SIMPLY SHOCKING: The nooks and crannies of labyrinth of Kaua`i county government oft contain the meat that feeds the Minotaur.
At first blush a communication (C-2009-203) on this week’s council agenda from Prosecutor Shaylene Iseri Carvalho seems innocuous, enough asking for the council’s
approval to apply,(sic) receive and expend federal funds in the amount of $191,079.00 to expend funds on salaries, and training and for the Office of the Prosecuting Attorney, as well as replace AED equipment, the K-PAL Football and Cheerleading Program, training and overtime for the Kaua`i Police Department.
(No, don’t worry- it’s just Carvalho’s notorious difficulty with the English language that might make it sound like she’s going to “replace... the K-PAL Football and Cheerleading Program” and KPD “training and overtime” in the grant budget.)
Seems innocuous enough. Your guess at what “AED equipment” might be is as good as ours was if you just read the communication itself- some kind of “automatic exercise device” for football or cheerleading perhaps.
To find out what it really is you read the “attachment”. Buried in the middle of the third page of a seven page document- much of which details of the department’s notorious process serving backlog as well as other prosecutorial needs- is these two paragraphs.
The Kaua`i Police Department currently has a total of 15 Auto External Defibrillators (AED). The 15 AED machines are spread between each beat, substation as well as the County of Kaua`i cell block. The AED machines were first purchased in 1999. Training for the AED is typically completed at the same time each Officer is trained in First Responder and in CPR. Although there has not been a recorded incident when these machines have had to be used, it is still very necessary to have them available as often times KPD Officers are the first to arrive on a scene, and may need them in case of emergency.
Replacing all of the AED’s is necessary as some no longer function as the batteries are no longer in service. Having the same AED’s for each beat, substation and cell block will help with the consistency and training for officers in utilizing these machines that can ultimately result in saving someone’s life.
After reeling in our jaw it was hard to know where to begin with this bit of absurdity.
The most obvious questions pertains to exactly why they haven’t been used for 10 years. If it’s “very necessary (not just necessary but VERY necessary) to have them available as often times KPD Officers are the first to arrive on a scene”, and “may need them in case of emergency” the fact they haven’t been used would seem somewhat incongruous.
Did they forget they were there? If so, how many died because of that? Nah, presumably there was some other reason, most likely that they never had a need to use them.
So why would we need to replace them? If 10 years of never having an instance to use them isn’t proof that they will never be needed, how long would that take?
We suspect that it’s possible the procedure when someone’s heart is stopped is to start CRP first and continue that until EMT shows up. If so, why have them in possession of officers whose standard procedure is to never use them?
An email to the county’s Public Information Office seeking information as to why they were never used remains unanswered at press time.
But beyond that is why they need to be replaced- at a cost, according to the attachment, of $2070 per AED or $31,050 total for the 15- especially if they were never used?
If it’s the batteries, that raises questions all by itself. How did they get to be “dead” if they were never used? Were they neglected and never “recharged”? Can the batteries be replaced?
Whatever the situation, there are really only two possibilities here- either the AED's are defective in that with zero use they need to be replaced or the standard manufacturer recommended maintenance was neglected.
The grant is from the Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant Program which “allows states and local governments to support a broad range of activities to prevent and control crime and to improve the criminal justice system...
“Purpose Areas include:
Law enforcement programs.
Prosecution and court programs.
Prevention and education programs.
Corrections and community corrections programs.
Drug treatment and enforcement programs.
Planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs.
Crime victim and witness programs (other than compensation).”
With all the backlog of warrants, subpoenas and the like and the terrible problem the prosecutor has had- and Carvalho describes in the attachment- getting them served, wouldn’t the extra $30,000 help to clear that backlog? Or how about drug treatment- an area severely neglected on Kaua`i?
$30,000 may not seem like much but the list programs certainly includes some NGO-provided services that the county council and administration said it simply could not funds for in this year’s budget.
The council will take up the item at 9 a.m. or thereafter during this Wednesday’s council meeting at the Historic County Building.
Monday, June 1, 2009
Friday, May 29, 2009
DIGGIN’ UP THE DIRT
DIGGIN’ UP THE DIRT: Public Broadcasting likes to tell us they “do what the commercial networks won’t”. And in Hawai`i they do, on the surface, with regularly scheduled local “public affairs” programming three nights a week where the local broadcast networks average about, well zero.
It’s questionable how topically relevant two of those programs are, like the local sports talk of “Leahey and Leahey” and Leslie Wilcox’s amazing ability to turn interviews with the most politically fascinating individuals in the state into fluff pieces in her “Long Story Short”.
But Dan Boylan’s “Island Insights” usually cooks up at least a promise of a wide ranging, panel discussion of the burning issue of the day.
That promise would be fulfilled if the panel actually pitted those who took diametrically opposed positions. But instead all too often the producer rounds up the usual suspects who represent the state’s corporate controlled oligarchy.
Never was that more so than last light’s installment on the “future of agriculture in Hawai`i”.
Promos promised discussion of “sustainability” and land issues and the political will to make diversified agriculture more than the empty campaign promise of aspiring pols.
But instead three of the four represented large corporate industrial money-driven farms and the fourth, Aussie transplant Gary Maunakea-Fort from the Big Island, an inarticulate organic farmer and opponent of what he called “industrial farms” who serves high end restaurants on Kona side with arugula on 4 acres there, although he is trying to expand to 16 acres.
The three corporate farmers included Adolph Helm of Moloka`i who represented the “Hawai`i Crop Improvement Association” and heads up the GMO-corn seed operation there, the Chair of the Hawai`i Board of Agriculture Sandra Lee Kunimoto and Richard Ha whose 600 acres Hamakua Farms plants 600 chemically-fertilized acres of whatever makes him the most money.
