Musings: ADU Deju Vu

Former Councilman Jesse Fukushima, reincarnated as a Realtor after his failed bid for mayor, is now finagling to make permanent a law that allows construction of an additional dwelling unit (ADU) on agricultural land.

The oft-extended ADU law was set to expire in 2009, but was extended until Dec. 15, 2014 for what was supposed to be the absolute last time. Now Jesse wants to make it permanent, with no expiration date.

What it essentially does is let people convert their guest house right into a full second home. These “entitlements” are then used to create CPR (condominium property regime) lots, which help the realtors make money, while subsequently driving up the cost of ag land so it's too expensive to farm.

Ag CPRs also come with all sorts of associated problems, such as inadequate infrastructure to handle the density, disagreements among landowners who have tenancy in common (a boon for attorneys) and the gentrification of ag land. They've also contributed to the proliferation of illegal vacation rentals.

Though the ADU provision was initially promoted in 1989 as a way to help the poor — sob — locals trying to provide housing for their kids, giving rise to the misnomer “ohana unit,” the reality has been far different.

As Michael Levine reported in The Garden Island back in 2009:

The council debated the original purpose of the legislation, agreeing for the most part that “the intent of the bill has been lost.”



While many members said the sixth extension — for five full years, to Dec. 15, 2014 — should be the final one and spoke out against inappropriate land use, when it came time to vote, the measure passed unanimously Wednesday morning.

“Ag zoned lands should be for ag purposes, and we should keep that in mind,” [former Councilman Kaipo] Asing said, criticizing the original idea and all the subsequent extensions to it. “What have we created?” he asked, referring to transient vacation rentals and second homes along Hanalei Bay.

Yet here we are again.

In an email circulated by Chris Hayden, Jesse writes:

Through the grapevine, some of the council members have been approached with the request to have this item be placed on the council's agenda.

We have received responses from Council Chairman Jay Furfaro, councilmembers Ross Kagawa and JoAnn Yukimma [sic] and their sincere interest to work with our efforts.

How interesting, especially since Levine quoted Jay as saying, back in 2009:

“This is the compassionate way to close the door.” Furfaro said he has no intent to revisit the issue in five years and he sees the extension as an “exit strategy” to help bring county law back into compliance with the General Plan.

As for JoAnn, well, she apparently “got it” back in 2006 when she introduced an amendment with the language:

While well-intentioned, this law … has caused the unintended consequences of residential growth on lands not primarily intended for residential use, and has thwarted one of the main goals of the Kauai County General Plan to “limit and control the dispersal of residential and urban use within agricultural lands” By not insuring that infrastructure could be available to qualifying lots before they were granted the privilege of applying for an additional dwelling units, the law has distorted the planning process and created a demand for infrastructure that is not in accordance with orderly community development.

The Kaua`i County Council finds that it is critical to terminate the ADU law and stop the creation of new Agricultural and Open lots entitled to apply for additional dwelling units. To not terminate the ADU law would be to encourage land use patterns that will be expensive to service and to live in. It will generate low density sprawl that could destroy the rural character and agricultural value of Kaua`i’s lands without providing affordable housing in effective and efficient ways.

But things apparently have changed, like both JoAnn and Jay are anticipating a tougher re-election fight than usual, having pissed off folks on both sides of the aisle due to their actions on Bill 2491, the pesticide/GMO regulatory law.

As an indication of who really benefits, consider this post on the Hawaii Life real estate blog back in 2009, when the ordinance was set to expire:

So what we have are a number of Ag-zoned CPR lots (a type of land subdivision based on Hawaii’s condominium laws) on the market right now that will lose the ability to have a home built on them, unless: a) they sell fairly quickly and the new owner starts the permitting process; or b) the current owner goes ahead and pulls a permit for a house they would rather not have to build.”

If you’ve ever considered buying and building on Kauai…this ‘ADU Sunset’ has created an unprecedented opportunity.

But not nearly so unprecedented as the opportunity to really mine gold by doing away with the expiration date altogether, forever.

In closing, I received two striking images this weekend. The first is of Kauai, as taken from the International Space Station. At that distance, it's all about the island as a land mass in the middle of the sea. I love her profile.

The second, taken from a drone, shows the neighborhood in Wainiha that was the focus of the Abuse Chronicles series. 

It graphically depicts the transformation of this former residential neighborhood: the proliferation of de facto mini-resorts without virtue of a special management area permit. Just check out the size of those TVR houses, especially compared to the residences on the mauka side of the street.

This is what happens when the county fails to engage in sound land use planning and enforcement. It's happening again on ag lands around the county, and the situation will only worsen with an extension of the ADU law. 

Will the Council finally say no, enough? Or will it roll over again and go belly up for the special interests?

Anything is possible in an election year.

Musings: Backassward

That big bright moon slid behind the mountains, leaving Venus to announce a surreal sunrise of purple and orange, valleys steaming with mist, shama thrush warbling, pig smells distracting Koko and Paele, and as we returned from our walk, I saw the kids heading for the school bus: ears plugged, heads down, thumbs working phones, and I thought, this could be the first generation in human history raised with many of its senses purposely stunted, shut off.

