Funds for environmental strike team sought

The Maui News
Thursday, April 22, 2004

By MARK ADAMS, Staff Writer

HONOLULU - If the response to the dengue fever outbreak in East Maui and other areas of Hawaii three years ago had not been quick and effective, the disease could have made the state's tourism industry very sick.

But a state Emergency Environmental Work Force was quickly mobilized, with the state Legislature appropriating $1.5 million to put scores of workers in the field destroying the mosquitoes that carried the fever and the places where they were breeding.

"What the environmental work force did was save the entire tourism industry in Hawaii," Maui Sen. Kalani English said Wednesday. "That initial $1.5 million ended up saving billions of dollars and the loss of jobs and livelihoods" that would have occurred had tourists worldwide decided that Hawaii was not a safe place to visit.

As the state Legislature moves into its final days of decision-making, English is busy trying to find at least $1 million in a supplemental budget already being stretched thin to continue the work of the environmental strike team.

The EEWF was made permanent through a law passed in the 2003 legislative session, but English said he now wants it to be made part of the Hawaii Revised Statutes to increase its prominence.

Senate Bill 2134, which accomplishes that, was passed out of a joint House-Senate conference committee on Wednesday.

English said he thinks he can find the funding, and between today and the end of next week, when the last of the fiscal bills before the Legislature will be decided, the senator plans to capture $1 million to fund the battle when the next environmental disaster flies in, slithers by or starts growing in an ecologically sensitive state that depends heavily on its natural environment to keep its economic engine thrumming along.

The $1 million would be used by the Hawaii Invasive Species Council to deal with future emergencies, the senator said.

"Much like we did with dengue and typhus and anything else that comes up, it gives them a very rapid response team," English said. "It moves us away from an ad hoc approach and toward a coordinated, holistic approach."

English credited the council, established last year by the Legislature and involving the heads of most state departments, with "taking the idea of protecting the environment and running with it, with investing a lot of effort."

There is $4 million in the current state budget to fund the council, and it could use some of the money for emergency response to environmental threats. The EEWF operates through the Research Council of the University of Hawaii, which can hire temporary workers to respond to invasive alien species including miconia, coqui frogs, fire ants and fireweed.

Maui County has recognized the need to protect the state's ecosystem for years, Mayor Alan Arakawa said Wednesday, beginning with the effort to eradicate the fast-growing miconia plant. The South American ornamental is gaining a chokehold in the East Maui forests that are a prime habitat for a number of endangered native Hawaiian birds, plants, insects and snails.

That effort began with county funding prior to the dengue outbreak and creation of the EEWF, Arakawa said, and he welcomed the efforts of English and his colleagues in the Legislature.

"This is a bill we supported from the very beginning and have been pushing very hard," the mayor said. "We have too many alien species that are coming in, and the potential devastation is unacceptable in our minds.

"It's an absolute economic benefit to be able to preempt major catastrophes," he said. "We actually need a permanent task force, one that is working full-time on the eradication of invasive species.

"But we'll take the baby steps - the funding that we need is more than the state will ever be able to put up, but this is a good starting point," he said of SB 2134. He made a point of thanking all of those in the Legislature supporting the current bill.

English said the EEWF legislation will be heard again on Wednesday, and by then he hopes to have found his million dollars to fund a strike force when needed. He and Arakawa are in agreement on the need to devote more money to protecting Hawaii's environment, which has benefits in many areas.

"It's a worthwhile investment, and as we solidify the role of the work force I would like to see it permanently staffed," the senator said. "What it means to Maui County is that we protect our industries - our agricultural industry, our tourism industry, our ocean industry. It becomes our first line of defense in protecting our economy as well as our environment."

English also noted another bill that benefits Maui's agricultural industry and the county's rural lifestyle passed out of conference committee on Wednesday.

Senate Bill 3207 provides a tax credit for facilities that produce ethanol using molasses and bagasse, the waste fiber left over after sugar cane is processed.

"The ethanol tax credit helps keeps our cane fields planted in cane," he said of an island that would look and feel very different without its green central valley. "This is a major boost to keeping cane production going on Maui."

The Senate committee report on the bill states that changing the current ethanol investment tax credit to an ethanol facility tax credit will encourage the construction of large-capacity ethanol production facilities in the state.

"The expected construction will not only benefit the building industry and in turn the state's economy, but will dramatically impact the use of alternative fuels to ultimately provide a cleaner environment and reduce the State's dependence on fossil fuels," the report states.

English said finding a market for the byproducts of sugar cane processing will help preserve Maui's rural lifestyle.

He said ethanol brings down fuel prices because it is cheaper to buy, is less polluting and helps the state meet its goal of producing 30 percent of its energy needs through renewable energy resources developed within the state in the next 20 years.

Mark Adams can be reached at madams@mauinews.com.

Copyright © 2003 — The Maui News

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