The sustainably discussion was a joke. Apparently none had any idea of what the movement toward sustainability was all about.
Ha was straightforward in re-defining sustainability as being economically based repeatedly saying whatever makes money is what is sustainable. Worse was Helm who not just agreed with Ha’s economic model but who claimed that “everyone has a different idea of what sustainability means” and went on to say how GMO corn seed is our best hope for sustaining agriculture”
Kunimoto seemed equally as clueless claiming that “best management practices” are the key.
The GMO discussion was equally obtuse with the three industrial farmers providing the tired old lies of “strict government oversight” and “higher yields” along with the “fully tested” and “strictly regulated”. The only real discussion was about how to deal with the “cultural” objections to GMO taro with the understanding among themselves that science” was on their side.
The fact that GMO products have never been fully tested and that science has been thrown under the bus with the precautionary principle—the main guiding standard in real science- getting the shortest of shrifts. Products are assumed safe with little scrutiny and voluntary compliance and self regulation providing for non-compliance- as violations and resulting fines across the county have shown- being the norm under the “deregulation” regimes of the last few decades.
When a viewer asked about labeling issue all they could do is repeat the “strict government regulation means it’s as safe an any other product” dodge.
Forth was not even asked to answer the question.
But if discussion on those two subjects were dismally one-sided the one on land use was doubly perverse.
The cost of land was never mentioned as a deterrent to farming even though any young aspiring farmer will tell you that that’s impediment number one. Even when the pressure to develop ag land came up the fact that, in order to farm one must invest more in land than one could ever possibly recover in order to start, never came up.
As a matter of fact they lauded the new “identification of important ag lands” study as the key to the future of agriculture, although none ventured a guess as to how reclassifying tons of ag land as urban and residential would help drive down ag land prices.
In an age when we are increasingly looking for ways to “grow” energy with solar wind and biomass “farming” to call any ag land at all “unimportant” is absolute insanity. Identifying land for development just squeezes that energy production onto more arable land, driving prices up not just for the land but the resulting food and energy even further.
That’s because every successful farmer in Hawai`i, for one reason or another, whether through inheritance subsidized lease or through some other circumstance, has not had to factor in land cost into the viability of their farm.
While some mentioned county regulation none recognized the state’s role in allowing “ag condominiums” over which the counties have zero control. That is what has driven prices sky high as ag land becomes “gentleman farms”.
None, including Forth, talked of sustainable small family farms. So of course the problems of hiring “agricultural workers” was the answer when Boylan asked why “young people don’t want to farm”.
That seems to be the mantra of corporate farmers almost all of whom started being land ag rich so never had to factor that cost into their profit equation. They simply seek to hire people to do the seasonal work at low wages rather than taking in partners or forming co-ops.
The fact is that there are hoards of young people who would love to become farmers- Forth says he hires them “for a few years” just so they can have the experience and had 75 applicants for 24 positions last year. But the cost of land is prohibitive because no crop and no amount of work can produce enough to sustain those who do the work and also pay off the exorbitant cost of obtaining land with prices that have been driven by making ag land in small de facto residential lots for rich mainland folks
The real solution to sustainable ag is multi pronged but not very complicated. It starts with bring down the cost by restricting use. Counties can easily remove density from ag land and open land and the state can just as easily eliminate agricultural condominiums making land useless for anything but agriculture.
The more of that “strictly ag use” land there is the lower the price will be. Every rezoning and ag subdivision drives prices higher still. Those need to stop entirely.
Once that is in place the business plan of the young farmer becomes easy to construct and one that, with hard work and knowledge, would make a career in farming a possibility.
The corporate model relies on “workers” and “jobs” that nobody wants- do you want to work for minimum wage (or less as farm workers may be paid)?
The fact that no one wants to do hard work for peanuts doesn’t mean young people don’t want to farm or do hard work at all. They just don’t want to farm for low wages for someone who somehow acquired land at a way-below-market-cost that they didn’t have to factor into their business plan.
The problem is that lip service to ag is all we get from short sighted pols who still think of sustainability in terms of an economically-driven industrial model of operation.
With people like Kunimoto overseeing and cheerleading factory farmers like Ha and “GMO is our future” Monsanto henchmen like Helm no one is holding their breath that our elected officials will remove the corporate yoke from farming by reforming our land use polices.
But we may never even get that far. When the “unimportant ag lands” study is done and most of the ag land is developed there may not be anything to reform.
It’s questionable how topically relevant two of those programs are, like the local sports talk of “Leahey and Leahey” and Leslie Wilcox’s amazing ability to turn interviews with the most politically fascinating individuals in the state into fluff pieces in her “Long Story Short”.
But Dan Boylan’s “Island Insights” usually cooks up at least a promise of a wide ranging, panel discussion of the burning issue of the day.
That promise would be fulfilled if the panel actually pitted those who took diametrically opposed positions. But instead all too often the producer rounds up the usual suspects who represent the state’s corporate controlled oligarchy.
Never was that more so than last light’s installment on the “future of agriculture in Hawai`i”.
Promos promised discussion of “sustainability” and land issues and the political will to make diversified agriculture more than the empty campaign promise of aspiring pols.
But instead three of the four represented large corporate industrial money-driven farms and the fourth, Aussie transplant Gary Maunakea-Fort from the Big Island, an inarticulate organic farmer and opponent of what he called “industrial farms” who serves high end restaurants on Kona side with arugula on 4 acres there, although he is trying to expand to 16 acres.
