Musings: No True Purpose

Friends of Mahaulepu (FOM) is ramping up the fear machine against Hawaii Dairy Farm as the deadline for commenting on the project's draft EIS nears.

Two new radio ads feature staged conversations between FOM board members Bridget Hammerquist and Eileen Kechloian, who level all sorts of false, frightening claims against the proposed dairy.

The first ad goes something like this: “How are things? Oh, they're not good, I'm really worried about Mahaulepu (mispronounced) Valley; all that manure, over 2 million pounds, going down that valley and into the ocean; they now admit they're going to pollute; oh, and the grass-fed, that's gone, too.”

Every single one of those claims is complete and utter bullshit.

The other ad continues the distortion: “I heard the cows are pregnant” – uh, duh, how else do you think think they're going to make milk? – “they only have five fulltime jobs here, but there are 2,618 jobs on the southshore, and that odor and biting flies is going to affect jobs terribly.”

Actually, if you read the draft EIS — as these two lying wahine claim they have — you'll find:

It is estimated that just 2 percent of the nitrogen and 1 percent of the phosphorus produced have the potential to runoff the farm — levels that will not adversely affect ocean water quality or the marine environment.

Air quality in the immediate vicinity of the dairy farm (within 1,700 feet) may, in the worst-case conditions, be affected with odors from the effluent pond and manure in the pasture paddocks. The odor extends to approximately 2,780-feet (about half a mile) for the 2,000-cow operation. However, the nearest homes, recreational areas and commercial centers are more than a mile away.

The DEIS also outlines measures that will be taken to prevent flies from becoming established at the dairy, and there's no indication they will travel a mile to the closest homes.

Whether one supports the dairy or not, I think most pono people would agree that it's wrong to deliberately frighten and deceive others to advance one's agenda. But that's the strategy embraced by FOM and other vociferous opponents of the dairy, including Councilman Gary Hooser, Surfrider and Hawaii SEED's Jeri DiPietro, all of whom used a similar approach to push the anti-GMO/anti-seed company agenda.

So is this the new normal in dealing with agricultural uses of ag land? Mobilize opposition through scare tactics? Stubbornly cling to false beliefs and claims, even when they've been proven false? Throw tons of shit against the wall and see what sticks?

FOM is also bringing in John A. Kilpatrick, who runs a real estate advising firm, to further scare folks with alarmist talk about how the dairy will trash their property values. And that leads us to the real crux of the issue.

Much of the money raised to fight the dairy has come from condo owners at Poipu Kai, which donated first $10,000 and then $40,000, and Jay Kechloian, a Seattle builder-developer who showed how sleazy he is by fighting design standards and an ordinance that prevented construction of two houses on substandard lots in that city.

Though this issue is typically framed as “protecting Mahaulepu,” it's really about protecting their own economic interests from a perceived threat. So do we let the self-interested few destroy a viable venture that can actually help create the local, diversified ag that so many of the dairy opponents are also screaming for?

While we're on the topic of false claims, folks are repeating the lie that Mark Zuckerberg' security guards are trying to keep people from using the public beach. No, they're just striving to control the daily influx of trespassers who want to get on the land and take pictures. The guards tolerate those who encroach hundreds of feet in from the beach. But once the curious start to breach the interior, they're told to return to the beach.

There never has been any public beach access through the land Zuckerberg bought, and he's under no requirement to provide it. Folks can still use the same legal public access ways that have always been available to reach Pilaa and Waipake beaches: Either rock hop from the Waiakalua or walk from Larsen's (Lepeuli).

The county could have had an access to Waipake through the Kahuaina part of the Zuckerberg land, back when it was owned by Falko Partners.  But Hooser and Councilman Mason Chock, egged on by a few disgruntled citizens, kept pushing for more. 

Meanwhile, the property was placed on the market. So when Zuckerberg bought the land and relinquished the entitlement for up to 76 CPR lots — there was never any permitting for affordable housing, as Allan Parachini mistakenly asserted — the access requirement was eliminated.

Don't blame Facebook boy. Blame the pandering politicians and misguided citizens who screwed up the chance for a public access there.

Speaking of pandering politicians, Sen. Bernie Sanders is desperately trying to retain some relevance in the wake of his failed presidential bid by opposing a bi-partisan GMO labeling bill that would actually affect more products that his home-state labeling law. 

Despite Bernie's best efforts, the Senate closed debate on the legislation and is expected to approve it soon. It would create a national system that gives food manufacturers these labeling options, which certainly seem sufficient:

Use a government-sanctioned US Department of Agriculture (USDA) symbol on packaging.

Print a label using plain language.

Print a QR code on food packaging that shoppers can scan.

But as the New York Times reported:

Proponents of labeling insisted that nothing short of text on packages would do.

How ironic that these who have clamored most loudly for labeling are now opposing it because it's not exactly what they want. 

They're all for transparency when it applies to someone else. But as I've drilled down in these anti-GMO groups, I've consistently found that they reveal very little about their own income, expenses and operations. To apply their argument about labeling, if they're proud of what they do, why won't they disclose?

Unless, of course, they have no true purpose aside from making trouble for others: 

See what I mean?