The Kailua Chamber of Commerce plans to seek congressional help to allow the use of Flat Island, also known as Popoia Island, a bird sanctuary in Kailua Bay, to launch Fourth of July fireworks next year. Kailua group seeks
fireworks exemptionIt wants congressional help to
change rules regarding Flat IslandBy Craig Gima
cgima@starbulletin.comLarry Lanning, the parade and fireworks chairman for the chamber, said he will write letters this weekend to Hawaii's congressional delegation, asking for their help after the annual Fourth of July fireworks show was canceled Thursday, disappointing thousands of people.
"It's not pie in the sky," Lanning said. "Sen. Inouye rides in the Kailua parade every year, as does (U.S. Rep.) Patsy Mink.
"What I'm asking is, we want to change the rules a little bit and we'll make it safer and we'll make it surer."
The Fourth of July fireworks are a Kailua tradition dating back more than 50 years. Until last year, the fireworks display had been launched from Flat Island. But the state Department of Land and Natural Resources denied the chamber a permit to use the island after complaints that the fireworks harmed wedge-tailed shearwater birds that nest there.
Last year, the chamber launched the fireworks using a small barge, which sank afterward and dropped litter to wash ashore. This year a 15-ton barge could not make it into the bay because of high wind and waves.
"The barge is not safe, and I don't think it will ever be safe. We'll always be in danger of high waves," Lanning said.
But state and federal officials say the Migratory Bird Act makes it illegal to harm the birds.
"I know we'd like things to be the way they were, but we have to be in compliance with federal law," said Michael Markrich, a spokesman for the DLNR.
Barbara Maxfield, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, said the shearwaters nest in July and burrow into the ground to raise their young.
"It's pretty easy to crush a burrow, and you could trap adults or chicks or eggs when you crush that burrow," she said.
Maxfield said the federal government has granted exemptions to the act, but "usually they are only for human health and safety issues or scientific research."
Lanning said he would like to see an area of about 20-by-30 feet set aside and fenced off for the fireworks, perhaps with decking placed over it so workers can walk on the area without damaging nests.
But Joe Ryan, the vice-president of the environmental group EnviroWatch Inc., which raised questions about launching the fireworks from the island two years ago, said the chamber needs to explore other alternatives like launching the fireworks from the marine base in Kaneohe.
"I just don't understand how you can set off these pyrotechnic bombs in a bird sanctuary," he said. "I don't oppose fireworks and celebration and 'God Bless America,' but at the same time we got a bird sanctuary."