The three corporate farmers included Adolph Helm of Moloka`i who represented the “Hawai`i Crop Improvement Association” and heads up the GMO-corn seed operation there, the Chair of the Hawai`i Board of Agriculture Sandra Lee Kunimoto and Richard Ha whose 600 acres Hamakua Farms plants 600 chemically-fertilized acres of whatever makes him the most money.
The sustainably discussion was a joke. Apparently none had any idea of what the movement toward sustainability was all about.
Ha was straightforward in re-defining sustainability as being economically based repeatedly saying whatever makes money is what is sustainable. Worse was Helm who not just agreed with Ha’s economic model but who claimed that “everyone has a different idea of what sustainability means” and went on to say how GMO corn seed is our best hope for sustaining agriculture”
Kunimoto seemed equally as clueless claiming that “best management practices” are the key.
The GMO discussion was equally obtuse with the three industrial farmers providing the tired old lies of “strict government oversight” and “higher yields” along with the “fully tested” and “strictly regulated”. The only real discussion was about how to deal with the “cultural” objections to GMO taro with the understanding among themselves that science” was on their side.
The fact that GMO products have never been fully tested and that science has been thrown under the bus with the precautionary principle—the main guiding standard in real science- getting the shortest of shrifts. Products are assumed safe with little scrutiny and voluntary compliance and self regulation providing for non-compliance- as violations and resulting fines across the county have shown- being the norm under the “deregulation” regimes of the last few decades.
When a viewer asked about labeling issue all they could do is repeat the “strict government regulation means it’s as safe an any other product” dodge.
Forth was not even asked to answer the question.
But if discussion on those two subjects were dismally one-sided the one on land use was doubly perverse.
The cost of land was never mentioned as a deterrent to farming even though any young aspiring farmer will tell you that that’s impediment number one. Even when the pressure to develop ag land came up the fact that, in order to farm one must invest more in land than one could ever possibly recover in order to start, never came up.
As a matter of fact they lauded the new “identification of important ag lands” study as the key to the future of agriculture, although none ventured a guess as to how reclassifying tons of ag land as urban and residential would help drive down ag land prices.
In an age when we are increasingly looking for ways to “grow” energy with solar wind and biomass “farming” to call any ag land at all “unimportant” is absolute insanity. Identifying land for development just squeezes that energy production onto more arable land, driving prices up not just for the land but the resulting food and energy even further.
That’s because every successful farmer in Hawai`i, for one reason or another, whether through inheritance subsidized lease or through some other circumstance, has not had to factor in land cost into the viability of their farm.
While some mentioned county regulation none recognized the state’s role in allowing “ag condominiums” over which the counties have zero control. That is what has driven prices sky high as ag land becomes “gentleman farms”.
None, including Forth, talked of sustainable small family farms. So of course the problems of hiring “agricultural workers” was the answer when Boylan asked why “young people don’t want to farm”.
That seems to be the mantra of corporate farmers almost all of whom started being land ag rich so never had to factor that cost into their profit equation. They simply seek to hire people to do the seasonal work at low wages rather than taking in partners or forming co-ops.
The fact is that there are hoards of young people who would love to become farmers- Forth says he hires them “for a few years” just so they can have the experience and had 75 applicants for 24 positions last year. But the cost of land is prohibitive because no crop and no amount of work can produce enough to sustain those who do the work and also pay off the exorbitant cost of obtaining land with prices that have been driven by making ag land in small de facto residential lots for rich mainland folks
The real solution to sustainable ag is multi pronged but not very complicated. It starts with bring down the cost by restricting use. Counties can easily remove density from ag land and open land and the state can just as easily eliminate agricultural condominiums making land useless for anything but agriculture.
The more of that “strictly ag use” land there is the lower the price will be. Every rezoning and ag subdivision drives prices higher still. Those need to stop entirely.
Once that is in place the business plan of the young farmer becomes easy to construct and one that, with hard work and knowledge, would make a career in farming a possibility.
The corporate model relies on “workers” and “jobs” that nobody wants- do you want to work for minimum wage (or less as farm workers may be paid)?
The fact that no one wants to do hard work for peanuts doesn’t mean young people don’t want to farm or do hard work at all. They just don’t want to farm for low wages for someone who somehow acquired land at a way-below-market-cost that they didn’t have to factor into their business plan.
The problem is that lip service to ag is all we get from short sighted pols who still think of sustainability in terms of an economically-driven industrial model of operation.
With people like Kunimoto overseeing and cheerleading factory farmers like Ha and “GMO is our future” Monsanto henchmen like Helm no one is holding their breath that our elected officials will remove the corporate yoke from farming by reforming our land use polices.
But we may never even get that far. When the “unimportant ag lands” study is done and most of the ag land is developed there may not be anything to reform.
Wednesday, May 27, 2009
(PNN) SAFETY OVERFLOW FEATURES TO DIVERT WATER FROM KA LOKO BACK TO MOLOA`A STREAM EXISTED, REMAIN IN DISUSE
SAFETY OVERFLOW FEATURES TO DIVERT WATER FROM KA LOKO BACK TO MOLOA`A STREAM EXISTED, REMAIN IN DISUSE
(PNN) There is apparently a portion of the Moloa`a Ditch system that was seemingly designed to return water from the recently illegally reconstructed Moloa`a Ditch to Moloa`a Stream, according to local architect and engineer Juan Wilson.
A map produced by Wilson and posted as part of a Moloa`a Diversion Forensics
article on his Island Breath web site depicts what he says is the system of ditches that feed into Ka Loko reservoir which gave way in 2006 killing seven people in Waiakalua valley.
