Hale O Kawaipuna

On Tuesday, February 1, 2011, the Natural Resources Section (NRS) of the Hawaii State Bar Association (HSBA) will host guest speaker Gary Gill, Deputy Director of the Environmental Health Administration, Hawaii Department of Health, who will present: "What is left of the State's environmental programs?"

Mr. Gill has had a lengthy career in government and community service. At the age of 26, Mr. Gill was elected to the Honolulu City Council and served two years. Mr. Gill was then appointed as the Director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control and as Deputy Director of Health for the Environment during the administration of Governor Ben Cayetano.

Mr. Gill subsequently transitioned to the non-profit community as Development Director for the Sierra Club, Program Manager for Kokua Kalihi Valley and Executive Director of Waimea Valley on the North Shore of Oahu. Since 2009, Mr. Gill has served as the Program Director for the Blue Planet Foundation of Hawaii where he has developed a CFL bulb exchange program and the Hawaii Home Energy Makeover TV show, among other projects.  Recently, Governor Neil Abercrombie asked Mr. Gill to once again lead the environmental protection programs for the State of Hawaii.

NRS holds its monthly brown bag lunch meeting from 12:00 to 1:00 p.m. at the HSBA conference room.  Guests are welcome but priority will be given to paid members.

Radio stations B97.1 FM in Hilo, and B93.1 FM in Kona, will replay Mayor Billy Kenoi’s State of the County address at 6 a.m. Sunday morning, Jan. 30.

Hawai‘i Island’s first State of the County speech was carried live by radio station KPUA 670 AM on Thursday, January 27 from the Aupuni Center Conference Room. The speech will be re-aired on KPUA at 9:06 a.m. on Monday morning, Jan. 31.

Mahalo to New West Broadcasting for providing the time for these broadcasts.

County of Hawaii Mayor Billy Kenoi attended the U.S. Conference of Mayors (USCOM) this week in Washington, D.C. Mayor Kenoi, who sits on the USCOM standing Committee on Tourism, Arts, Parks, Entertainment and Sports, is shown here discussing tourism expansion with his fellow committee member, Norwalk, Connecticut Mayor Richard A. Moccia.

Mayor Billy Kenoi, left, shakes hands with Mayor Sadaji Akutsu of Shibukawa, Japan, upon their signing of a reaffirmation of a Sister City agreement on Jan. 14, 2011, in Hilo.Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi and Mayor Sadaji Akutsu of Shibukawa, Japan, reaffirmed a sister-city relationship between Shibukawa and the County of Hawaii in a ceremony in Hilo on Jan. 14, 2011.

The sister-city relationship was established in 1997 to promote friendship and good will between the peoples of Ikaho-Machi and the County of Hawaii. In 2006, Ikaho-Machi, along with the villages of Komochi, Onogami, Akagi and Kitatachibana, were merged into the expanded City of Shibukawa.

The "federal defendant" rule was developed through case law in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.  The rule categorically precludes private parties and state and local governments from intervening of right as defendants on the merits of NEPA actions.  The rationale for this rule is that such parties lack a "significantly protectable" interest warranting intervention of right under Rule 24(a)(2), because NEPA is a procedural statute that binds only the federal government.

However, the 9th Circuit recently abandoned the "federal defendant" rule in Wilderness Society v. U.S. Forest Service, No. 09-35200, slip op. (9th Cir. Jan. 14, 2011).  Wilderness Society arises out of the U.S. Forest Service's adoption of a travel plan that designated 1,196 miles of roads and trails for use by motorized vehicles in the Minidoka Ranger District of Idaho's Sawtooth National Forest.  The central issue for the 9th Circuit was whether the lower court should have applied the "federal defendant" rule to deny intervention to three groups representing recreation interests.

The 9th Circuit abandoned the "federal defendant" rule, reversed the lower court for applying it, and opined as follows:

When considering motions to intervene of right under Rule 24(a)(2), courts need no longer apply a categorical prohibition on intervention on the merits, or liability phase, of NEPA actions. To determine whether putative intervenors demonstrate the "significantly protectable" interest necessary for intervention of right in a NEPA case, the operative inquiry should be whether the "interest is protectable under some law" and whether "there is a relationship between the legally protected interest and the claims at issue."  A putative intervenor will generally demonstrate a sufficient interest for intervention of right in a NEPA action, as in all cases, if "it will suffer a practical impairment of its interests as a result of the pending litigation." 

(Citations omitted.)  Among other things, the court based its decision on the facts that the "federal defendant" rule was (1) at odds with the normal standards it applies in all other intervention of right cases in cases asserting violations of environmental statutes and (2) out of step with all but one of its sister circuits.

This opinion opens up the door for potential third party defendants in NEPA cases who would have previously been denied intervention under the "federal defendant" rule.

Visit the Environmental Law archives for more on this topic.

On January 18, 2011, the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) issued a record of decision (ROD) for the Honolulu Rail Transit Project, a major milestone for a transportation project.

The ROD is a concise public record of FTA's decision.  It identifies the project and mitigation necessary to avoid or minimize environmental harm.  Issuance of the ROD allows the Project to move forward with final design and construction.