And it did not seem to me to be a good thing, or evolutionarily wise, not when we need more than ever to be looking up and out at the big picture, actually seeing, smelling and hearing the real, living world that we are creating and destroying.

It brought to mind a quote from cultural expert Ramsay Taum, delivered at a climate change conference and reported in Henry Curtis' “ililanimedia” blog post yesterday:

In our medical systems we were looking at dead things. We take live things and kill them and cut them up to understand them and think we now understand them when there are alive. So we develop all of our methodologies, our responses, based on what we see after they're dead rather than alive, so maybe we need to shift the way we research.

We approach so much of life ass backward.

Like instead of fielding a candidate to try and beat Mayor Bernard Carvalho Jr., the ever-vengeful and deep-pocketed Mike Sheehan keeps pushing the state Attorney General to bust the big guy for taking the fifth during the “fuel gate” inquiries. Even though the AG clearly doesn't want to touch it, and already bounced it back to Police Chief Darryl Perry and Prosecutor Justin Kollar, both of whom declined to pursue it, saying it was a civil matter.

But Mike and his attorney, Richard Wilson, are still beating on the AG's door, this time asking the office to “make and file a certificate that Mr. Carvalho, fka [formerly known as] Mayor Carvalho, refused to testify two years ago in connection with a fuel audit.” The certificate is then supposed to be sent to the finance director, who is appointed by the mayor, apparently to make him stop paying the mayor's salary.

We already had a federal judge scold Kauai for its petty political feuds in Councilman Tim Bynum's lawsuit against the county – another action that Wilson was involved in. Will the AG issue a similar smack down over this obvious political vendetta? Aside from the questionable premise, there's the timing. This happened two years ago, and they're only now making a stink, when the mayor's up for re-election?

It's like a repeat of former Councilwoman Lani Kawahara's tearful and very public election-year allegations that former Council Chair Kaipo Asing supposedly had threatened her a year earlier — an incident that the police initially determined to be unfounded and that she herself chose not to pursue. It was all bullshit, a stunt contrived by Lani and Tim to exact revenge on Kaipo, but it worked, and his years of public service ended in ignoble defeat.

I don't think the same thing will happen to Bernard, but it makes an ugly process even uglier and discourages people from participating in politics at a time when we desperately need some new thinking.

I'll leave with you a joke for this Lenten time of year:

An Irishman goes into the confessional box after years of being away from the Church. 

Inside he finds a fully equipped bar with Guinness on tap. On one wall there's a row of decanters with fine Irish whiskey and Waterford crystal glasses. On the other wall is a dazzling array of the finest cigars and chocolates.

Then the priest comes in. 

"Father, forgive me, for it's been a very long time since I've been to confession, but I must first admit that the confessional box is much more inviting than it used to be."

"Get out, you moron," the priest replies. "You're on my side."

Musings: Positive Spins

Though the Kauai Humane Society is putting a positive spin on the new dog barking and cat licensing laws — for cats, “their status in the community has risen,” writes director Penny Cistaro in a commentary in today's paper — I don't think most folks are buying it.

The reactions I've been getting are “waste of time” and “ridiculous,” along with “unenforceable.” Others view it as a money-making scheme and/or power grab by KHS, and legislative craziness by sponsor Councilwoman JoAnn Yukimura.

A better approach might have been addressing dog barking through a comprehensive noise ordinance, as Councilman Mel Rapozo favored. Why should dogs be considered more of a nuisance than boom-box vehicles, rooster ranches, screaming kids, mowers and blowers, helicopters?

The bill initially included a provision in which the unhappy person had to first speak to his or her neighbor, and keep a log of the offending barking, which would've cut down on complaints and forced people to humanize someone they've likely demonized. But that apparently got deleted. Now it's a vague: “Unsuccessful remediation of the nuisance barking following intervention by the Enforcement Officer may result in the issuance of a citation.”

Violations will result in increasingly more expensive fines, but you can't just pay the fine and be done with it:

The issuance of a barking dog citation and/or payment of a fine shall not bar the Court from imposing appropriate remedial action to be undertaken by the responsible party, such as, but not limited to, successful completion of a dog behavioral course or the hiring of a dog trainer.

Good luck with that. I think, as Councilman Ross Kagawa noted, that we're going to see more clashes between neighbors as a result of this law, with hunting dog owners the first to be targeted by those who object more to their use than their barking. I also think we're going to see more dogs turned in, and ultimately killed, because their owners can't comply with the law.

As for the cats, yes, they should be viewed as highly as dogs, but their perceived lack of value likely has something to do with their abundance. It's sort of like a dove, as compared to a Newell's shearwater. Better to emphasize education, and reduce the feral population, than adopt a law that is likely to be followed only by those who already do value their feline companions.

But such is the nature of Kauai, where the politicians skirt the serious issues and instead focus on cats and dogs, some citizens cry for ever more regulation and in the end, it's all meaningless, because enforcement is essentially nil.

Which leads me to a great quote by Marcus Aurelius: “The object of life is not to be on the side of the majority, but to escape finding oneself in the ranks of the insane.”