The map shows Moloa`a Stream and tributaries in light blue toward the bottom of the frame. Ka Loko Reservoir is at the right in blue and with a potion of Moloa`a ditch running left to right in the center in blue, connecting the point of diversion of the water out of Moloa`a Stream’s Kalawa`a tributary (a potato chip shaped blue patch at the left) with the Ka Loko ditch system at a point just to the left of the reservoir.
Then the water apparently connects to and dumps into Ka Loko Reservoir.
But there is also a blue a section that runs from where all the ditches come together just above (to the left) the reservoir and lead back to the Moloa`a stream watershed.
Wilson says this may be a section of the Moloa`a Ditch system that was apparently designed as a safety feature to take excess water out of the system and return it to Moloa`a Stream and was designed to prevent the Ka Loko Reservoir from taking in more water than it could hold.
The elevation of the point just above the reservoir is more than a hundred feet higher than the point where it connects to Kalawa`a stream so it could only run in that direction according to Wilson.
PNN previously reported, first that a letter to the EPA said the main Moloa`a Ditch may have had its flow reversed 10 years ago but later reported that that, according to other documents, was apparently not the case. Wilson’s depiction may shed light on the discrepancy.
It’s unknown at this time whether the section in question was reconstructed when the diversion, as described above, was established about 10 years ago according to a recent county-funded study on agricultural water in the Moloa`a-to-Kilauea area, all centered around Ka Loko Reservoir.
It is apparently not referred to in any documents in the reports as being currently functional.
Though no proof exists as to who did the 10 year old work diverting Moloa`a Stream water, all evidence points to land owner Jimmy Pflueger who did extensive work in the area prior to the dam break and is scheduled to stand trial for manslaughter and in numerous civil cases this summer in connection with the dam break.
The map was put together by Wilson using Google Earth 3D and his work on cataloguing ahupua`a on Kaua`i as well as information contained in the recently released county-funded Kilauea Irrigation Water Engineering Design and Monitoring Study and state Godby Report on the dam break as depicted and provided by Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a.
Kallai says there are signs in the various reports that there are currently non-functional parts of the system designed to take excess water out of the ditches and return it to Moloa`a Stream before it gets to the reservoir. She says she isn’t sure where this specific depiction by Wilson fits in but that apparently there is an “clean out weir” that can dump excess water down a small valley that leads from the area above Ka Loko to either Moloa`a Stream’s Kalawa`a tributary or Moloa`a Stream proper.
The problem has been that exhibits in both reports are at times contradictory and it’s unknown whether, when the documents were prepared- some going back decades- they were based on factual material or speculation at the time.
It isn’t known how may “safety features” may have been built in the past and the one described by Wilson may, Kallai says, be one of as may as three according to the documents.
Kallai says that it seems that she believes that water can be returned to Moloa`a Stream as easily as turning a valves to release the water, citing a time when this apparently happened for a period of days last summer during the time the county study was being conducted when the valve was turned and she and others noted that Moloa`a Stream flowed as it had prior to the diversion 10 years ago.
What is apparent is that currently no water return mechanism is in use.
For further details see the left rail for prior PNN reports on the theft of Moloa`a Water. PNN will continue to follow the story as details emerge.
(PNN) There is apparently a portion of the Moloa`a Ditch system that was seemingly designed to return water from the recently illegally reconstructed Moloa`a Ditch to Moloa`a Stream, according to local architect and engineer Juan Wilson.
A map produced by Wilson and posted as part of a Moloa`a Diversion Forensics
article on his Island Breath web site depicts what he says is the system of ditches that feed into Ka Loko reservoir which gave way in 2006 killing seven people in Waiakalua valley.
The map shows Moloa`a Stream and tributaries in light blue toward the bottom of the frame. Ka Loko Reservoir is at the right in blue and with a potion of Moloa`a ditch running left to right in the center in blue, connecting the point of diversion of the water out of Moloa`a Stream’s Kalawa`a tributary (a potato chip shaped blue patch at the left) with the Ka Loko ditch system at a point just to the left of the reservoir.
Then the water apparently connects to and dumps into Ka Loko Reservoir.
But there is also a blue a section that runs from where all the ditches come together just above (to the left) the reservoir and lead back to the Moloa`a stream watershed.
Wilson says this may be a section of the Moloa`a Ditch system that was apparently designed as a safety feature to take excess water out of the system and return it to Moloa`a Stream and was designed to prevent the Ka Loko Reservoir from taking in more water than it could hold.
The elevation of the point just above the reservoir is more than a hundred feet higher than the point where it connects to Kalawa`a stream so it could only run in that direction according to Wilson.
PNN previously reported, first that a letter to the EPA said the main Moloa`a Ditch may have had its flow reversed 10 years ago but later reported that that, according to other documents, was apparently not the case. Wilson’s depiction may shed light on the discrepancy.
It’s unknown at this time whether the section in question was reconstructed when the diversion, as described above, was established about 10 years ago according to a recent county-funded study on agricultural water in the Moloa`a-to-Kilauea area, all centered around Ka Loko Reservoir.
It is apparently not referred to in any documents in the reports as being currently functional.
Though no proof exists as to who did the 10 year old work diverting Moloa`a Stream water, all evidence points to land owner Jimmy Pflueger who did extensive work in the area prior to the dam break and is scheduled to stand trial for manslaughter and in numerous civil cases this summer in connection with the dam break.
The map was put together by Wilson using Google Earth 3D and his work on cataloguing ahupua`a on Kaua`i as well as information contained in the recently released county-funded Kilauea Irrigation Water Engineering Design and Monitoring Study and state Godby Report on the dam break as depicted and provided by Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a.
