Other issues
often cloud
environment
Wildlife advocates find few
By Gary T. Kubota
things to praise among the
gubernatorial candidates
And Richard Borreca
Star-BulletinOn the political campaign trail, they may pet a dog or cat or walk along a windswept beach or wilderness path to display a love of nature.
But wildlife advocates say that of the three gubernatorial hopefuls -- Gov. Ben Cayetano, Maui Mayor Linda Lingle and former Honolulu Mayor Frank Fasi -- none could be described as "environmentalists."
Cayetano, Fasi and Lingle have sometimes been at odds with environmentalists while advocating economic growth.
"I think all of them have been a little too quick to assume environmental protection is not consistent with economic development," said Paul Achitoff, managing attorney for the Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund.
"It's a really sad state of affairs. Everyone looks at it as the lesser of evils."
Their environmental records are complex, sometimes reflecting a philosophy, often a political alliance or a tendency to be influenced by certain groups and not by others.
Voters are being asked to judge not only what the candidates did for the environment, but what their assistants and appointees did or failed to do.
For instance, environmentalists almost universally praise Mike Wilson, director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, appointed by Gov. Ben Cayetano, but the same environmental supporters oppose Cayetano's most important state government reform project, the Economic Revitalization Task Force.
And while environmentalists also worry that Lingle is too willing to approve housing, hotel and construction projects aimed at helping business, she also has been so successful with recycling projects on Maui that a Maui plastic recycling center "imports" scrap plastic from Oahu.
BEN CAYETANO
Key to elections dangles as praise
By Richard Borreca
and criticism greet his environmental record
And Gary T. Kubota
Star-BulletinEnvironmentalists say they don't feel Gov. Ben Cayetano has shown a strong feeling toward environmental preservation. But they do like a couple of his appointments.
At the same time, some environmentalists are persuaded not to vote for him because of his Cabinet.
Mary Evanson, a Maui environmentalist, says she's voting for Cayetano because she likes his appointment of Michael Wilson as director of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources and Gary Gill as head of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.
But some critics point out Cayetano also appointed former Hawaii Farm Bureau President James Nakatani as director of the Department of Agriculture.
Nakatani has been a strong advocate for using Waiahole Stream water for Leeward Oahu.
Environmentalists praise Cayetano for at least establishing a Hawaiian Islands Humpback National Marine Sanctuary in Maui County waters.
But they continue to be critical of the administration's inaction during soil erosion runoff problems resulting from the Molokai pipeline excavation.
The Lingle administration also has accused Cayetano of failing to enforce clean water laws by allowing discharges into Maalaea Harbor.
Environmentalists on Maui, worried about invasion of alien species and uncontrolled growth, are upset with Cayetano's support of internationalization of Kahului Airport.
For environmentalist David Frankel, director of the Hawaii chapter of the Sierra Club, the race for governor has failed to produce a strong ue8 el,9 pro-environment candidate.
"I don't want to be seen as more critical of one than the other, and I don't want to be seen helping one more than another," he said.
"They both have done some good things and done some bad things."
In Frankel's view, both Cayetano and Lingle are pro-development, because they both support increased tourism for Maui, and both wanted to do away with or dramatically change the powers of the state Land Use Commission and water commission.
Lingle has tried to separate herself from Cayetano by criticizing the governor's approval of a process that would automatically grant state permits if the bureaucracy doesn't act within 90 days.
The Sierra Club and other environmental organizations already had protested the process, part of Cayetano's economic revitalization package presented to the Legislature.
The environmental vote has been key for winning elections in Hawaii.
When former U.S. Rep. Pat Saiki ran against Dan Akaka for a Senate seat in 1990, an exit poll conducted for the Honolulu Star-Bulletin showed that the public's feeling that Akaka would better protect the environment won the election for him.
In this election season, environmentalists plan to pick up their campaigning after the primary election.
Steve Montgomery, with the Hawaii League of Conservation Voters, said that his group will start a voter education campaign next month.
"Using grass-roots organizations, computer technology and volunteers, we believe we can make a major difference in the process even with a modest budget," he said.
But he admits that even the environmental community is divided between Lingle and Cayetano.
"I think most environmentalists and conservationists have a hard time differentiating the candidates on the basis of their environmental attitudes," he said.
The governor sponsored and supported the economic task force, which Montgomery described as a disappointment.