Which leads me to a comment that someone left on yesterday's post:

Joan, on a totally different matter, I was watching one of the council meetings recently on Hoike. it seems that nothing has changed as far as Ken, Glenn, and Joe are concerned. Why do they feel they need to continually scold or lecture the council members on every subject matter that the council discusses? They seem to feel that they are experts on every subject. Also, why do they always sit where they can be seen on tv? I guess for them it is the closest thing 
to being a council member when you are not electable. What a waste of time and taxpayer!s money to hear and see these Yoyos whine at every meeting. They should give tus a break and get a life.

As another reader noted in an email to me:

If anyone thinks marathon council meetings produce good governance they’re nuts – and these 3 are responsible for lengthening Council meetings by 30 percent. Council is also to blame, they could tighten up rules for testimony – under Sunshine Law they're not required to allow testimony on every agenda item, I believe.

I appreciate the accessibility of our Council, and it's great that they don't have to be told, like the Hawaii County Council, that folks have the free speech right to criticize them in public testimony. But surely Council Chair Jay Furfaro could find a way to stuff a sock in it when it comes to ad-nauseum nit-picker testimony. And then maybe his colleagues would also learn the value of being succinct — or better yet, silent.

Musings: See, Saw and Seen

While cruising up to the North Shore the other day, I saw lots of Brian Schatz for Senator campaign signs — though Coldwell Banker, Hawaii Life and Sotheby must be more popular, because their signs greatly outnumbered his.

And I thought of a comment that Wainiha resident Eddie Kauo made to me a few years back: “I watch them wash in, and I watch them wash back out.”

I giggled a little when I saw Schatz's blatant bid to lure the Kauai vote by pretending he can influence the return of Friday night football games. My first thought was, really? That's the best you have to offer us?

“Who do you think is better, Colleen Hanabusa or Brian Schatz?” I asked a friend.

“It always comes down to the lesser of two evils,” he replied.

“So which one is more evil?”

“Well, Hanabusa's been around longer, so she's had more time to pile up the bad stuff. But Schatz is keeping pace.”

“Isn't this the race that's supposed to determine whether the haoles have taken over Hawaii, or the Japanese have retained control? I thought that you, as an Asian guy, would be voting for Hanabusa.”

“I am,” he said. “But not because of that. It's because her brother was my classmate, and my father knew her father...”

“Oh, I see.”

I see The Garden Island has published yet another commentary bashing the dairy. Though for some odd reason it has refused to run a piece from Police Chief Darryl Perry that he submitted last Friday, explaining why Kuhio Highway was closed for six hours due to the fatal crash last week. The chief finally posted it on the KPD website, where far fewer people are likely to see it. But then, it's not the first time I've scratched my head over TGI's editorial choices.

In today's anti-dairy dirge, Poipu resident Charlotte Beall talks about how people come to Kauai to experience its natural beauty:

But part of keeping Kauai pristine is not bringing in industries that will affect everything that makes Kauai desirable. Who will want to come when we’ve polluted the rivers, land and ocean so much that those species we delight in will disappear?

Aside from the mistaken belief that Kauai is “pristine” — it's not, and it hasn't been for centuries now — Beall apparently fails to realize that tourism began in Hawaii when nearly every inch was covered with pineapple and sugar cane, crops that were regularly sprayed with pesticides, sometimes via planes. And the tourists kept coming even though cane fires were burning, sugar cane waste was being dumped into the ocean and the mills, pig farms and dairies produced odors that Beall no doubt would find offensive.

We heard the same thing during the Bill 2491 battle: the tourists won't come if we're growing GMO crops with pesticides. Except that many, many tourists come from the Midwest, where feedlots and GMO crops are part of the landscape. Others come from the polluted cities.

As a case in point, a friend was visiting from Los Angeles when we were getting all that rain. I advised against surfing Hanalei, due to the runoff from the cesspools, taro fields and backcountry. His reply: It's still better than surfing at home, where I'm dealing with all the runoff from a metropolitan area of 10 million people.

Which is not to say we should trash Kauai, only that we needn't worry about the tourists. It's going to take a lot more than a dairy at Mahaulepu to deter them, unfortunately.

Beall wants to “find another use for that pristine land near Mahaulepu Beach and the Hyatt,” apparently failing to realize it was designated Important Ag Lands through a very prolonged and public process. If not there, then where? Someone else's backyard? Kauai is a rural community, and that means agriculture in our midst, not tucked away out of sight, out of mind.

Some wily developers are even using farms as a bucolic selling point for projects like Agritopia. They're building subdivisions — now dubbed "agrihoods" — around farms that supply the residents with veggies and vicarious thrills. As the New York Times reported:

"I'm a foodie and interested in animal husbandry and cultivating my own wasabi and mushrooms," [Seattle lawyer L.B.] Kregenow said. But she also likes to travel, which she said makes living in an agrihood ideal. "For me, the serious downside of farming is doing it on your own means, doing it 365 days a year," she said. "But in this scheme we will have a farm without all the responsibility."

What surprised me was learning that Kukuiula, A&B's super-luxe project near Poipu, is considered one of these agrihoods:

The Kukui'ula community in Kauai, Hawaii, opened in 2012 and has a 10-acre farm in addition to a clubhouse, spa and golf course.

