Thursday, December 1, 2016

Musings: Courts Down, Lege to Go

The anti-GMO litigation in Hawaii is dead.

Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff acknowledged in a Tuesday afternoon webinar that he “would be reluctant" to ask the current Supreme Court “to rule on an issue like this, but I doubt the court would be interested, whether we asked them or not.”

The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals affirmed District Court rulings that prevent the litigation from being referred to the Hawaii Supreme Court, leaving SCOTUS as the only option to keep the three defeated bills alive.

With further appeals now apparently out of the question — despite funding pleas to the contrary — the activists plan to focus all their fury on the Legislature and Gov. Ige's administration. Oh, joy!

Ashley Lukens, director of the Hawaii Center for Food Safety, said the group will be pushing some bills supported by its partners — Sierra Club, Surfrider and Farmers Union United, which represents primarily foodies and yardeners, not commercial farmers. CFS, meanwhile, will be lobbying for mandatory “public” disclosure of pesticide use, and buffer zones around “sensitive areas,” such as homes, schools and waterways. But curiously, only for agriculture.

Her comment echoes a challenge issued by failed politician Gary Hooser in his blog:

The chemical companies will rue the day they took on this battle with our community.

It would have been much easier for them and for our community if they simply would have accepted the modest provisions contained in Bill 2491 – Disclose to us your pesticide usage, don’t spray next to schools, hospitals and homes and let us do a comprehensive study to determine health impacts on our community.

But instead they have fought us every step of the way.

Bullshit. The seed companies are voluntary disclosing their pesticide use, which is posted on a government website, as well as notifying neighbors prior to pesticide applications. They also stopped cultivating fields nears schools, and none of them are growing crops near hospitals, though they give those facilities prior notification of spraying just as a courtesy.

As for a comprehensive health study, as I previously reported, anti-GMO activist Pat Gegen and others asked the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry to “perform a Public Health Assessment on the west side of Kauai due to environmental health concerns associated with pesticide use by nearby agricultural operations.”

The agency declined, noting:

“It is unlikely that residents of Kauai west side communities are being exposed to pesticides at levels of health concern when they swim in, have contact with, or drink from local streams and rivers.”

“Overall, the scientific literature does not provide strong support for an association of human agricultural pesticide exposure with the birth defects of concerns.” 

The seed companies are not stopping anyone from doing a comprehensive health study. It's just that there's no justification to warrant the expense of such an undertaking. I guess it was naive to think Hooser would stop lying once he lost re-election.

Hooser then writes:

The focus now will be on the Governor and the Hawaii State Legislature to put into place the necessary regulations and conduct the needed testing and studies.

Again, solid regulations already are in place, and both the Department of Ag and Department of Health have agreed to conduct more testing and studies. What more do these people want?

I mean, aside from the spotlight. And the cash to keep their groups going.

Hooser closes with:

I have the freedom today to make new choices, unfettered in a sense from the bindings of elective office. #hooserunleashed

Yeah, well, there's a leash law, ya know. I wonder if Hooser will now finally register as a lobbyist.

In fact, he's already at it, meeting with newly elected Maui Councilwoman Kelly King on her home turf:
And he's such a class act that he let her pay for lunch.  But then, he is unemployed now. (Oh, yeah! We be doing the happy dance!)

It's not surprising that these groups have gotten so much favorable coverage in Civil Beat. Besides Pierre Omidyar, they also enjoy shared funding from the Wallace A. Gerbode Foundation — which CB describes as "our major benefactor" and “an activist grant-making private foundation.”

Oh, so they're finally admitting they aren't actually an investigative news site — they're an activist group. That totally explains their biased coverage.

In closing, here's a little tidbit:

Eastdil Secured has been retained to offer for sale the fee simple interest in the acclaimed St. Regis Princeville Resort and the Makai Golf Club (collectively the “Resort”) located on the scenic Hawaiian island of Kauai.

Wonder what changes that may entail?

34 comments:

Anonymous said...

Their mantra; If at first you don't succeed, fail fail again.

Anonymous said...

Joan, without the focus on the biotechs here by concerned citizens, which you refer to as "antis", spraying close to schools, homes and hospitals would still be happening now. We who live close to the fields are thankful to the watchdogs (some of them BULLDOGS AND PITBULLS) for their concern and efforts. Without the suit by the Waimea community, Waimea would still be the dust bowl of Kauai and the biotechs would still be using farm practices that are illegal. So, the concerned, steadfast minds (which you refer to as "antis") are angels to many who have been harmed by the biotechs here on Kauai!