According to a City press release, "Today marks an important milestone in Oahu’s quest to become a more transit-friendly island,” said FTA Administrator Peter Rogoff. “With the completion of the National Environmental Policy Act process, the City of Honolulu has met all of the laws and regulations of the environmental review and we look forward to the day when Honolulu’s citizens can ride the rails in comfort, breathe cleaner air, and avoid getting stuck in time-wasting traffic jams.”

Visit the Transportation archives for more on this topic.

 January 12, 2011

 

The Honorable David Y. Ige, Chair

   and Members of the Senate

   Committee on Ways and Means

415 South Beretania Street

Hawai’i State Capitol

Honolulu, Hawai’i  96813

 

The Honorable Marcus R. Oshiro, Chair

   and Members of the House 

   Committee on Finance

415 South Beretania Street

Hawai’i State Capitol

Honolulu, Hawai’i  96813

 

Hawaii County Mayor Billy Kenoi testifying at the state Legislature today.Aloha, Chair Ige, Chair Oshiro and distinguished members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee and the House Finance Committee. Thank you for this opportunity to appear before you to outline our priorities on issues important to the County of Hawai’i in 2011.

We have all heard a great deal in recent weeks about the budget challenges confronting the state, and the County of Hawai’i continues to chart its way through equally challenging budget difficulties.  Declining property revenues and increasing costs forced the county to cope with the largest budget shortfalls in County history in the 2009-2010 fiscal year and in the current budget year.

For the coming year, we project yet another budget shortfall that will once again force us to make painful budget cuts. The unavoidable truth is we now have a county government that we cannot afford. We will continue to reduce the size and cost of government, and to refocus our limited resources on core, critical services. Government must do more with less, and programs that are not essential to our core county mission must be set aside.

Despite our difficulties, we see reason for hope, and we see opportunities. Earlier this month, this committee heard testimony from leading economists Paul Brewbaker and Carl Bonham that funding capital improvement projects and investing in public infrastructure is a key government strategy for stimulating private sector economic activity as we begin to emerge from the recession. We agree, and in the County of Hawai’i we have taken a number of steps to push out construction projects to stimulate the economy.

Last October we asked the Hawai’i County Council to authorize $56 million in new general obligation bonds to build critically needed projects to ease traffic congestion in Kona and Hilo, including the Kapiolani Extension to help the University of Hawai’i at Hilo to grow; to build badly needed parks for our youth in Puna and Kohala; and to build affordable housing in Kona.

Moving forward with these critically needed infrastructure projects during this challenging economic time offers a variety of benefits. Borrowing costs for governments with good credit ratings are near all-time lows, which means taxpayers will pay less in interest. Meanwhile, the construction industry nationwide is struggling, which has caused construction companies to bid aggressively for government contracts. Bid prices have plummeted, and this highly competitive environment means the taxpayers today are getting the best possible prices on public works projects while governments invest in critically needed infrastructure such as airports, harbors, roads and bridges.

We know that tourism arrivals and visitor spending are showing early signs of a recovery, including the milestone announcement that Continental Airlines will soon begin daily direct flights from Los Angeles to Hilo. But we also know people who are still struggling to make ends meet in this economy, and many of them work in the construction industry. We cannot sit back and watch as our working families suffer through some of the worst economic times in County history.

This is the time for state and local governments to make an investment in our communities. We want to carry forward the momentum created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, which injected more than $115 million in new federal dollars into the County of Hawai’i economy alone. These federal projects paid immediate dividends in jobs created, and work completed. Now it is time for local governments to step up to their responsibilities, and do their part to help stimulate the economy. Our working families are counting on us.

As you consider which state projects to put forward, we hope you will consider our input on some proposals we believe will be of particular benefit to our citizens, and will help stimulate the economy.  We hope your committee will consider including these projects in a state construction stimulus package because they advance key community objectives, including improving health care, relieving traffic congestion, protecting public safety and encouraging growth of the University of Hawai’i at Hilo.

Kapiolani Street Extension, $8.7 million

We continue to seek your support for the efforts of the University of Hawai’i at Hilo and our community college system to grow as part of a larger strategy to use higher education as an economic engine. The university is now the second largest employer in East Hawai’i, and we ask for your support as we seek to position UH Hilo for continued growth. We also urge the Legislature to support State plans for the long-awaited permanent community college site in West Hawai’i.

The Kapiolani Street Extension project will lay the groundwork for a new era of growth with UH Hilo by providing a connector road that will open up 42 acres on land in urban Hilo for development of badly needed student housing. The single largest impediment to growth for UH Hilo is a lack of housing for out-of-state and local students, and the university owns land next to campus where this housing can be built. The Kapiolani Street Extension will provide access to these lands while also providing a new two-lane transportation corridor that will ease traffic congestion.