"As a developer it's been humbling that such a simple thing and such an inexpensive thing is the most loved amenity," said Brent Herrington, who oversaw the building of Kukui'ula for the developer DMB Associates. "We spend $100 million on a clubhouse, but residents, first day on the island, they go to the farm to get flowers, fruits and vegetables."

Perhaps Grove Farm should have followed that lead. Why bother with a 600-acre dairy that's getting dinged when you can lease 10 acres to a farmer and then build a resort, golf course, clubhouse and fancy homes all around it?

We may yet see that come to pass. Because I have seen one scenario play out repeatedly and unfailingly in Hawaii: development always replaces agriculture.

Musings: Targeted Enforcement

It looks like Kauai's Mina Morita, chair of the Public Utilities Commission, is the target of a political hit.

The state Department of Land and Natural Resources is suddenly moving to enforce against Morita and her husband, Lance Laney, for operating illegal vacation rentals in Hanalei Valley — just as Gov. Neil Abercrombie is making an unpopular move to dump her as PUC chair.

The investigation was reportedly launched by a 2008 anonymous tip which curiously only now has yielded “new information and evidence that supports this alleged violation claim,” according to a letter by DLNR Director William Aila that was leaked to The Garden Island. 

The newspaper also referenced a “draft submittal report expected to be on the agenda for the BLNR’s meeting March 28.” But neither the agenda, nor the the staff reports, are yet posted on the DLNR website, raising the question of who handed the documents to TGI reporter Chris D'Angelo. DLNR did not respond this morning to my requests for the documents.

But it smells of Hanalei River boatyard owner Mike Sheehan. He reportedly is the source of the original “anonymous” complaint, and blasted a December 2013 email in which he made numerous undocumented claims about Mina, including a reference to an "illegal B&B."  Mike also funds the ocean “research” of D'Angelo's dive buddy, Terry Lilley. Bizarrely, D'Angelo raises a totally unrelated issue — the 1995 breach of the Hanalei River — by citing an October 2013 letter from Honolulu attorney Les Iczkovitz, who has represented Lilley. To complete the circle, the governor recently appointed Patsy Sheehan, Mike's business partner and ex-wife, to the Hawaiian Homes Commission.

Word has it that Mina was offered the “soft landing” of running the Office of Environmental Quality Control if she agreed to step down as PUC chair. But when Mina declined, Rep. Jessica Wooley was sent instead to the political version of Siberia and another way was found to tighten the screws on Mina.

The allegation apparently was not a concern when the governor appointed Mina as PUC chair in 2011, and a complaint that Circuit Judge Mike Wilson operates an illegal TVR on Oahu was brushed off during his Supreme Court nomination hearing.

I welcome the state cracking down on illegal vacation rentals in the conservation zone. But this smacks of selective enforcement — especially when landowners who have admitted to operating TVRs in the conservation zone at Haena are allowed to operate with impunity.

At least nine property owners told the county real property office they are operating TVRs in the conservation district, both at Makua (Tunnels) and the area just outside Haena State Park.

Among them are a $4 million property owned by Joe Paskal, a $5.5 million estate owned by the Nan Guslander Trust, a $4.2 million house owned by the kama`aina Rice family, a $5.5 million mansion owned by the KTK Family Limited Partnership of Honolulu, and a $2.3 million house that is one of the Haena beachfront lots still armored with sandbags that were installed under a one-year temporary permit back in 1997.

All of these properties are currently paying TVR tax rates to our county, even though they're in the conservation district, which prohibits such a use. But they, apparently, haven't incurred the wrath of the governor.

Dear Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands. I'm quite certain you already know about these violations, but please consider this blog post an official complaint against these properties, all of which are detailed in this document.

Meanwhile, the DLNR is properly outraged by the disgusting “Paradise Lost” article on Kalalau Valley published by Details.com. In it, Kelley McMillan wrote of going to the wilderness valley, which is managed by Office of State Parks, to “live among the Outlaws for 10 days.”

The state is pissed because the article “is an egregious misuse of a national publication,” according to an email from Curt Cottrell, assistant administrator in the Division of State Parks. What's more, “the author failed to utilize any of the accurate information provided by DSP staff and was issued a special one day permit for access in order to be at Kalalau to write the article."

DSP is “drafting an accurate response regarding the actual impact of non permitted campers on resources, authorized and compliant campers and the limited park infrastructure,” Cottrell wrote. But here's the capper:

DSP concurs about the article's lack of quality and glamorizing non-compliant behavior - and is preparing a Notice of Violation based on the admission in writing on the 10 day camping - but is not certain on the ability to impose any repercussions other than submit the "NOV" to the magazine publishers.

So the state isn't sure it can do anything when a national writer admits to illegally camping in the park for 10 days and writing an article that is sure to draw more people anxious to trade drugs for massages from topless women and party with Hollywood celebs around goat stew and a campfire.

But they'll fricking ream your ass if you're a kanaka like Ikaika Pratt, who camped in the valley without a permit in order to malama Hawaiian cultural sites. As I reported in the Honolulu Weekly, they dragged him all the way to the state Supreme Court on a illegal camping charge just to prove the state's interest in managing "its" parkland overrode Pratt's right to practice his traditional religion.

