at the University of Hawai`i at Manoa, spoke at CAP’s Unlocking Justice Conference (2009): “In the 1970s, and I know because I was there...we had one prison [in Hawai`i] with 300 inmates. We had no women’s prison, we had one woman. ...Now, that was not 5 million years ago, that was 30 years ago. ...we had 300 now we have over 6000.” (Video: Dr. Meda Chesney-Lind)
Michele Deitch was the keynote speaker at CAP’s Unlocking Justice Conference (2009): “I have actually been fascinated by Hawaii’s criminal justice system for more than 25 years. Hawaii’s prison system in fact taught me my first important lesson about prison reform at the very start of my career. I was only a law student at the time and interested in these prison issues and I spent the summer of 1984 working at the ACLU’s National Prison Project in Washington. This is the country’s foremost litigators on behalf of prisoners. I overheard the long-time Director Al Bronstein discussing his then recent trip to visit Hawaii’s prisons and he said that these were the worst prisons he had ever seen anywhere, and this was a man who had been in 100s and 100s of prisons around the country” (Video: Michele Deitch part 1)Michele Deitch is an attorney with over 23 years of experience working on criminal justice policy issues with state and local government officials, corrections officials, judges, and advocates. She teaches criminal justice and juvenile justice policy at the LBJ School and at the Law School. She was awarded a 2005-06 Soros Senior Justice Fellowship by the Open Society Institute of the Soros Foundation, one of the most prestigious prizes for individuals working on criminal justice policy reform. Her areas of specialty include independent oversight of correctional institutions, institutional reform litigation, prison conditions and management, prison and jail overcrowding, prison privatization, and juveniles in adult court.
She holds a J.D. with honors from Harvard Law School, M.Sc. in psychology (with a specialization in criminology) from Oxford University (Balliol College), and a B.A. with honors from Amherst College.
Mass Incarceration
Marilyn Brown: “In some ways, with good intentions, but a misunderstanding about the determinants of crime, and the terrible consequences of what people are calling mass incarceration on our families and on our communities that research is bringing to light now the destructiveness impact of mass incarceration” (Video: Smart Justice)
Carrie Ann Shirota: “We have some serious problems within our criminal justice system, and on the other hand we have some programs and initiatives that are very hopeful, and If we direct our energy, our research, our community resources, and implement smart justice strategies, we can go back to a time where there was a much smaller prison population, and we can divert those resources into treatment and into other activities that actually empower communities, educate our communities, strengthen families rather than what we are doing right now which is investing so much money into prisons, and prisons right now are just making us poorer not safer.” (Video: Smart Justice)
Dr. Meda Chesney-Lind: “We have the lowest crime rate the State has ever seen, so we are increasingly relying on incarceration with a falling crime rate.” (Video: Dr. Meda Chesney-Lind)
Parity
Male inmates were taught a variety of vocational skills while female inmates were limited to sewing classes and kitchen cleanup details, as if that would prepare them to reenter the labor force. It took CAP six years of perseverance to get the Legislature to adopt parity for female offenders (SB 467, Act 258-2000). Now female inmates have the opportunity to obtain a greater variety of job skills, still limited but more.