Kallai says there are signs in the various reports that there are currently non-functional parts of the system designed to take excess water out of the ditches and return it to Moloa`a Stream before it gets to the reservoir. She says she isn’t sure where this specific depiction by Wilson fits in but that apparently there is an “clean out weir” that can dump excess water down a small valley that leads from the area above Ka Loko to either Moloa`a Stream’s Kalawa`a tributary or Moloa`a Stream proper.
The problem has been that exhibits in both reports are at times contradictory and it’s unknown whether, when the documents were prepared- some going back decades- they were based on factual material or speculation at the time.
It isn’t known how may “safety features” may have been built in the past and the one described by Wilson may, Kallai says, be one of as may as three according to the documents.
Kallai says that it seems that she believes that water can be returned to Moloa`a Stream as easily as turning a valves to release the water, citing a time when this apparently happened for a period of days last summer during the time the county study was being conducted when the valve was turned and she and others noted that Moloa`a Stream flowed as it had prior to the diversion 10 years ago.
What is apparent is that currently no water return mechanism is in use.
For further details see the left rail for prior PNN reports on the theft of Moloa`a Water. PNN will continue to follow the story as details emerge.
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE LAB(YRINTH)
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE LAB(YRINTH): Few on Kaua`i dispute that Uncle-Chair Kaipo Potter operates his Council Chamber of Secrets with a iron-fisted and paternalistic combination of deceit and intimidation.
But never is that more so than when he and his fellow Minotaurs cut short testimony they don’t like by falsely claiming the state sunshine law forbids members of the public from discussing matters not specifically on the agenda.
What does not bode well for the future of open governance on Kaua`i is that at last Wednesday’s council meeting someone who should know better didn’t, as usual, just remain silent when Chair Asing used this misrepresentation to cut off testimony he didn’t want spoken on television but, without invitation, that someone initiated a challenge to public testimony based on the falsification.
New County Attorney Al Castillo is apparently so new to the job that he has yet to review the essential Office of Information Practices (OIP) rulings on the matter and has rather let Asing’s mealy-mouth interpretation guide his actions.
While testifying before passage of the council’s ill-advised million-dollar flush down the crapper of toruism promotion, council watchdog and “nitpicker” Ken Taylor used the opportunity to suggest the money might be better spent on other essentials- such as addressing one of his pet issues, peak oil.
But while Asing sat passively giving Taylor his perfunctory “three minutes” who should rudely interrupt and raise an objections but Castillo who has no business in any way shape or form doing so, warning Asing that the testimony was “off-agenda” and should not be allowed.
The issue was quite clearly addressed by the OIP relatively recently, in 2005 when someone on the Big Island raised the issue of their council’s tradition of allowing members of the public to speak on any subject they desire- on or off the agenda- for a short period of time at the end of each meeting.
The OIP said two things quite clearly and forcefully.
First of all OIP opinion 2005-02 says
A board may permit members of the public to speak at a meeting on matters that are not on the agenda but is not required to do so.
The important word there is “may”. The discretionary term gives the chair the ability to disallow testimony that is not about something that is on the agenda. But though he is allowed to do so, he is not required by law to stop it, as Asing has consistently claimed for years.
This has led to councilmembers- each of whom chairs a council committee- to use the same lie to control testimony at their various committee meetings... especially councilmembers Jay Furfaro and Darryl Kaneshiro who routinely follow Asing’s lead when someone says something they don’t wish to hear- or more importantly something they don’t want others to hear.
Each has refused to admit that it is up to them to allow it or not, going so far as to reiterate that they would gladly allow the testimony but state law forbids them from doing so.
Castillo was certainly not just reminding them they had the discretionary power to disallow the testimony but warning them that to allow the testimony might be counter to the Sunshine Law.
Secondly, the other half of the ruling is restrictive of what one certain group of people can and can’t discuss at the meetings- councilmembers themselves.
It says:
Board members may not discuss, deliberate or decide matters that are not on the agenda, Thus if a board elects to hear public statements regarding matters not on the agenda and the statements relate to matters over which the board has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power, the board must be careful not to respond by discussing the matter.
Apparently, rather than doing his homework and verifying whether Asing and the Kaua`i County Council’s standard operation procedure complies with state law, Castillo made the fatal mistake of assuming that Asing and his henchman County Clerk Peter Nakamura weren’t willfully ignoring the Sunshine Law and OIP and substituting their own outlaw justice for the actual meaning and intent of the statute.
Since Castillo is new on the job and indeed new to governmental and public policy law we’ll assume this was a mere understandable oversight. Afterall, hey- who would figure that the council chair and the county clerk would conspire to violate the Sunshine Law- something that, if true, could yield jail time for the two?
We’ll assume that Castillo isn’t “in on” the plot as the last two county attorneys apparently were after having this matter brought to their attention numerous times by various “nitpickers”- and PNN reports- in the past.
We do hope that Castillo will take this as a wakeup call to make sure he personally dots the i’s and crosses the t’s on the legality of the council’s maze of procedures.
One incident like this under the new CA is understandable but a second would indicate complicity in activities that have given Kaua`i a statewide reputation as “a separate kingdom” when it comes to complying with state law, especially the Sunshine statutes.
But never is that more so than when he and his fellow Minotaurs cut short testimony they don’t like by falsely claiming the state sunshine law forbids members of the public from discussing matters not specifically on the agenda.
What does not bode well for the future of open governance on Kaua`i is that at last Wednesday’s council meeting someone who should know better didn’t, as usual, just remain silent when Chair Asing used this misrepresentation to cut off testimony he didn’t want spoken on television but, without invitation, that someone initiated a challenge to public testimony based on the falsification.
New County Attorney Al Castillo is apparently so new to the job that he has yet to review the essential Office of Information Practices (OIP) rulings on the matter and has rather let Asing’s mealy-mouth interpretation guide his actions.
