Part VI
By ddepledge
The state Office of Environmental Quality Control is not the only state agency to oppose a state House draft that would give the governor and county mayors the ability to exempt state and county construction projects from environmental review if the projects would have minimal impact on the environment.
The bill, meant to help boost the construction industry, would also relax the special management area review process for state projects.
The state Office of Hawaiian Affairs warned House lawmakers that the bill “could result in irreversible impacts or costly remediation measures in the future.”
The Office of Planning strongly opposed the bill, which would make the office temporarily responsible for processing all special management area permit applications for all state projects. In written testimony, Jesse Souki, the director of the Office of Planning, wrote that the bill would “set OP up for failure, risk federal funding, detract from the effectiveness of the (Coastal Zone Management) program to plan for and manage the sustainable use of Hawaii’s coastal resources, and raise the specter of liability for OP and the state.”
But the state Department of Transportation believes the bill will allow the department to implement projects in a more timely and efficient manner.
The Building Industry Association of Hawaii , the General Contractors Association of Hawaii, and the Land Use Research Foundation of Hawaii also supported the bill.
Environmental and conservation groups, which have led the opposition, asked lawmakers not to to weaken regulatory oversight of state construction.
“This bill is based on a misconception: that we can spur economic development by temporarily removing rules for construction of certain state and county projects,” Mary Steiner, the chairwoman of the state Environmental Council, said in written testimony. “The rules are needed to ensure wise planning and to protect the environment and our unique cultural heritage.”
The House Water, Land and Ocean Resources Committee and the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee delayed action on the bill until Thursday morning.
Political Radar
March 21st, 2012 at 11:14 pm
The arrogance of the Hawaii House of Representatives this year is palpable. Every is controlled by the speaker and every Bill is referred to the Finance Committee giving two men, the Chair Marcus Oshiro and the Speaker Calvin Say total control over all policy and all money. These two men can do whatever they wish as no Democrat in the House is willing to challenge them. Either the other Democrats feel powerless and feel “what’s the use” or they are afraid of losing whatever pitiful power they mistakenly think they have now. Or, perhaps Speaker leaves them alone, throws them a bone in the form of a leadership title/position, maybe even let’s them chair a committee and think they have some control (or at least a title) and maybe directs the Chair of Finance to toss them some CIP money for their district so they look good to their constituents. SB755HD2 as Proposed is especially interesting to watch as this twisted circus of civic corruption continues to unfold. You can be sure that the leadership in the House are laughing loudly in the back rooms as they high five their LURF friends, knowing the hoops and consternation they are causing among enviro’s and the increasing divisiveness that they knowingly foster within the administration. They cut and paste and gut and replace and refer and re-refer and schedule and postpone and reschedule to their hearts content while the public and the hapless directors, deputy directors and various state employees run in circles dancing dutifully to the commanding music strummed by the Speaker and his lieutenants. At the end of the day, we can only be thankful for the handful of Republicans who are willing to speak out against this corrupt charade and who are willing to at least try to expose this horrible abuse of the public interest for what it is. And, we can hope I suppose that the adults in the room that occupy the second floor, will be mature and responsible enough to cut short this stupid little skit currently being performed in the House.
March 22nd, 2012 at 10:53 am
Sounds like a lucid argument against removing this oversight SOEQC body – for theres’ been too many opposing views that have been disregarded of valid concerns to the environment – the sustainable alternatives for the land with esthetic logic and reasons – traffic congestion – inflated developer’s-real estate vs. land value. Hawaii’s uniqueness should be considered “a stand alone state” … in comparison to the continental states – theres’ such a thing as overbuilding to keep up with the Joneses. The local Jones’ should not be given free reign from draining the lifeblood and resources of this unique islands … consider it a “commodity” that must be used wisely – for thats’ all that is left to the islanders’!
March 22nd, 2012 at 12:07 pm
People follow the $ and you will see that Democrats don’t even care about the environment especially when it cuts into their special interests loyalties and affects their contributions and their personal pocketbooks.
March 22nd, 2012 at 12:11 pm
More Bills means More Bills being paid out by taxpayers. Ducks!
March 22nd, 2012 at 4:35 pm
While a state agency, OHA is an independent body, elected on their own by the voters. The director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control, Gar Hooser, while appointed by the Governor, does not “serve at the pleasure” of the Governor. The OEQC has responsibility for advising the Guv and state agencies on how to comply with environmental laws, even when the GUv may not want to do so. So the director has to be protected when he disagrees with the Governor>
I am impressed with the strong testimony of Jesse Souki, director of Planning for the State. When Souki was first nominated, I had some concerns whether he would stand up to developers. It is my sense there is pressure coming from not only the Speaker, but also the Governor on this.
I was told months ago that the Governor’s Number One benchmark for success is whether he can lower the unemployment rate. This is consistent with a Keynesian perspective that our economic recovery is contingent upon boosting the ability of working and middle-class people to purchase goods and services, which, in turn, increases sales for small businesses as the money circulates through the economy.
There is a lot of merit in such an approach to boosting the economy. But it should be tempered by our need, and state government’s CONSTITUTIONAL OBLIGATION, to protect our environment from damage. The Speaker and the Governor appear to have bought into the anti-environmental bias of development interests in viewing our environmental laws as an unreasonable restraint on construction, rather than seeing them as a necessary component of their due diligence to mitigate against excessive and avoidable damage to our home.
When the Governor was first elected, he tried to force out all members of boards and commissions appointed by the previous administration. I am no fan of the Lingle administration, but our constitution has safeguards to force a governor to win approval from other parties before barging ahead, unrestrained by dialogue or the need to convince others. Thankfully, Machado, Hooser and Souki have demonstrated some backbone in resisting this pell mell rush to throw out our longstanding environmental protections. Hopefully, the Speaker and Governor will recognize the wisdom of their advice.
If the Lorax were on the state payroll, I’m sure he would stand with them.
March 23rd, 2012 at 5:47 pm
Mainland thinking. Being in Hawaii, it seems Hawaii with all the Hail and Tornadoes that the Mainland has is now becoming what those who transplant here, missed.