Exporting Inmates to Private Prisons
Kat Brady: “For this temporary solution to overcrowding 15 years ago no exit strategy” (Video: Smart Justice)
Marilyn Brown: “The NPR story and other stories, about the corruptive influence of Correction Corporation of America on the Arizona State Government” (Video: Smart Justice)
Carrie Ann Shirota: “What seems to be happening within our system is on the one hand we are saying we don’t have any money, and we have an overcrowding problem, so the only quote responsive is to send people out of state but we need to examine the actual physical costs, and the moral cost of sending people out of state. But also we are sending our resources out of state, were sending jobs ...we're sending that money out of state and profiting CCA shareholders” (Video: Smart Justice)
Marilyn Brown: “The closure of Kulani Prison which had evidenced based programs to prepare people to come into the community, that prison was closed, and where are the resources going? They’re going to pay for this experiment with private prisons ...It’s one thing to privatize government services ...but this is human beings, how can we subject human rights ...to the bottom line?” (Video: Smart Justice)
The Board of Land and Natural Resources (BLNR) decision to transfer the Kulani land site from the Department of Public Safety to the state Department of Defense is being challenged by three parties: Kat Brady of the Community Alliance on Prisons, Michael Lee, a Kanaka Maoli cultural practitioner and lineal descendant with ties to the lands in question and DMZ-Hawai’i / Aloha ‘Aina. Meanwhile, on November 4, 2010, Governor Lingle, Cabinet Members, members of her staff, representatives of the Hawai`i Department of Defense, and Senator Mike Gabbard, boarded a Black Hawk helicopter and flew to Kulani Prison for a "Unifying Ceremony."
Kat Brady: “We don’t really even have a contract with CCA. Because to avoid the procurement law ...the outgoing Governor actually made a government-to-government contract with the City of Eloy, and when she made that contract, the Mayor of Eloy was a correctional officer at Red Rock Prison which is owned by CCA. So right there you have to say something is pilau.” (Video: Smart Justice)
Classrooms vs. Cells
Dr. Meda Chesney-Lind: “Where are we going to get the money for public education? ...How are we paying for all of this? ...Well that’s why I mentioned college education because in the years that America embarked on this massive prison experiment, we have essentially been taking money out of education, particularly higher education, and putting it into prisons.” (Video: Dr. Meda Chesney-Lind)
Kanaka Maoli
RaeDeen Karasuda: “For me, when I started to do my dissertation. It wasn’t so important to ask why are Hawaiians criminal. It was very important for me to figure out why are Hawaiians criminalized at such disproportionate rates.” (Video: RaeDeen Karasuda)
Native Hawaiians are no more likely to use drugs than the rest of society, but they are more likely to wind up in prison as a result of that drug use.
The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) issued a report “The Disparate Treatment of Native Hawaiians in the Criminal Justice System” (2010) which concluded the Hawai`i Criminal Justice System is not friendly to Hawaiians. “Native Hawaiians make up 24 percent of the general population of Hawai‘i, but 27 percent of all arrests, 33 percent of people in pretrial detention, 29 percent of people sentenced to probation, 36 percent admitted to prison in 2009, 39 percent of the incarcerated population, 39 percent of releases on parole, and 41 percent of parole revocations. ...Native Hawaiians receive longer prison sentences than most other racial or ethnic groups. ...Native Hawaiians are sentenced to longer probation terms than most other racial or ethnic groups.” “The collaborative research effort began with the University of Hawai‘i at Mänoa, Justice Policy Institute and Georgetown University to employ both quantitative and qualitative research methods to gather valuable information to better understand and address the concerns of our indigenous people. The results and recommendations of this study are needed to initiate policy reform and systemic change for Hawai‘i.”
In public pronouncements, OHA has focused on the biased towards imprisoning Native Hawaiians while omitting the analysis that they are no more likely to use drugs or commit crimes than other groups. Furthermore, OHA has insisted that this disparity should not be immediately addressed, but instead a Task Force should be formed to look into solutions.
Kat Brady: “The majority of inmates in prison are there for the use of drugs. ...Hawaiians are no more likely to use drugs that other people in society. Why do we need a task force, we know what the problem is, we should be doing something, why waste money.”