While testifying before passage of the council’s ill-advised million-dollar flush down the crapper of toruism promotion, council watchdog and “nitpicker” Ken Taylor used the opportunity to suggest the money might be better spent on other essentials- such as addressing one of his pet issues, peak oil.
But while Asing sat passively giving Taylor his perfunctory “three minutes” who should rudely interrupt and raise an objections but Castillo who has no business in any way shape or form doing so, warning Asing that the testimony was “off-agenda” and should not be allowed.
The issue was quite clearly addressed by the OIP relatively recently, in 2005 when someone on the Big Island raised the issue of their council’s tradition of allowing members of the public to speak on any subject they desire- on or off the agenda- for a short period of time at the end of each meeting.
The OIP said two things quite clearly and forcefully.
First of all OIP opinion 2005-02 says
A board may permit members of the public to speak at a meeting on matters that are not on the agenda but is not required to do so.
The important word there is “may”. The discretionary term gives the chair the ability to disallow testimony that is not about something that is on the agenda. But though he is allowed to do so, he is not required by law to stop it, as Asing has consistently claimed for years.
This has led to councilmembers- each of whom chairs a council committee- to use the same lie to control testimony at their various committee meetings... especially councilmembers Jay Furfaro and Darryl Kaneshiro who routinely follow Asing’s lead when someone says something they don’t wish to hear- or more importantly something they don’t want others to hear.
Each has refused to admit that it is up to them to allow it or not, going so far as to reiterate that they would gladly allow the testimony but state law forbids them from doing so.
Castillo was certainly not just reminding them they had the discretionary power to disallow the testimony but warning them that to allow the testimony might be counter to the Sunshine Law.
Secondly, the other half of the ruling is restrictive of what one certain group of people can and can’t discuss at the meetings- councilmembers themselves.
It says:
Board members may not discuss, deliberate or decide matters that are not on the agenda, Thus if a board elects to hear public statements regarding matters not on the agenda and the statements relate to matters over which the board has supervision, control, jurisdiction or advisory power, the board must be careful not to respond by discussing the matter.
Apparently, rather than doing his homework and verifying whether Asing and the Kaua`i County Council’s standard operation procedure complies with state law, Castillo made the fatal mistake of assuming that Asing and his henchman County Clerk Peter Nakamura weren’t willfully ignoring the Sunshine Law and OIP and substituting their own outlaw justice for the actual meaning and intent of the statute.
Since Castillo is new on the job and indeed new to governmental and public policy law we’ll assume this was a mere understandable oversight. Afterall, hey- who would figure that the council chair and the county clerk would conspire to violate the Sunshine Law- something that, if true, could yield jail time for the two?
We’ll assume that Castillo isn’t “in on” the plot as the last two county attorneys apparently were after having this matter brought to their attention numerous times by various “nitpickers”- and PNN reports- in the past.
We do hope that Castillo will take this as a wakeup call to make sure he personally dots the i’s and crosses the t’s on the legality of the council’s maze of procedures.
One incident like this under the new CA is understandable but a second would indicate complicity in activities that have given Kaua`i a statewide reputation as “a separate kingdom” when it comes to complying with state law, especially the Sunshine statutes.
Monday, May 25, 2009
ANOTHER COLLIE FLOWER YEAR
ANOTHER COLLIE FLOWER YEAR: A year ago we asked “Where Have All The Collie Flowers Gone” saying in part
It’s dead soldier day again. People are honoring those who took the lives of others for no reason other than that they were young and stupid and were told to do so by demented old men who sought to plunder, rape and pillage.
Not us. Today we honor the veterans of anti-war movements throughout history...
Every dead soldier died in vain. There never was a noble cause or even a valid one. The soldiers died protecting nothing but greed and avarice.
The notion that soldiers protected our right to say this is ludicrous. Every war has been accompanied by a diminution of our constitutional rights. Those that fought against the war are the ones who kept free speech alive in the face of depraved and often felonious attempts of the war mongers to stifle it.
Only a true coward kills because they are told to do so. But there have been a few truly courageous young men and women that have been there to say no- we will not go and kill for your plunder. We will not demonize and dehumanize to enable those without the guts to stand up and say no to that which they know to be wrong to pull a trigger and delay the remorse until they get home- if they get home.
We took a lot of heat from both expected and unexpected sources such as Doug White at Poinography (link lost in a hard drive crash) who was so offended our previously congenial interactions grew a bit cold afterward.
While we were saddened by that course of events- and wish Doug would go back to daily or even regular posting- a year later we wouldn’t change a word except, with a change in D.C. administration, by adding another name to the list of war criminals and by referencing the mad rush to kill more brown people in the new and improved Afghani war “theater”.
Rather than say it again we’ll let Cindy Sheehan- the “mother whose oldest child, Casey, was killed in Iraq (and who) camped out in front of (George Bush’s) Texas ranch demanding that “he tell me for what noble cause that he killed my son” according to her bio- say it for us in a different way this year.
-------------
Day of the Dead
5/25/09
by Cindy Sheehan
I was on an airplane flying to Orange County from Sacramento to attend the al-Awda Conference; which is a Palestinian Right’s Conference. Al-Awda translates to “The Returning, “ when the Pilot voice filled the cabin to make an announcement that I think went unnoticed by most of my fellow passengers, but I heard it.
As the plane was on the approach to John Wayne airport, the Captain came on the intercom to remind us all to “remember our brave troops who have died for our freedom.” Even in this post 9-11 paranoid paradigm, if I wasn’t belted in for landing, I would have popped out of my seat at 13D and charged up to the cockpit to let the pilot know that my son was killed in Iraq and not one person anywhere in this world is one iota more free because he is dead.
