Coalition wants dumping
to stop

Environmental groups aim
to establish strict laws
for cruise ships

Hawaii should ban cruise ship dumping in state waters, set aside money to buy undeveloped scenic land and increase a land tax to pay for protecting nature areas, says a coalition of environmental, native Hawaiian and community organizations.

Environmental agenda A public presentation of "Common Sense Conservation 2005" will be made at 6 p.m. Thursday at the YWCA on Richards Street. The environmental legislation briefing book is online at www.hi.sierraclub.org/legislative.

Groups that presented their environmental agenda yesterday include the Conservation Council of Hawaii, Life of the Land, the state Sierra Club, the Native Hawaiian Legal Corp., Hawaii Clean Elections, KAHEA (the Hawaiian-Environmental Alliance), Hawaii's Thousand Friends, the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, and the Rocky Mountain Institute.

Unsatisfied with an existing honor-system agreement between the Hawaii and the cruise ship industry that it won't pollute, the groups are calling for strict no-dumping laws like those recently enacted in California and Maine, said Jeff Mikulina, director of the Sierra Club's Hawaii chapter.

Another top issue is more funding for the state's 19 natural area reserves, whose 109,000 acres include some of the most pristine ecosystems in the state and habitat for endangered species.

The state spends about $1 million annually for the areas, but proper stewardship would costs five times more, the groups say. They propose doubling or quadrupling the state's conveyance tax and earmarking part of the money for the natural area reserves. The tax, which is paid when property is sold, is currently $1 per $1,000 of value.

Also a priority is the "Legacy Lands Act," which would earmark a portion of the conveyance tax for purchasing undeveloped coastline, watershed forests and other special places.

By making state money available to buy conservation lands, "the Legacy Lands Act will help protect these areas by leveraging millions of federal and private dollars," said Josh Stanbro, Hawaii project manager for the Trust for Public Land.

Booklets outlining the coalition's proposals are being distributed to lawmakers today.