Robert Perkinson, University of Hawai`i Professor and a 2006 Soros Justice Fellow wrote Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire (2008). The meticulously written book documents the history of racism in the prison system and the rise of private prisons, both of which are key to understanding the Hawai`i criminal justice system. "Texas Tough: The Rise of America’s Prison Empire is a history of imprisonment, race, and politics from slavery to the present, with an emphasis on Texas, the most locked-down state in the nation. Sweeping in scope and exhaustively researched, it tries to answer some of the most vexing questions of our time: Why has the United States built the largest prison system in the world, unlike anything in the history of democratic governance, and why have racial disparities in criminal justice worsened over the past two generations, despite the landmark victories of the civil rights movement? Drawing on a decade of archival, legal, and legislative research, combined with scores of interviews, this book argues that the history of American criminal justice is a more southern story than most have acknowledged (the prison boom began and has remained most pervasive in the South) and that the politics of race and reaction have played a more prominent role in the expansion of incarceration than elevated crime rates. By drawing parallels between the development of segregation and convict leasing in the aftermath of Reconstruction and the rise of mass imprisonment in the wake of integration, Texas Tough contends that America’s imprisonment crisis has taken shape as the latest chapter in America’s tragic racial history and that a concerted nationwide effort will be required to move the country toward a more equitable and genuinely democratic future."
Public Health Issues
Kat Brady: “The majority of people in prison have drug problems, and yet there’s not a lot of drug treatment but plenty of drugs in prison” (Video: Smart Justice) “Why do we have so many people in prison who are suffering from public health problems?” (Video: Smart Justice, The Value of Hawai`i & Kulani)
Smart Justice Programs
Carrie Ann Shirota spoke at CAP’s Unlocking Justice Conference (2009): “There can be no success without preparation, and why is it that, even now when we use kind of these re-entry buzzwords with re-entry it’s like people are starting one year before they are released, six months before they are released. First of all, we should be focusing more on prevention. But even at that, once someone is in re-entry should start on day one.” (Video: Carrie Ann Shirota part 2) “The title of this presentation today is an `Olelo No`eau, a Hawaiian proverb, it’s Ho`i hou i ka iwi kuamo`o. ...The wisdom of Native Hawaiian, ancestors, I mean it’s there for you if you are willing to search. It literally translated means return to the backbone, but the kauna the hidden meaning of it, returning to your family or homeland after being away” (Video: Carrie Ann Shirota part 1)
Kat Brady: “One of the problems, it seems to me, is that, we always think that the answer has to come from somewhere else, or we have to take something from somewhere else and make it work here, when we have terrific minds actually thinking up these incredible things” (Video: Smart Alternatives)
Kat Brady: “Did you know that Hawai`i has a re-entry law? A law was passed in 2007, it is now referred to as Act 8 and in Hawai`i Revised Statutes it has its own section, 353H. The law was promulgated to really deal with people who have served sentences in prison and who are now coming back to the community; to help that transition to be smooth; and help them be successful and contributing community members. The law is a real philosophical change for the department, which, believe me, has been difficult especially under the Lingle Administration, because the Governor, Governor Lingle, is the only Governor in the nation to veto a re-entry bill.” (Video: Reentry, Substance Abuse & Women)
Marilyn Brown: “This is kind of under the radar I think, people don’t really know about the innovations that have been developed by people in Hawai`i that are actually now being adopted in other jurisdictions ... HOPE Probation ...was developed by Judge Alm ...this has been evaluated by really outstanding national researchers and they are having very impressive results and outcomes” (Video: Smart Alternatives)
Hawai`i Supreme Court Chief Justice Mark Recktenwald: “It’s my pleasure to present the [2010] Jurist of the Year Award to Judge Steven Alm, of the Circuit Court, First Circuit. Judge Alm has been a leader in the true sense of the word by advocating changing of the way we supervise probationers and then following through working with others throughout the judiciary to make that change a reality.” (Video: Jurist of the Year)
Marilyn Brown: “A program developed here in Hawai`i that’s now getting national attention and that’s the SKIP Program, supporting Keiki of Incarcerated Parents ...on the mainland is called supporting Kids of Incarcerated Parents.” (Video: Smart Alternatives)