Oh yes, the state can act with a vengeance when it wants to take out the caretakers — and the governor's political foes. But the desecrators — and the politically favored  —get averted eyes, or at most, a slap on the wrist.

Musings: Kick It

Some asses got kicked in the KIUC board election today, but unsurprisingly, they weren't the incumbents.

Instead, the “rebel” challengers and smart meter foes trailed badly. The number four contender, Adam Asquith, received just slightly more than half the votes cast for Phil Tacbian, the third-place incumbent. Peter Yukimura and David Iha handily won re-election, coming in first and second, respectively. They will serve three-year terms.

Stu Burley, a former board member, was fifth. Mystery man Dan Erickson came out of nowhere to take sixth. Hopefully he'll run next time, as I was just talking to Kauai Athletic Club co-owner Josh Nations, who said Dan is very smart and really knows his science and energy issues.

Jonathan Jay lost his second bid for the board, taking seventh place, followed by Neal Chantara, a single-issue anti-smart meter candidate. Jimmy Trujillo, who ran on a slate with Jonathan and Adam, took ninth, edging out Chuck Lasker. DQ Jackson was last.

Some 28.5 percent of the KIUC members voted — up from 23 percent last year and significantly higher than the 5 to 7 percent voter turnout typical of utility cooperative elections elsewhere in the nation. 

So much for upending the status quo. Apparently members are more engaged, and satisfied, than the KIUC critics thought. 

Here's the breakdown:

1. Peter Yukimura 3,590
2. David Iha 3,502
3. Teofilo “Phil” Tacbian 2,971
4. Adam Asquith 1,672
5. Stu Burley 1,475
6. Daniel Erickson 1,450
7. Jonathan Jay 1,140
8. Neal Chantara 1,136
9. Jimmy Trujillo 1,036
10. Chuck Lasker 934
11. DQ Jackson 848

In other news, Circuit Court Judge Greg Nakamura yesterday halted Hawaii County's registration of farmers growing genetically engineered crops.

As reported today by the Hawaii Tribune-Herald:

The order prevents the county from enforcing the registry of genetically modified organisms and disclosing information it has already received, at least for now.

The registry is part of the county’s new law banning the use and testing of modified plants within an open-air environment. Farmers already growing GMO crops are exempted, and those who already use or will use modified crops within the confines of the law must provide such information to the county.

The action came in response to a motion for a temporary restraining order filed on behalf of an unidentified papaya farmer who said the registration/disclosure is “burdensome and intrusive,” conflicts with state and federal law and exposes the farmer to “irreparable harm from vandalism, intimidation, and misappropriation of his trade secrets.”

The request for a preliminary injunction will be heard March 24.

The Hilo-based newspaper went on to report:

Derek Brewer, a GMO opponent who testified several times before the Council, said he was disappointed to see it challenged on such details.

Which underscores the point that the “red-shirt” supporters of our own GMO/pesticide law (Bill 2491/Ordinance 960) have repeatedly failed to grasp: It's not about philosophy. When you're working with laws, details matter.

So it's fascinating that both Earthjustice attorney Paul Achitoff and Paul Towers, media director of Pesticide Action Network, don't actually talk about the law they championed in blog posts they published on Huffington Post Hawaii.

Instead of discussing the merits of the bill he wants to help defend, Achitoff reiterates the stale bit about how it's “beyond shameful” for the chem companies to be suing "paradise." Towers trots out the tired “corporate bullying” schtick.

It's kind of silly to be focusing all this attention on bullying and shame when neither will carry any weight with the federal judge assigned to hear the lawsuit against Ordinance 960. But it helps to divert attention from the law's many poison pills.

And finally, in checking out those blogs I happened to notice that Arianna Huffington is exporting her schlock to Korea. Or as she described it in a breathy dispatch from Seoul:

I'm here for the launch of HuffPost Korea, which marks the 11th country where The Huffington Post's hybrid approach to journalism -- as a hub for original reporting and a blogging platform for a range of voices, both new and established -- is expanding the worldwide conversation.

Lucky them! Now they, too, can be treated to the kind of pap that comprises the unpaid content of Huff Po Hawaii. I can just see the line up: “65 reasons to move to Seoul now” and “the top 10 hostess bars in South Korea"  alongside "GMO-Free kimchi" and "eight ancient Buddhist practices to build your bank balance."

If what Arianna serves up is indicative of the "worldwide conversation," we're a far more vacuous species than I thought.

Musings: As the Worm Turns

Gov. Abercrombie scored two points yesterday: state Rep. Jessica Wooley agreed to leave her key House Agriculture Committee chairmanship for a job in his cabinet, and a Senate panel advanced his pick for Hawaii Supreme Court — even though the Hawaii State Bar Association deemed Judge Mike Wilson unqualified.

According to the Hawaii Free Press, a Kahuku resident has repeatedly accused Wilson, a Circuit Court judge who previously ran the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, of being part-owner in an illegal vacation rental on Kewalo Bay.

Wooley, an anti-GMO champion in the House, will direct the Office of Environmental Quality Control — a job that Gary Hooser ditched when he was elected to the Kauai County Council. Wooley is married to Earthjustice attorney David Henkin, who made a failed bid for lieutenant governor on a ticket headed by William Aila, current head of DLNR.