LINDA LINGLE
She sees resources in waste and her
By Gary T. Kubota
environmental role as striking a balance
between interest groups
And Richard Borreca
Star-BulletinWAILUKU -- Environmentalists have been among Maui Mayor Linda Lingle's sternest critics, accusing her of erring on the side of business in reviewing developments.
But Lingle has also received praise for starting Maui County's first recycling agency and diverting 28 percent of the waste from county landfills.
She has found success in recycling by working with small-business ventures interested in turning waste into a commodity.
One business converts green waste and sewage sludge into compost. Another turns plastic into benches and parking block markers, and one uses crushed glass as a road fill.
In a recent speech, Lingle joked that "there is nothing inherently good about just separating your garbage" but that recyling can have both economic and environmental benefits.
"We look at these -- waste water, plastic -- as resources, not a problem we have to get rid of," she said.
On Maui, she required the use of treated sewage water for irrigation but also was instrumental in charging a fee for those using the treated water.
Lingle's association with business has also prompted her to quicken the review time for developments and support new economic ventures, often placing her squarely against environmentalists.
She has supported Molokai Ranch's request to drill for water in central Molokai -- opposed by some native Hawaiians who say it will reduce nutrients feeding shoreline areas.
She opposed the establishment of a Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
She supports the expansion of Maalaea Harbor, over the objections about the destruction of reefs and surfing sites.
She supports the internationalization of Kahului Airport, which prompted concerns about the introduction of alien species and uncontrolled growth.
She wants to do away with the state Waterue8 el,9 Commission, which oversees stream levels statewide, and place the responsibility in the hands of county water boards -- an idea opposed by environmentalists.
Lingle wants water and land use decisions brought down to a local level.
"It doesn't make sense to me that people who don't have to live with the results of their decisions should get to make them," she said.
Environmentalists are also critical of her recent opposition to complying with federal clean water laws on the Valley Isle.
Earthjustice Legal Defense Fund managing attorney Paul Achitoff described her action as reminiscent of Honolulu's under former Mayor Frank Fasi.
"Both of them are very hostile to the idea they should have to comply with the clean water act, and that's not promising," Achitoff said.
Lingle framed the criticism in terms of a state's rights debate, calling the Environmental Protection Agency action "federal bullying of the counties," and said $120 million in new sewage construction improvements has resolved most of the problems.
Still, Maui's environmentalists point out the failure of government agencies, including the Lingle administration, to protect Maalaea Harbor from dust and siltation during construction of a commercial center.
Lingle administration officials say they did all they could by citing the contractor and halting work when appropriate. They also blamed the state for not doing its job.
David Frankel, director of the Sierra Club, frets that Lingle and Gov. Ben Cayetano have the same positions on many environmental issues. "Right now it is a wash. If you look at the important decisions, they have the same position, and we are against both of them."
Specifically, he worries that Lingle and Cayetano are willing to scrap or alter the statewide planning tools of the Land Use Commission and the Water Commission.
Environmentalists see both as levers to control development throughout the state on a coordinated basis.
Lingle describes her postion on the environment as providing balance between various interest groups, saying that a clean and healthy environment will be good for both the economy and the community.
"As I campaign around the state, I meet a lot of people who make a living from fishing," she said in a speech on Honolulu. "They have felt under siege from the Department of Land and Natural Resources."
FRANK FASI
Scorn for protesters mars environmental
By Richard Borreca
highlights like the HPOWER plant
Star-BulletinAfter more than two decades as mayor of Honolulu, Frank Fasi says his reputation on the environment has been made by such large-scale projects as the city's HPOWER garbage-to-energy plant and a program of park construction and improvements.
This year in his campaign for governor, Fasi pledges to use state resources to plant more native Hawaiian plants and trees and to encourage ecotourism projects.
But Fasi has also drawn stern criticism from environmentalists.
While mayor in 1992, Fasi dismissed those who criticized the city sewage disposal plans as "ignorant Kailua housewives."
The object of his scorn, Clara Olds, led a protest group named SOBB, Save Our Bays and Beaches, which sued the city and Fasi for more than 10,000 violations to the federal clean water act.
The city settled the lawsuit and agreed to spend $2 million to monitor the condition of Kailua Bay.
"I wouldn't rate him very well on the environment. He had a lot of other good things, but his priority wasn't the environment," Olds says now.
Olds later worked as the campaign manager for Mike Wilson in his unsuccessful run for mayor.
Four years ago, Gov. Ben Cayetano hired Wilson as director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, where he has won the praise of environmentalists.