Carrie Ann Shirota: “MEO’s BEST Reintegration Program on Maui was an embodiment of SKIP and other services, employment, housing, substance abuse treatment, not provided directly by our program but outside community providers, family reunification, cultural programs ...That’s where BEST came in, it started off very simple with dinners we would hold at MEO Family Center where the men and women would come to the family center with our staff, there would be some supervising ACOs, our partners could attend with probation and parole, they were always welcome and invited, and each client was able to invite several family members. ...It extended to movie nights and then some nights we had activities for children ...we need to do things that are more lifelike, and so we extended that by going out into the community and doing, not only family unification events, but events that gave back and an example would be going to Honokowai Valley area restoring archeological sites, planting Koa trees to reforest ... formerly incarcerated, families, their children, correctional officers, our staff, keiki to kapuna, all working together to whatever abilities we could contribute, even once we went out to the Hawaiian Homestead community and partnered with Habitat for Humanity to help Hawaiian families build their homes.” (Video: Smart Alternatives)
CAP published SMART JUSTICE: How Hawai`i Can Have Fewer Inmates and Safer Communities (July 2010) "This paper was born at a Strategy Session of the Smart Justice Collective, a group of academics, researchers, community advocates, and attorneys. The focus was Hawai`i’s increasingly costly and ineffective criminal justice system. Concerned by Hawai`i’s growing reliance on incarceration, we dedicate our efforts to make our system smarter on crime, rather than tougher on crime.
Both local and national research supports these efforts. In addition, Hawai`i’s current fiscal crisis has placed us in a position where the status quo in criminal justice can no longer be sustained. We believe that this 'perfect storm' presents a great opportunity to rethink and improve the quality of justice in Hawai`i.
This paper presents data on the consequences of mass incarceration and how they relate to public safety and Hawai`i’s fragile economy. We offer recommendations to stop the unprecedented growth in our correctional system, save money and reinvest those correctional dollars into communities most impacted by incarceration.
We hope this data stimulates dialogue and the enactment of Smart Justice policies that have proven cost-effective in decreasing crime and recidivism rates, and build safer communities."
Harm Reduction
Harm Reduction strategies focus on making people safer without judgment. Harm Reduction strategies include requiring the use of seat belts, caps on ball point pens, wheel chair ramps, safety glasses for people who work in saw mills, advertising campaigns encouraging designated drivers, offering free cab rides for really drunk bar patrons and promoting safe sex. The theory is that it is easier to promote safety than it is to get people to stop doing the risky behavior. An alternative approach is abstinence, such as the failed national prohibition on alcohol, the existing national prohibition on marijuana, and advertisement campaigns promoting the abstinence of sex before marriage.
“The [Honolulu] Path Clinic is a judgment free zone in which a woman with a substance abuse issue can receive excellent compassionate healthcare that addresses her addiction. The birth outcomes for women who receive Path Clinic services prenatally are much better than the average outcomes for the state and nation, even though the women struggle with addiction.”
Needle Exchanges provide clean needles to drug addicts. The program reduces the risk to drug users. According to the Harm Reduction Coalition (HRC), needle exchanges are supported by the AME Church Conference of Bishops, American Civil Liberties Union, American Medical Association, American Bar Association, American Public Health Association, American Psychological Association, Episcopal Church, NAACP, Physicians for Human Rights, Presbyterian Church, U.S. Conference of Mayors, United Church of Christ, and the Urban League.
Obedience
A key issue in criminal justice reform is monitoring what happens in prison, especially out-of-state prisons, something that does not exist in Hawai`i. The experiments conducted by Stanley Milgram and Phil Zimbardo show the absolute importance of independent community-based entities with the ability to have unannounced visits of prisons.
Stanley Milgram was born in New York City in 1933, graduated from Queens College (B.A. Political Science) and Harvard University (Ph.D. Social Psychology). Stanley Milgram, born into a Jewish family, started an experiment on obedience three months after the start of the trial of Nazi war criminal Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem.