As Life of the Land's Henry Curtis reports, Wooley accepted the job despite the ALL CAPS exhortations of Babes Against Biotech, the mouthpiece of the Hawaii anti-GMO contingent. Which tells you pretty much all you to need know about how that movement has crumbled into parody and powerlessness.

Meanwhile, the proposed dairy continues to take cracks, with Surfrider Foundation's Robert Zelkovsky bemoaning possible harm to “the most pristine accessible area on Kauai and possibly in the state.” Pristine? The acreage in question was cultivated in sugar for more than a century, then used as a dairy and is currently in cattle pastures that adjoin land leased by the biotech firms.

He falsely likens it to the Moloaa dairy, though it will use an entirely different model. The Moloaa dairy did have wastewater problems, but it failed primarily because it was upstream of the Papaa Bay “ag” estate of Peter Guber. As a wealthy movie producer and casino owner, Guber had the dough to drag the dairy operators through court for years as he meanwhile closed off a traditional beach access, dug up iwi and installed spotlights that shone into the ocean. So the dairy folded and Guber, after winning a lawsuit to keep the access closed, moved on and sold the property at a fine profit.

Dr. Zelkovsky also previously posted on Facebook:

If Kaua'i govt and business officials want ag on ag land, how about planting FOOD, which we import 90% of ours rather than seed corn and milk cows. 17 million into milk cows could go very far into string beans and broccoli.

First, since when is milk not food? Though Dr. Zelkovsky and others denounce it as human food, lots of people like it and want it. Who are we to say they shouldn't have a local source? And does this mean we shouldn't be growing coffee, flowers, nursery plants, trees, horses, biofuel stock or other non-food crops on ag land? Not to mention TVRs, mansions, the Resonance Project and restaurants.

Second, billionaire Pierre Omidyar isn't offering $17 million for vege farms. He chose to bankroll a dairy primarily because it required a much larger investment than a single farmer could swing.

Third, folks don't seem to understand that one large vegetable farm could swamp the entire Kauai market, and drive all the small guys who supply the farmers' markets out of business. I don't think anyone really wants that. To truly feed ourselves, we need more production of protein and carbohydrates, like ulu, sweet potatoes and taro, all of which have been grown here successfully for centuries.

Meanwhile, the Agribusiness Development Corp., which manages state ag lands, will be leasing 300 acres on the westside to a farmer who plans to grow sweet potatoes. He will be cultivating 30 acres at time, moving around through the fallow seed corn fields. Sweet potatoes use different nutrients than corn, and by moving the potato crop, nematodes won't get established.

The seed companies have long resisted this type of co-existence, which one farmer described as a “crack in the wall, a foot in the door.” If the sweet potato grower can make a go of it, he will become competitive with the seed/chem companies, which could help replace them with local food crops.

I spent some time yesterday with lifelong dairyman and farmer Jerry Ornellas, who lives not far from me. He pointed out the old factory, next to the Kapahi Menehune Mart, where cans were made for the pineapple that was grown and processed here. He also showed me the remnants of several small slaughterhouses. There used to be four within a five-mile radius in the Wailua Homesteads-Kapahi area, all serving folks who were raising their own food.

The region is now primarily residential and gentleman's estates, with small pockets of ranching and farming. I thought of how people today would scream bloody murder if there was a slaughterhouse or a can factory in their neighborhood. 

It seems we want to feed ourselves, just not anywhere we can see, smell or hear agricultural activities.

And I reflected on how I'd stopped by Poipu Beach Park the other day, just to check it out and pass a bit of time between appointments. The stench of cigarettes, fabric softener and sunscreen made me feel sick to my stomach, and I had to walk to the furtherest corner of the park to get upwind of the smells generated by the hordes of tourists happily frolicking there.

Tourism has tremendous impacts that are largely unquantified in Hawaii. The industry consumes massive amounts of water and electricity, generates tons of trash and contributes to the degradation of coastal waters. It's commodified the culture, appropriated beaches, accelerated socio-economic disparities and disrupted the peace with its incessant helicopter, rental car and tour boat activity. It does contribute to the economy, but it also exacts a heavy toll, in terms of infrastructure maintenance.

No one has ever done the calculations to determine whether tourism's economic benefits outweigh its full costs — indeed, the Sierra Club lost its legal bid to require the Hawaii Tourism Authority to conduct an environmental assessment before allocating $114 million to the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau for marketing and promotion. As the New York Times reported in 2000:

''Seven million tourists descend on Hawaii each year, drinking our water, using our electricity, generating sewage and garbage and filling our beaches,'' said Jeff Mikulina, the director of the Sierra Club's Hawaii chapter. ''An environmental assessment would tell us whether Hawaii's physical and natural infrastructure can handle more tourists.''

By 2012, the most recent year for which statistics are available, Hawaii was up to 8,028,744 visitors annually — a 10 percent increase over the previous year. On Kauai, the numbers rose 8.6 percent to 1,211,482 visitors in 2012, and the forecast and push is for ever more growth statewide.

