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----- Forwarded Message -----
From: Tom Berg <tomberg00@yahoo.com>
To: Michael Lee <keakuaskahu777@yahoo.com>; John Bond <ewabond@gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 5, 2017, 9:36:34 AM HST
Subject: For Mike's Article- Correction to SB570 Link
The link used to read SB570 was incorrect- here is the corrected version.
Revamp Environmental Protection Laws
By Michael Kumukauoha Lee
There is a crisis looming for all of Oahu’s endangered and threatened wildlife that needs to be assessed.
Decades prior to statehood, before the sugar and pineapple industry dominated Oahu’s landscape, the environment on this island was teaming with wildlife both in flora and fauna.
After the collapse of big farming enterprises last century, various segments of property were left to sit idle in a fallow state of condition along gulches and streams.
What transpired out of this lull in farming enterprises, was a resurgence for wildlife. The plains of Ewa saw the return of the Red Ilima, Coot, Pueo, Hoary Bat, and an insurgence of many migratory bird species seeking refuge on Ewa’s inner coastal wetland.
Today, the Honouliuli Ahupua’a, where I practice my Native Hawaiian traditions, is blossoming with a bounty of plants and bird species thought extirpated from the region, and it appeared that the wildlife in peril would be given a second chance to carry on and proliferate on these fallow agricultural plots.
I assumed environmental protection laws would kick-in to protect these endangered and threatened plants and birds that returned to the landscape. Who knew?
For example, when a property owner petitions the State Land Use Commission to rezone the property from agricultural to urban, the law requires the property owner to execute an Environment Impact Statement (EIS) to quantify what is, and is not on the property.
The inventory exercise to conduct a survey of what wildlife species are present on the property, has no directives. The law fails to define any protocol for the property owner in this process. For instance, the inventory can last one hour, two days, or even less. There are no requisites to follow.
How can thousands of acres of fallow agricultural land that was to a degree, teaming with endangered wildlife, be liquidated and the properties in question developed so routinely, with ease, without any mitigation for the loss of the endangered species’ habitat?
The answer is, that in every EIS codified on the Ewa Plain, not one inventory exercise transpired at sunset, or before sunrise, or even after sunset. The Hoary Bat does not parade about during business hours, yet, that is when the inventories take place- during the day. Result? Adios bat.
The Pueo has a habit of rotating foraging plots, and may not at all, be witnessed for weeks on end at any one given site. The Pueo here in Ewa, is known to be a sunrise and sunset feeder, rarely seen during the day. Did the inventory process to quantify for the presence of the Hoary Bat and Pueo take place when these species are active? The answer is no.
To fix it- and conduct proper inventories for species “on the run,” state Senator Will Espero (D19; Ewa, Ewa Beach), has introduced SB570. This measure proposes that all invested parties return to the table and hammer out a 21st century EIS protocol. SB570 intends to place mandates upon the EIS process whereby any parcel over 100 acres to be developed, would require the survey for endangered species be conducted over a minimum of five days.
The Pueo flees when anything approaches it. It is not meant to be seen. The Hoary Bat does not come out of its hiding place in mid-day to greet people either. Hence, when we see the endangered Coot, the endangered Pueo, and the endangered Hoary Bat on Ewa’s fallow agricultural plots today, let it be known that the current EIS process gave them an order to vacate the premises.
That was not supposed to happen. SB570 will correct this- and offer wildlife a fighting chance to be recognized.
Michael Kumukauoha Lee
Native Hawaiian Cultural Practitioner
91-1200 Keaunui Drive Unit 614
Ewa Beach Hawaii 96706
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