As a matter of fact, the people of Iraq, the foreign country thousands of miles away where my oldest child’s brains, blood, and life seeped into the soil, are not freer, unless one counts being liberated from life, liberty and property being free. If you consider torture and indefinite detention freedom, then the Pilot may have been right, but then again, even if you do consider those crimes freedom, it does not make it so.
Here in America we are definitely not freer because my son died, as a matter of fact, our nation can spy on us and our communications without a warrant or just cause and we can’t even bring a 3.6 ounce bottle of hand cream into an airport or walk through a METAL detector with our shoes on. Even if we do want to exercise our Bill of Rights, we are shoved into pre-designated “free speech” (NewSpeak for; STFU, unless you are well out of the way of what you want to protest and shoved into pens like cattle being led to slaughter) zones and oftentimes brutally treated if you decide you are entitled to “free speech” on every inch of American soil.
If you watch any one of the cable news networks this weekend between doing holiday weekend things, you will be subjected to images of row upon row of white headstones of dead US military lined up in perfect formation in the afterlife as they were in life. Patriotic music will swell and we will be reminded in script font to “Remember our heroes,” or some such BS as that.
Before Casey was killed, a message like that would barely register in my consciousness as I rushed around preparing for Casey’s birthday bar-be-que that became a family tradition since he was born on Memorial Day in 1979. If I had a vision of how Memorial Day and Casey’s birthday would change for my family, I would have fled these violent shores to protect what was mine, not this murderous country’s. Be my guest, look at those headstones with pride or indifference. I look at them, now with horror, regret, pain and a longing for justice.
I can guarantee what you won’t see this holiday weekend are images of the over one million Iraqi dead. Say we assign, in an arbitrary way for purely illustrative purposes, an average height of 5 feet for every person killed in Iraq and then lined those people up from head to toe. That gruesome line would stretch from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon…950 driving miles up Interstate 5. If we count the Iraqis who have been forced to flee, we would have to go back and forth between L.A. and Portland another four times.
There are obscene amounts of people who have been slaughtered for the US Profit Driven Military Empire who do not count here in America on any day. People in Vietnam are still dying from the toxins dumped on their country by the US, not to mention the millions who died during that war. Let the carnage escalate in Afghanistan while we protect our personal images by turning a blind eye to Obama’s war crimes. Are you going to feel a lump of pride in your bosom when the coffins start to be photographed at Dover for this imperial crime of aggression? Will you look at those flag-draped boxes of the lifeless body of some mother's child and think: "Now, I am free." Is it better to be dead when Obama is president?
A tough, but real, aspect of this all to consider is, how many of the soldiers buried in coffins in military cemeteries killed or tortured innocent people as paid goons for Empire? To me, it is deeply and profoundly sad on so many levels. If I have any consolation through all of this, I learned that my son bravely refused to go on the mission that killed him, but he was literally dragged onto the vehicle and was dead minutes later before he was forced to do something that was against his nature and nurture.
Casey will always be my hero but he was a victim of US Imperialism and his death should bring shame, not pride, as it did not bring freedom to anyone. I will, of course, mourn his senseless death on Memorial Day as I do everyday.
However, we do not need another day here in America to glorify war which enables the Military Industrial Complex to commit its crimes under the black cloak of "Patriotism."
From Palestine to Africa to South America, our quest for global economic domination kills, sickens, maims or oppresses people on a daily basis and about 25,000 children per day die of starvation. I am not okay with these facts and I am not proud of my country.
I will spend my reflective time on MD to mourn not only the deaths of so many people all over the world due to war, but mourn the fact that they are the unseen and uncared for victims of US Empire.
It’s dead soldier day again. People are honoring those who took the lives of others for no reason other than that they were young and stupid and were told to do so by demented old men who sought to plunder, rape and pillage.
Not us. Today we honor the veterans of anti-war movements throughout history...
Every dead soldier died in vain. There never was a noble cause or even a valid one. The soldiers died protecting nothing but greed and avarice.
The notion that soldiers protected our right to say this is ludicrous. Every war has been accompanied by a diminution of our constitutional rights. Those that fought against the war are the ones who kept free speech alive in the face of depraved and often felonious attempts of the war mongers to stifle it.
Only a true coward kills because they are told to do so. But there have been a few truly courageous young men and women that have been there to say no- we will not go and kill for your plunder. We will not demonize and dehumanize to enable those without the guts to stand up and say no to that which they know to be wrong to pull a trigger and delay the remorse until they get home- if they get home.
We took a lot of heat from both expected and unexpected sources such as Doug White at Poinography (link lost in a hard drive crash) who was so offended our previously congenial interactions grew a bit cold afterward.
While we were saddened by that course of events- and wish Doug would go back to daily or even regular posting- a year later we wouldn’t change a word except, with a change in D.C. administration, by adding another name to the list of war criminals and by referencing the mad rush to kill more brown people in the new and improved Afghani war “theater”.
Rather than say it again we’ll let Cindy Sheehan- the “mother whose oldest child, Casey, was killed in Iraq (and who) camped out in front of (George Bush’s) Texas ranch demanding that “he tell me for what noble cause that he killed my son” according to her bio- say it for us in a different way this year.
-------------
Day of the Dead
5/25/09
by Cindy Sheehan
I was on an airplane flying to Orange County from Sacramento to attend the al-Awda Conference; which is a Palestinian Right’s Conference. Al-Awda translates to “The Returning, “ when the Pilot voice filled the cabin to make an announcement that I think went unnoticed by most of my fellow passengers, but I heard it.