Mid-Level Road (Ane Keohokalole Highway), Kona

Ane Keohokalole Highway will be a six-mile arterial from Palani Road in Kailua-Kona to Kalaoa, mauka of Kona International Airport. The new arterial will stimulate the construction of thousands of homes (Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, affordable and market), commercial development, healthcare and recreational facilities. Construction funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 is already well underway on the first phase of Ane Keohokalole from Palani Road to Kealakehe Parkway, and will comprise 11,000 feet of two-lane highway. An additional 5,000-foot segment from Kealakehe Parkway to Hina Lani Street has already been rough graded.

Also known as the Mid-Level Road, this project will relieve congestion on the crowded Queen Ka’ahumanu Highway. The completed road will provide an alternative route between the town of Kailua-Kona, through an area slated for urban development to a large commercial and light industrial area near Kona International Airport. It will also provide an alternate route to the airport, and when completed will connect Hina Lani Street with a new access road to the future University of Hawai’i’s West Hawai’i community college campus.

The Legislature previously appropriated $15 million in state funds for the Ane Keohokalole project that has not yet been released by the state Department of Transportation. We ask that your committees support the release of those monies through a resolution or a new appropriation if needed to make these funds available for Ane Keoholalole Phase 2 from Hina-Lani to Kaiminani. These funds would cover the cost of paving the area that is rough graded as well as further improvements that will benefit the La’i ’Opua 2020 project supported by the state Department of Hawaiian Home Lands. It would also cover the cost of an environmental assessment, engineering and design work for Phase 2.

Improvements to Highway 130, Kea’au-to-Pahoa Road

The state has identified five intersections across the state with the highest numbers of accidents and the highest numbers of serious accidents, and four of those intersections are on this road. The Statewide Transportation Improvement Program (STIP) includes $3 million for design work and $100,000 to purchase portions of the right-of-way for major improvements to this heavily traveled and highly congested roadway, and a $600,000 state appropriation is needed as a match to the federal funding for that design work. The state is also planning $2 million in more near-term improvements to the intersection of the highway and Old Government Road at the main entrance to Pahoa, and a $200,000 state appropriation is needed as a state match for that project.

North Kona Well, $1.3 million

The County also supports efforts by the Department of Water Supply to improve the quality and reliability of the North Kona water system by constructing a new well. This is part of a much larger effort to shift from low-level water sources to higher elevation sources, and to this end the Department of Water Supply has already allocated nearly $30 million for water system improvements in the region. The existing water system is barely able to meet the current water demand.

Kona Community Hospital Emergency Room, $10 million

(Hawaii Health Systems Corporation)

The Kona Community Hospital Emergency Room was built to accommodate 10,000 patient visits per year, and is now seeing more than 18,000 visits per year. The emergency department needs to be expanded and modernized to improve patient access, flow and privacy to provide for a better working environment for staff, and the County supports HHSC’s efforts to make this essential improvement. In addition, the aging hospital urgently needs improvements to its roofs, parking lots, fire sprinkler and emergency generator systems.

Thank you for your consideration, and we look forward to working with all of our distinguished state legislators as we navigate the challenging economic environment that lies ahead. Mahalo for your support and your commitment to our community.

Aloha,

 

William P. Kenoi

MAYOR

A recent comparative study by The Brookings Institution, Making Transportation Sustainable: Insights from Germany, explores the key differences and determinants of travel behavior in Germany and the United States.  For purposes of the study, sustainability is defined as follows:

. . . encouraging shorter trips by modes of transportation that require less energy and generate less harmful environmental impacts. Moreover, a more sustainable transportation system should foster commerce, reduce energy consumption and carbon emissions, increase safety, provide equal access to destinations for all groups of society, and enhance the quality of life.

The study concludes that

The German experience offers five lessons to the United States for improving transportation sustainability through changes in travel behavior:

-Get the Price Right in order to encourage the use of less polluting cars, driving at non-peak hours and more use of public transportation

-Integrate Transit, Cycling, and Walking as Viable Alternatives to the Car, as a necessary measure to make any sort of car-restrictive measures publicly and politically feasible

-Fully Coordinate and Integrate Planning for Land Use and Transportation to discourage car-dependent sprawl and promote transit-oriented development

-Public Information and Education to Make Changes Feasible are essential in conveying the benefits of more sustainable policies and enforcing their results over the long term

-Implement Policies in Stages with a Long Term Perspective because it takes considerable time to gather the necessary public and political support and to develop appropriate measures. 

This report was prepared as part of Brookings' Metropolitan Infrastructure Initiative.

Visit the Transportation and Planning archives for more on these topics.

The County of Hawai`i’s HI5 Redemption Centers will be temporarily changing the hours of operation as they transition to a new contractor.  The Arc of Hilo will continue to operate the redemption centers during this transition period. The change in hours will be effective beginning January 1 through March 31, 2011. 

The County of Hawai‘i, Department of Parks and Recreation Trap and Skeet Range located at 1010 Leilani Street in Hilo will be closed on Saturday, Jan. 1 (New Year's Day).

Normal hours of operation are Saturdays and Sundays (9 a.m. to 4 p.m.) and Wednesdays (12 noon to 4 p.m). Normal operations will resume beginning Sunday, Jan. 2.

For more information call John Kushi at the Waiakea Recreation Center at 961-8733.