Anonymous said...

Wow Joan! You are monitoring Gary's Facebook pages and having him followed on Maui and taking pictures to boot. I guess Monsanto is every where and he can get away with nothing. Very cool.

Joan Conrow said...

@8:37 So if you've gotten what you wanted, and now it's all good, then why are you still complaining?

@8:39 Actually, I'm blocked from Gary's Facebook page. He posts his blog publicly on the Internet, just as I do. And really? You actually think I'm having him followed? And that Monsanto is everywhere? Paranoia reigns.

Anonymous said...

Joan said "Then why are you still complaining?"

Because they want to DESTROY AG!!!

Anonymous said...

Great post Joan. I don't understand how Gary and his crew can keep posted false statements about what the seed companies are doing to poison Kauai and (despite the JFFG report) people still eat it up! -Obviously none of them have read the report, or facts just don't matter anymore. I think they do, but more and more it looks like the anti's and American's just don't care about the facts in our post-truth society.

Anonymous said...

@8:37 AM, the seed companies were voluntarily spraying near schools after school was over and wind was blowing AWAY from the schools, towards the spray rig; keeping a buffer zone away from the hospital and only spraying when wind was blowing away from hospital towards spray rig; and as far as spraying near homes, homeowners were notified in advance and applications only occurred if wind was blowing away from homes toward spray rig. And this was happening before 2010. The dust problem was here during sugar, and no evidence of harm has ever been shown from dust or pesticides on Kauai. Practically all of the complaints on the West side came from either people who had been terminated with cause from the seed companies, or transplants from mainland urban areas who have no clue about agriculture.

Anonymous said...

I challenge anyone to come up with one documented case of anyone who was in a hospital and was negatively impacted by agricultural pesticides in the entire history of modern agriculture in Hawaii.It sounds good on paper but there's nothing behind these claims.

Anonymous said...

And from the picture, it's not likely the former councilman is accustomed to light lunches.I might have to attend the festivities to celebrate a Hooser-free Council today. Maybe he'll "seek other opportunities" on Maui.

Anonymous said...

If I were she, I'd pay for lunch. I'd have first hand info on how to screw oneself as a politician and an individual. Then I would do everything opposite.

Anonymous said...

Curious Joan why you don't post pictures of Brun and Kagawa meeting with the Syngenta reps for lunch recently on the west side?

Anonymous said...

You sir or ma'am is by far the most ignorant slave. Please do not have children and if you do then please let someone adopt your kid(s).

Joan Conrow said...

If you have pictures to prove it, send them my way.

Anonymous said...

Kelly King, new Maui Council Candidate --- major hypocrite. Perfect for her to get tips from Hooser.

She's proud of being an anti, panders to the antis, has promised a new anti-GMO bill, but makes her living from her biodiesel company that uses GMO plant oil!

What a joke. But these are the kinds of people that we are entrusting with our future. Along with the self-proclaimed alchemist and new Maui Councilmember, Alika Atay, who delayed invasive species experts access to his 1.5 acre "farm" until they could get a court order to go in, while the devastating Fire Ants proliferated.

And Atay's new office staffer, Trinette Furtado, the welfare recipient who, in advertising for her own unsuccessful bid for the Council, says she's a "technical entrepreneur" but on her financial disclosure claims she is unemployed with no income. But she found time to be a part of every anti-everything cause and sued to help put 700 farm families out of business. She's still gloating about it.

Yeah, these are our new leaders.

Anonymous said...

Yea right. Like I am going to take a chance taking those guys pictures. The thugs would beat the living shit out of me. You got luck on Maui I guess. You must know the restaurant management or the chem guys just have a huge network and they are all on the lookout for Hooser.

Unknown said...

@ 12:55 " or ma'am" is a parenthetical expression and should be set off by either commas, or by parentheses. Also, ""is" by far" should actually be "are". In addition, "and if you do" is also a parenthetical express that you failed to punctuate. Normally, a comma is used after "please" when it starts a sentence; but, since the sentence is a boarder-line run-on, I hardly see the point. That beings said, based on your lack of grammar (and punctuation) skills, I have determined that you are ill qualified to make any determination in regard to Joan's intelligence. Quite frankly, her eloquent writing skills, and vast knowledge of a vast array of topics, makes her over qualified to write this humble blog.

