[ OUR OPINION ]
What might look like pork
to some isn’t to HawaiiPOLITICIANS and pundits (including one on our op-ed page last Wednesday) are grumbling about a $2.5 million appropriation to map Hawaii's coral reefs that was cleared last week by the U.S. Senate as part of the counterterrorism spending bill. They contend the money is unnecessary and irrelevant to counterterrorism efforts.
THE ISSUE An anti-terrorism funding measure contains $2.5 million to map coral reefs in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.
They are half right. The appropriation isn't related to fighting terrorism; it wasn't supposed to be.
The complaint comes about because critics are disregarding or are unaware of the fact that the $31.4 billion anti-terror spending measure is, in total, a supplemental budget bill, which includes funds for many other uses. Also being overlooked is that the $2.5 million had been approved last year and the legislation simply directs that the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration use the money to map the reefs in the Northwest Hawaiian Islands.
From the red rock mesas of Arizona, the Mississippi delta or the shores of the Potomac, mapping coral reefs may appear to be a waste of money, but it isn't. At present, numerous federal and state agencies are working out a plan to manage the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands Coral Reef Ecosystem Reserve, an 84 million-acre sanctuary designated for protection by President Clinton in December 2000.
The reef system has never been charted or closely inspected. The mapping is needed to establish a baseline against which the system can be measured in the future because the condition of coral reefs is an indication of the health of an ocean ecosystem.
Complaints that the project is pork-barrel spending echo those Hawaii has heard in previous years about funds to keep brown tree snakes out of the islands. People who don't know that Hawaii has no snakes and of the devastation the brown tree variety inflicts on bird populations have criticized spending for this effort. Fortunately, the message about this menace seems to have gotten across in Washington, but further education is necessary about this state's differences from others.
The northwestern islands reserve contains nearly 70 percent of all coral reefs in the United States and is home to endangered Hawaiian monk seals, hawksbill turtles, humpback whales and other marine animals. The islands also support numerous endangered birds and plants. It seems manini for politicians to begrudge Hawaii $2.5 million to sustain such a wealth of nature.
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Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
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