Earmarks are good for Hawaiian monk seals (and other living things)

by: raatz

Sat Mar 21, 2009 at 01:16:11 AM PDT

As her constituent, I am grateful that she's been able to "bring home the bacon" (or, as I prefer, the tofu) in the amount of approximately $138 million in the budget bill signed last week.

But I think even fair-minded non-constituents would recognize the virtue in the projects for which she's secured funding.

In the media hysteria over earmarks, one should be forgiven for losing sight of these basic facts:

Earmarks are simply Congressionally directed appropriations. All other spending is directed by executive-branch agencies. And earmarks compromise only a tiny fraction of the federal budget.

Earmarks - like any other form of government action - can be good or bad, as President Obama has stated (even as he seeks to reform the process):

Done right, earmarks give legislators the opportunity to direct federal money to worthy projects that benefit people in their district, and that's why I have opposed their outright elimination.

To paint them with a broad brush as inherently "evil" as Sen. McCain has done is just disingenuous.

Below, I'll show some of the great things that will be accomplished by earmarks in Hawai`i's 2nd Congressional District, thanks to Rep. Hirono and her colleagues in Congress, by fighting real problems, including those in the fields of environmental protection and local agriculture. I'll also provide some brief Hawai`i-related news on GMO legislation and Hawai`i blogs you should be reading.

All of Rep. Hirono's earmarks address major crises in her district. Here are just a few examples.

Problem:
Hawai`i's agriculture industry has been dominated for a century by pineapple and sugar cane. Although those crops pose some environmental issues of their own, they provided a buffer against excessive development and helped establish areas of open space. But the sugar and pineapple industries are going away. What will replace them: farms or sprawl?
Solution:$153,000 for agriculture diversification

Problem:
Vibrant coral reefs are essential to healthy coastal environments. Maui's coral reefs have been in steady decline, posing serious ecological hazards.
Solution:
$185,000 for Maui coral reef preservation and restoration

Problem:
Alien pest species have literally destroyed entire forests and ecosystems in many tropical regions, and they're threatening to do the same thing in Hawai`i.
Solution:
$350,000 to fight the alien pest species that are attacking Hawai`i's forests and farms

Problem:
The population of the endangered Hawaiian monk seal is under 2,000.
Solution:
$5.7 million for the Hawaiian monk seal recovery plan

Problem:
Hawai`i's native birds are at serious risk of extinction.
Solution:
$7 million for the James Campbell National Wildlife Refuge on O`ahu, which provides high-quality habitat for the recovery of the four endangered Hawaiian waterbirds (the Hawaiian stilt, the Hawaiian duck, the Hawaiian coot, and the Hawaiian moorhen).

Environmental projects like these don't just protect forests, farms, and animals, they provide good jobs and excellent educational opportunities, as Hawai`i learned during its last economic crisis, when it successfully established the Hawai`i Youth Conservation Corps after 9/11.

Hawai`i is at a critical midway point of its 2009 legislative session, and it's unclear which direction legislators want to go on some major GMO legislation. Do they want give a green light to genetically modified organisms by prohibiting state and local officials from regulating GMOs? Or do they want to prohibit the introduction of GMO plants that may impact the culturally and economically valuable Hawaiian taro? There are live bills heading in both directions.

HB1226, HD1 is the bill that would prohibit new GMO regulations. Introduced by the Speaker of the House, this bill was passed out of the House of Representatives earlier this month and has been referred to the Senate's Health Committee.

Senator David Y. Ige chairs the committee and has the authority to hear the bill or not.

The Maui County Council today adopted Resolution No. 09-29, entitled "URGING OPPOSITION TO HOUSE BILL NO. 1226, HD1, RELATING TO GENETICALLY MODIFIED PLANT ORGANISMS."

The anti-GMO bills are SB709, SD2 (on its way to the House Agriculture Committee) and HB1663, HD1 (which the Senate Energy and Environment Committee will vote on next Tuesday). These bills protect Hawaiian taro from GMO infiltration and have been strongly supported by the Native Hawaiian community and legislators in the Legislative Hawaiian Caucus.

There are two great blogs in Hawai`i that cover food, agriculture, science and the environment:

SusHI: Sustainability in Hawai`i by green economist Ken Stokes

Raising Islands: Hawai`i science and environment by long-time Honolulu Advertiser reporter Jan TenBruggencate

They both provide a vast array of agricultural and environmental news; they're also well written and frequently updated. So, they're worth checking out even if you have little or no interest in the Hawaiian Islands.

Happy (belated) Aloha Friday!