Yet tourism is no longer challenged, or even questioned. Instead, the agriculture that many of us have fought so hard to preserve is reviled as a dirty, toxic, unsustainable industry.

As Hawaii Public Radio's Beth-Ann Kozlovich noted when I joined her on The Conversation this morning, “The worm has turned.”

Musings: Thoughts on This and That

Got an email from the “Babes” calling for “all hands on deck” this Friday at Hilo Circuit Court, where a hearing is set on a request for an injunction against the new Hawaii Island GMO ban.

And I thought, yeah, judges are always swayed by a rally outside the courthouse. Be sure to wear your matching shirts.

The complaint for declaratory relief was filed by Margery Bronster on behalf of “John Doe,” an unnamed papaya farmer. (She's also one of the attorneys suing Kauai County over our new GMO/pesticide regulatory law.) Though Big Island farmers aren't banned from growing papayas genetically engineered to resist the ringspot virus, they must register their crops and provide other proprietary production info by today, or face a $1,000 daily fine. The reports would be publicly disclosed.

The complaint alleges the registration/disclosure is “burdensome and intrusive,” conflicts with state and federal law and exposes the farmer to “irreparable harm from vandalism, intimidation, and misappropriation of his trade secrets.” It claims “John Doe” already has been “the victim of intimidation and threatening behavior by anti-GE crop activists” and details the “extremism and criminality” of activists in Hawaii County, where thousands of GE papaya trees were destroyed in Kapoho. 

The complaint seeks to invalidate the law's registration provision, while another motion requests a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction staying the March 5 registration deadline.

Heard defeated Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri on TV vowing to file a complaint with the Office of Information Practices because the county attorney was allegedly withholding information.

And I thought back on how she had repeatedly flat out refused, as prosecutor, to honor OIP directives ordering her to release public documents to me.

Then I read a “fuel-gate” denial from Shay in Andy Parx's blog:

I never pursued charges against [former county transportation director] Janine Rapozo. The Grand Jury returned an indictment. The Grand a Jury has its own Grand Jury counsel appointed by the court. They are prohibited from consulting with the prosecutor or deputy.

And I thought, mmm, yeah, but it's the prosecutor who decides what goes to the grand jury. We're still getting Shay's version of "truth," as opposed to The Truth.

Got some photos of the sandbags in front of “green” Realtor Neal Norman's richy-rich house in Haena, which were exposed by the recent big surf. Some empty sandbags washed out into the ocean, and the green ties are creating a tripping hazard for beach walkers.

And I thought, gee, these were put in under an emergency temporary permit for one-year's use — way back in 1997.

Saw this Facebook comment about the proposed dairy at Mahaulepu:

The prevailing winds were my first concern when I heard what and where this was proposed, Don't know as it would be very pleasent [sic] out there playing Poipu Bay Golf Course when the trades are blowing.

And I thought, wow, I can remember when folks opposed that golf course because they were disturbed about taking land out of agriculture for resort uses. Now they're protesting agriculture because it might impact the golf course, which of course uses fertilizers, pesticides and water, all of which drain into the sea.

Heard folks complain about the possible future runoff from the dairy, which may be a concern.

And I thought, so where is the outcry over the shishi and doodoo that we know is going into Hanalei Bay from the all “sleeps-12-to-14” oceanfront vacation rentals still using cesspools? (Click on the map to see the legend. Dark green with cross-hatching are cesspool TVRs.)

Not to mention the even more pristine waters between Wainiha and Haena.

Musings: Warring Factions

Yet another article has been published that reinforces Kauai's role as the western front in the world war being waged between pro- and anti-GMO folks.

Published by Earth Island Journal, “Trouble in Paradise” is part of the two-year Media Consortium project I previously discussed, where 10 media outlets are sending reporters here to do supposedly “fair” coverage of “issues regarding pesticide-based pollution, GE food, corporate influence and other important topics.” It notes:

The local measures in Hawaii marked a major victory for sustainable agriculture advocates opposed to genetically engineered foods, especially coming after setbacks in California and Washington, where voters defeated GMO-labeling ballot initiatives. Suddenly, the state of Hawaii, and Kauai especially, has become the most heated battleground in the long-running war over GM agriculture.

Like the larger, international battle over GM crops, the political fight in the Hawaiian Islands can be distilled down to a debate over whether “modern farming and ranching” – that is, highly concentrated and industrialized farming – is a social good.

The article ends with the dreamy scenario that some have for ag on Kauai:

Many local food activists believe Hawaii’s path back to food sovereignty lies in rediscovering its traditional concept of “Aloha ‘Aina” (“love for the land”) and in relearning and building upon Indigenous natural resource management practices such as the ahpua’a [sic] system, which shared resources by dividing the islands into self-sustaining land sections that ran from the mountains to the sea. “Over here we have year-round warm weather, we have land, we have water.… We just need more farms that produce food,” says Chris Kobayashi, an organic taro farmer in Hanalei, on Kauai’s north side.

Actually, what we need are more farmers. A quarter century ago, when I was a newbie asking fellow journalist Jan TenBruggencate why Kauai couldn't feed itself, this island had 50,000 acres in sugar cultivation. It now has less than 20,000 acres in ag, including the seed crops.

