View Point
View Point
THE state Department of Transportation, headed by Kazu Hayashida, is letting Hawaii's environment wash down the gutter. While Hayashida is busy securing business deals for friends and family, the DOT is allowing pollution to pour off its highways and dangerous species to slip through its airports. State DOT is enemy
of environmentOn Oahu, the DOT is letting its facilities and roadways pollute streams and ocean. On Sept. 7, the Environmental Protection Agency cited the DOT for its failure to comply with the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act.
The agency found that, since 1994, the DOT has not been sufficiently reducing pollutants from its facilities on Oahu, including the island's roadways.
This means that every rainfall washes pollutants like metals, petroleum residues and pesticides into the ocean. As a result, surfers, beachgoers and folks who fish are suffering, not to mention the visitor industry that relies on a clean coast.
On Oct. 26, the EPA cited it for yet another violation of the Clean Water Act -- this time at Honolulu Airport.
In this case, the DOT allowed contaminants such as oil, hydraulic fluid and lavatory waste to wash into Keehi Lagoon and its surrounding waters. The DOT also discharged unpermitted wastewater and was negligent in ensuring that its tenants, such as various rental car firms, obey the clean-water laws.
Since the DOT was granted the pollution permit, it is responsible for making sure its tenants don't pollute local waters. But water pollution isn't the only problem at Honolulu Airport.
Alien species are nearly greeted with leis when they land on Oahu. State experts estimate that an average of 20 new alien species escape detection efforts in Hawaii every year.
According to state figures, these pests cost the economy upward of $400 million worth of annual damages to local farms, businesses, homes and the natural environment.
The DOT is failing to budget enough money for alien species control, so much so that one expert calls current efforts "dismal...a leaky sieve." Money from the airlines is to be used to reduce the alien species threat, but the DOT hasn't taken the necessary steps.
One would think that, given the above record of negligence, the DOT would want to clean up its act before chasing new projects. But when you measure success in miles of concrete poured and magnitude of developments undertaken, obstacles like federal law violations are merely speed bumps.
MEANWHILE, on Maui, the DOT is still fighting for the massive expansion of its main airport and subsequent urbanization of the Kahului area.
Local Hawaiian community and conservation groups have opposed the expansion plan for over 10 years with successful legal challenges. The groups call the 700-acre, $300-million, three-phase state and federally financed expansion project "unneeded air-pork."
Biologists and Haleakala park officials have warned that direct international flights will increase the odds of a greater variety of imported pests escaping to wreak havoc on local ecosystems, agriculture and visitor attractions.
As the Maui airport expansion issue grows more contentious, almost all stakeholders involved are prepared to sit down for mediation -- all except the DOT.
Although it suggested that mediation was possible, the department is now unwilling to meet with other parties to seek a solution.
We trust our government agencies to protect our health and environment, and to at least obey the law. The state DOT is doing neither.
Jeffrey Mikulina is director of the Sierra Club Hawaii chapter.