At Yale University in 1961 he asked participants to randomly pick a slip of paper designating them as a teacher or student. In actuality all participants pulled slips designating themselves to be teachers and the students were played by actors. The teacher and student would be placed in different rooms. The teacher was told to ask a series of questions, and each time the student got the wrong answer, the teacher was to administer an increasing electric shock to the student. No shock was actually delivered, rather the actor student would play a pre-recording response to the “pain” received. If the teacher asked to stop, they would be prodded to continue and be told that the teacher would not be held responsible. Only one teacher stopped before delivering a 300 volt shock and sixty-five (65) percent of the teachers delivered the final 450 volt shock. Four statements were used to encourage the teachers: (1) Please continue; (2) The experiment requires that you continue; (3) It is absolutely essential that you continue; (4) You have no other choice, you must go on.” Milgram wrote about his experiment "The Perils of Obedience" (1974).
“I set up a simple experiment at Yale University to test how much pain an ordinary citizen would inflict on another person simply because he was ordered to by an experimental scientist. Stark authority was pitted against the subjects' strongest moral imperatives against hurting others, and, with the subjects' ears ringing with the screams of the victims, authority won more often than not. The extreme willingness of adults to go to almost any lengths on the command of an authority constitutes the chief finding of the study and the fact most urgently demanding explanation.”
Phil Zimbardo was also born in New York City in 1933 and was a high school friend of Stanley Milgram. He graduated from Brooklyn College (B.A. psychology, sociology and anthropology), and Yale University (MS, Ph.D. psychology).In 1971, Zimbardo conducted the Stanford Prison Project in which 24 normal college students were randomly assigned to be "prisoners" or "guards" in a mock prison located in the basement of the psychology building at Stanford. The prisoners, on arrival, were stripped, searched, shaved and deloused. The guards were ordered to maintain control, but were not told how to do so. A prisoner rebellion broke out on the second day. The guards placed the leaders in solitary confinement. Going to the bathroom was considered a privilege rather than a necessity, there were hunger strikes, sadistic behavior by 1/3 of the guards, and five prisoners had to be released early. The experiment was supposed to last 2 weeks, but had to be stopped after 6 days due to the brutal treatment of inmates by guards. The experiment was stopped by an associate of Zimbardo who later became his wife. At the end of the experiment all the prisoners and guards were brought together so that there could be a release of feelings and pain.
Conferences
Over the years CAP has sponsored and co-sponsored a number of conferences:
Restorative Justice: How to restore the well-being of the victim, the community, and the offender with Father Jim Consedine (September 1, 1999) at the Kaumakapili Church Hall
"Hawaii's Prison Crisis: Throwing Away the Next Generation." (October 21, 2000) held at the Central Union Church, featuring Al Bronstein, former director of the ACLU National Prison Project and others.
“Shattered Lives: How Drug Laws and Prisons Hurt Hawai`i’s Families,” (2001) featuring Chris Conrad and Mikki Norris co-authors of the award winning “Shattered Lives: Portraits from America’s Drug War.”
Pūpūkahi I Holomua (United to Move Forward) Conference (November 8 & 9, 2007) held at the Honolulu Community College
"The Psychology of Evil: The ‘Lucifer Effect’ in Action" with Professor Philip G Zimbardo (Stanford Prison Project) held at the University of Hawai`i's Shidler College of Business (October 23, 2008)
Unlocking Justice Conference (2009) held at Chaminade University
Related Videos
Judge Steven Alm (2009 Unlocking Justice Conference)
Hawaii Residential Drug Abuse Program (RDAP) with Andy Botts & Kat Brady
Geri Marullo became president and CEO of Child and Family Service (CFS) in 1998.
Renee Schuetter, RN, MEd, Clinic Manager, Executive Director: Perinatal Addiction Treatment of Hawaii (PATH) Clinic.
Lisa Haan and Jackie Bissen (2009 Unlocking Justice Conference)
Henry Curtis
Ililani Media
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