And it's no closer to feeding itself, even though there's even more available land and no shortage of water. What's missing are farmers. Though many love the rhetoric associated with farming, fewer are willing to embrace it as a livelihood. Extensive taro lands on the westside currently lie fallow, despite a solid market for taro, because folks don't want to do the hard labor involved. Only three applicants submitted letters of interest to lease state ag lands in Kalepa.

The problem is not lack of land, but lack of skill, desire and financial wherewithal to get started. Most prospective farmers do not enjoy the benefits of family land and supplemental income from a vacation rental on Hanalei Bay, as Chris does, so it's harder to make the economics pencil out or juggle a fulltime job in addition to farming.

Meanwhile, I read an interesting article about how biotech is evolving from inserting genes to silencing genes. As a case study, it discussed how Monsanto is using Beeologics, the start-up company "dedicated to restoring bee health and protecting the future of honeybee pollination" that it purchased in 2011:

Ironically, Beeologics is a biotech company itself — and one that is developing a portfolio of next-generation gene editing products utilizing RNA interference, or RNAi.

Beeologics and Monsanto are developing the technology to silence two parasites that commonly affect agricultural pollinators: Israeli acute paralysis virus and parasitic mites belonging to the Varroa genus. Both can be targeted at the same time with the same product. Better yet, the first product created by Beeologics is delivered in feed, won't result in viral resistance, is extremely specific, is non-toxic, and does not leave residues on honeybees or honey. Future RNAi products currently being developed by Monsanto, called BioDirect, will be topical agents sprayed onto crops.

The article also referenced neonicotinoids, a class of pesticides and plants genetically engineered to produce such compounds. [Correction: The article was incorrect. There are no plants engineered to produce neonicotinoids.] They've been blamed for contributing to colony collapse disorder, prompting calls for a ban. Interestingly, they're made by Syngenta and the ag subsidiary of Dow — both competitors of Monsanto.

And it got me wondering whether Monsanto might be helping to fan the flames about neonics  so it can then step forward to fill the gap with its BioDirect product line. Sort of like how environmental groups were fighting "big oil" by supporting ethanol produced by growing the GMO corn and soy that benefit "big chem."

Of course, we won't have to worry about any of this if smart meter/WIFI foe Diane Ostermann is right. She's been taking to the KKCR airwaves to, ironically, issue her dire predictions that humanity will die out within five generations due to radio frequencies melting our DNA. 

Which could be really great news for an overburdened planet trying to shake off the fleas that are sucking it dry.  Except Ostermann apparently didn't realize a quarter of the world's population doesn't have access to electricity, much less WIFI. 

 Hey, maybe the meek, or at least the unplugged, will inherit the earth after all.

Musings: Reality Bites

A quote in today's newspaper perfectly expresses the bizarre, fantastical mindset that seems to have developed around agriculture on Kauai. It was uttered by Poipu resident Kathy Sheffield, who “questioned the motives” behind the proposed new dairy in Mahaulepu Valley:

“This is a commercial agricultural project, and so, therefore, are they doing it for the money or really because they care about the kids on Kauai getting fresh milk,” Sheffield said.

A commercial agricultural project. Like that's something inherently bad. Like it's not OK for the people who raise our food to even cover their expenses — land, water, fertilizer, taxes, equipment, maintenance, veterinary care, feed, seed, supplies, etc. — much less make a (gasp) profit from their labors.

Most us pay for our housing, electricity, water, health care, transportation, clothing and other basic needs, and we happily buy countless other non-essentials. So why in the world would anyone expect farmers to produce our food with no economic return?

Perhaps it's the notion of a larger agricultural operation that she finds offensive — as if the small vendors at the farmers markets aren't there for the express purpose of selling their produce, goat cheese, honey, fruit or what have you to make money, even though they may love what they do.

And why must only the agricultural ventures demonstrate “pure” motives untainted by thoughts of money? If they are making money and making milk, isn't that OK? Or must they banish all thoughts of profit from their minds because it somehow tarnishes the higher good of producing food?

Or in the case of the dairy, possibly not even make a profit, because billionaire Pierre Omidyar is willing to bankroll it to see if it's a viable model that can be implemented elsewhere in Hawaii.

Though people on this island love to dreamily rhapsodize about “sustainable agriculture" and fantasize about hundreds of organic farms popping up spontaneously and feeding all of us, and the tourists, too — and from the sheer goodness of their hearts, no less — it's time to wake up and smell the paraquat-sprayed Kauai Coffee. 

Agriculture is an expensive, labor-intensive endeavor, whether it's a dairy in Mahaulepu or an “organic” farm on the toxic pineapple fields of Moloaa. Farmers today, regardless of the size of their operation, must be concerned about costs and whether their enterprise makes sense as a business. Agriculture has failed repeatedly on this island, both large and small scale, because it didn't pencil out economically.

And if the daydreamers and farming wannabees fail to face this fact, their dreams and farms will meet a similar fate.

I understand that some residents of this island want to have a say in everything that goes down, especially if it's in their backyard, and most recently, and particularly, about agriculture. Which is fine. But if you're going to participate, please — come down to earth first and educate yourself about the subject at hand.