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Posts Tagged ‘environmental justice’

Last week Wednesday (8/18/2010) about 25 Wai`anae residents and supporters came out to wave signs expressing their opposition to a proposed industrial park in Lualualei Valley. People, young and old, and of all different walks of life stood side by side, sharing messages of strength and solidarity. The mission was really two fold–yes, we were [...]

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We got our August issue of the excellent Environment Hawai’i in the mail the other day! On DAR’s proposed list of activities that they believe should be exempted from doing environmental assessment, they write, “DAR’s proposed list appears to exempt every type of permit and license issued by the division.” Including live rock and coral [...]

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(Mahalo to the talented Mark Fiesta for the picture) The latest scoops from legal intern Tyler on legal proceedings around the push to protect agricultural and preservation lands in Waianae currently threatened with industrialization. Fenceline to farms and homes, an industral park and new landfill are proposed on this area in the middle of one [...]

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From Shelley: This weekend we hosted our fourth Environmental Justice Bus Tour–this time with an added stop at the Farmer’s Market.  Mahalo to everyone who came out to learn more about Wai`anae! We had a great mix of people hailing from far and wide.  Groups represented were Nakem Youth (from Kalihi), CEJE, Hawai`i Farm Union, [...]

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From Marti: The Ho‘ike for the second graduating class of Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai‘anae that was held last friday totally renewed my internal spring of hope for the future of Hawai‘i.  Ten young people with nothing in common, but their home along the Wai‘anae Coast, came together to learn about the history and power [...]

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From Shelley: This past Saturday, a small group of determined “door knockers” set out to give a heads up to residents on Hakimo Road in Lualualei about a proposed industrial park planned in their neighborhood of small farms and homes.  Of all the 30 or so people we talked to, not a single person had [...]

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From Marti: The first preliminary hearing in the whole purple spot saga was held on May 20th before the Land Use Commission.  The Land Use Commission met to decide whether the Environmental Impact Statement is complete for Tropic Land’s proposal to turn 96 acres of fertile farm land into an industrial park at the back [...]

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From Shelley: Last month, we went to the Land Use Commission for the proposed rezoning of agriculture land to industrial land in the back of Lualualei Valley. From the moment I got there I felt lost–the actual hearing room is tucked away on the 4th floor with very little signage.  The building is set with [...]

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From Shelley: Last weekend we hosted the third Environmental Justice tour of Wai’anae.  We had a nice mix of people hailing from different parts of the island and from many different backgrounds–professors, students, locals, newcomers, young, and not so young–it was great. Before I begin the breakdown of what we saw, I just have to [...]

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Action Alert! Today, despite overwhelming community support for protecting local farm lands, developers are pushing Honolulu Councilmembers to approve a “purple spot,” a new industrial zone in the middle of green Lualualei Valley on the Waianae Coast. This industrial zone would urbanize precious agricultural and preservation lands, paving the way for industrial parks, landfills, and [...]

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From:  Andrea Just last month, Act 155 was passed in the Hawaii Legislature, amending Hawaii’s renewable energy law. One of the highlights of this amendment was the strengthening of Hawaii’s Renewable Portfolio Standards (often abbreviated as RPS).  These standards are binding for electric utility companies, which must satisfy the specified percentage of their net electricity [...]

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From:  Andrea Last night at the public hearing on the Draft Science Plan for Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument, held at the monument office in Hawaii Kai, a troubling consequence of the lack of environmental review was elucidated. One of the Science Plan authors stated that research activities that have already been permitted are assumed to [...]

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From:  Andrea Most people are familiar with our inalienable natural rights, as John Locke summed up as life, liberty, and property.  But what about nature’s right to exist, flourish, and naturally evolve? These are the inalienable legal rights that the town of Shapleigh, Maine, voted to grant to nature last February.  Now, in the town [...]

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From:  Andrea U.S. Army Garrison-Hawaii is soliciting community interest in creating a Restoration Advisory Board as part of the Military Munitions Response Program for two sites near the U.S. Army’s Pohakuloa Training Area.  The motivation for the Restoration Advisory Board is to enable community participation in environmental issues on previously used military training sites. Currently, [...]

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From:  Andrea The U.S. Coast Guard removed 32 tons of debris from the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands over the Fourth of July weekend.  Much thanks to the Coast Guard for ameliorating the health of our oceans!  See the Honolulu Advertiser article: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090713/BREAKING01/307130004/U.S.%20Coast%20Guard%20removes%2032%20tons%20of%20debris%20from%20Northwestern%20Hawaiian%20Islands?GID=e/Si+j1sOYkNlMXAMxQScaqw1wgB5/Nurtn+5iNvNh8%3D While I am glad that efforts to clean up marine litter are taking place, [...]

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From:  Andrea Sparked by curiosity about the legal procedure for chemical spills and releases, I have been researching the Hawaii Emergency Planning and Community-Right-to-Know Act.  After days picking apart the details of this Act and  related regulations, I am left to wonder where I may find the “Community-Right-to-Know” aspect. It seems like it should be [...]

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From:  Andrea Kahana residents have not ceased their tireless fight to stay in their homes.  Since their homeland was condemned as a state park in the ’60s, the people of Kahana have had to battle the State of Hawaii to stay in their homes. And, now, after the State found illegal the law passed in [...]

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UH, the Army and NOAA are getting around next week to looking for chemical weapons dumped off the Waianae Coast in the 1940s. A public report released in 2001 by the Army’s Historical Research and Response Team identified over 4,000 tons of dumped chemicals munitions, including hydrogen cyanide bombs, cyanogens chloride bombs, mustard bombs and [...]

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From Marti: I was listening to this on the radio, and the topic of climate change and ocean resources got me thinking. Effects being felt by islands in the Pacific are often mentioned in the discussion about the health of our oceans as “early indicators” of the affects of climate change. Bleaching and disease in [...]

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