That being said, please go TROLL elsewhere. You hate reflects poorly on the Anti's cause.

Anonymous said...

@12:44 pm, it's possible they might have been discussing avoiding conflicts of interest, something Hooser repeatedly failed to do when he was a councilmember.

Anonymous said...

Joan, i am not complaining---i am saying, those people did some good for some of us!

9:03; i have lived in Waimea for the past 35 years, next to Syngenta fields, next to Waimea Canyon School. I use to call for their spraying schedule cuz my doctor told me to use caution being that the fields were so close to my home. That was in 2002-2006 when i was not well. They didn't notify the school or public about their schedules. They sprayed whenever they had to as i could see them doing it at times---then came the outcries from the public and they shutdown their fields that were adjacent to the school and subdivision. You really have to live it to know it! Why can't some of you believe what some of us have witnessed and lived through?

Anonymous said...

@3:00 we don't believe you because we've lived here much longer than 35 years before corn when sugar would spray and burn with total impunity and we are still alright. We don't believe you because you're a liar.

Anonymous said...

You white/brown/yellow Devils always think you know it all and it wasn't Joan that made that comment so the response was at the anonymous commenter. You can't even comprehend that but you're a grammar expert/farmer boy? You're probably a Chen/bio employee and it's easy to identify that you are because all of your comments suggest that you're just another white missionary trying to profit from the brown people while committing genocide like your ancestors.

You mainland hacks just stumbled upon this blog within a couple of months or years and haven't been here since the start.

I have and all you slaves such as county, state, KCC, and many coworkers wouldn't have known about this blog site. I brought everyone of you here by using the dirty syndicate pigs to enslave you as stalkers.

I have to change my writing style and I've done in many times to confuse you white/brown/yellow devils.

#iAmDaKingOfKauai

Anonymous said...

Whiners and losers thick here.

Anonymous said...

Imagine if Hoser and his asshole friends fought poverty, domestic violence, and the devastating meth problem on the west side of Kauai with the same zeal that they've gone after ag. Gee you can't because they never will. Or support the real non profits that work tirelessly with out recognition on the real problems on Kauai. These people have no shame!

Anonymous said...

That is the truth 8:05 PM!

Anonymous said...

They ain't doing shit but collecting a pay check.

Anonymous said...

Ditto @ 8:05pm....my great grandparents came to kauai in the early 1900's because of sugar, lived well into their 80's and 90's.....so did my grandparents....my parents are alive and well in their 70's....still living in kekaha gardens with cane field in our backyard. And also ditto @ 8:05pm, da batu problem is sickening.

Anonymous said...

6:01---i was born and raised in Waimea, lived on Oahu to go to school, came back here and lived in Kalaheo for a number of years and returned to Waimea 35 years ago! So, i lived a street away from the sugar fields, we grew up on the plantation! I loved the smell of burning cane and miss it today. Yes, sugar is very different from corn, if you really lived here a long time you would know that!!!!!! Sugar sprayed, but most of it was very close to the ground---men carried sapidong cans on their backs, sprayer few inches off the ground. They sprayed only the weeds and not the entire plant like they do corn---we never had planes spraying like they did at Olokele later on. You gotta go read up on how most gmo corn are made to withstand glophysate (roundup) and how the pesticide is used on corn! They didn't do that with sugar!!!!!! Maybe that's why you and I are still alive and doing okay.

Anonymous said...

Sorry meant to say ditto @ 3:00pm

Anonymous said...

Also, I remember the cane fields in Kekaha were sprayed via airplane or helicopter

Anonymous said...

Facts and not just Chem/Bio propaganda.

Anonymous said...

You would think that if the spraying was safe then why would they move. The fact that they ran as soon as that took place is evidence to contradict the stink weed conclusion. If you're wrong then admit your mistakes but if you were right then practice what you preach and have studies and data to support your claim(s).

Anonymous said...

@902 brah you are such a liar! They sprayed all kine like paraquat chlordane and simazine and they would spray from helicopters and planes. You went school not worked the fields.

Anonymous said...

1:48 They didn't run they were trying to respond to community fears

Anonymous said...

FIYO, aerial application of pesticides by the sugarcane companies were not those mentioned. Paraquat, chlordane, and atrazine are extremely toxic. What was used was a sugarcane ripener to induce the plant to store sugar for harvesting, rather than growing further. Further, fertilizers were dropped by aerial means.

Anonymous said...

Bradley would love to get his hands on that shit @ 6:37 for his big corn