As the plane was on the approach to John Wayne airport, the Captain came on the intercom to remind us all to “remember our brave troops who have died for our freedom.” Even in this post 9-11 paranoid paradigm, if I wasn’t belted in for landing, I would have popped out of my seat at 13D and charged up to the cockpit to let the pilot know that my son was killed in Iraq and not one person anywhere in this world is one iota more free because he is dead.
As a matter of fact, the people of Iraq, the foreign country thousands of miles away where my oldest child’s brains, blood, and life seeped into the soil, are not freer, unless one counts being liberated from life, liberty and property being free. If you consider torture and indefinite detention freedom, then the Pilot may have been right, but then again, even if you do consider those crimes freedom, it does not make it so.
Here in America we are definitely not freer because my son died, as a matter of fact, our nation can spy on us and our communications without a warrant or just cause and we can’t even bring a 3.6 ounce bottle of hand cream into an airport or walk through a METAL detector with our shoes on. Even if we do want to exercise our Bill of Rights, we are shoved into pre-designated “free speech” (NewSpeak for; STFU, unless you are well out of the way of what you want to protest and shoved into pens like cattle being led to slaughter) zones and oftentimes brutally treated if you decide you are entitled to “free speech” on every inch of American soil.
If you watch any one of the cable news networks this weekend between doing holiday weekend things, you will be subjected to images of row upon row of white headstones of dead US military lined up in perfect formation in the afterlife as they were in life. Patriotic music will swell and we will be reminded in script font to “Remember our heroes,” or some such BS as that.
Before Casey was killed, a message like that would barely register in my consciousness as I rushed around preparing for Casey’s birthday bar-be-que that became a family tradition since he was born on Memorial Day in 1979. If I had a vision of how Memorial Day and Casey’s birthday would change for my family, I would have fled these violent shores to protect what was mine, not this murderous country’s. Be my guest, look at those headstones with pride or indifference. I look at them, now with horror, regret, pain and a longing for justice.
I can guarantee what you won’t see this holiday weekend are images of the over one million Iraqi dead. Say we assign, in an arbitrary way for purely illustrative purposes, an average height of 5 feet for every person killed in Iraq and then lined those people up from head to toe. That gruesome line would stretch from Los Angeles to Portland, Oregon…950 driving miles up Interstate 5. If we count the Iraqis who have been forced to flee, we would have to go back and forth between L.A. and Portland another four times.
There are obscene amounts of people who have been slaughtered for the US Profit Driven Military Empire who do not count here in America on any day. People in Vietnam are still dying from the toxins dumped on their country by the US, not to mention the millions who died during that war. Let the carnage escalate in Afghanistan while we protect our personal images by turning a blind eye to Obama’s war crimes. Are you going to feel a lump of pride in your bosom when the coffins start to be photographed at Dover for this imperial crime of aggression? Will you look at those flag-draped boxes of the lifeless body of some mother's child and think: "Now, I am free." Is it better to be dead when Obama is president?
A tough, but real, aspect of this all to consider is, how many of the soldiers buried in coffins in military cemeteries killed or tortured innocent people as paid goons for Empire? To me, it is deeply and profoundly sad on so many levels. If I have any consolation through all of this, I learned that my son bravely refused to go on the mission that killed him, but he was literally dragged onto the vehicle and was dead minutes later before he was forced to do something that was against his nature and nurture.
Casey will always be my hero but he was a victim of US Imperialism and his death should bring shame, not pride, as it did not bring freedom to anyone. I will, of course, mourn his senseless death on Memorial Day as I do everyday.
However, we do not need another day here in America to glorify war which enables the Military Industrial Complex to commit its crimes under the black cloak of "Patriotism."
From Palestine to Africa to South America, our quest for global economic domination kills, sickens, maims or oppresses people on a daily basis and about 25,000 children per day die of starvation. I am not okay with these facts and I am not proud of my country.
I will spend my reflective time on MD to mourn not only the deaths of so many people all over the world due to war, but mourn the fact that they are the unseen and uncared for victims of US Empire.
Friday, May 22, 2009
(PNN) DLNR COMPLAINT SEEKS RESTORATION OF MOLOA`A STREAM AND INVESTIGATION OF ILLEGAL DIVERSION
DLNR COMPLAINT SEEKS RESTORATION OF MOLOA`A STREAM AND INVESTIGATION OF ILLEGAL DIVERSION
(PNN)- Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a has filed a detailed complaint with the state Commission on Water Resources Management (CWRM), a division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), providing evidence and documentation and that she hopes will lead to investigation and the restoration of water illegally diverted from Moloa`a Stream.
The complaint and it’s 77 endnoted exhibits detail the history of the Moloa`a Ditch from the sugar cane era through the illegal diversion that occurred apparently about 10 years ago and which increased the amount of water supplied to Ka Loko Reservoir and other lands owned by Jimmy Pflueger and the Mary Lucas Estate causing Moloa`a stream slow to a virtual trickle.
After reviewing the voluminous files contained in the state ordered Godby Report and it’s extensive document appendix (compiled after the 2006 Ka Loko dam break that killed seven people), a recent county funded report on the Kilauea area irrigation systems and other documents, the complaint details the apparent theft of Moloa`a water that has caused wells to run dry and farmers to cease operations in the valley since the illegal diversion was completed.
The complaint clears up the history of the Moloa`a Ditch saying
There were previously 2 historic Moloa`a ditches. In the late 1890’s, the original Moloa`a Ditch carried a minimal amount of water from a high contour ditch to Waipake. The second historic Moloa`a ditch followed easement “W-11” and was used from the 1920’s to about 1965-1968 to carry high rain runoff to Ka Loko ditch near the Parshall Flume, mainly during the winter months. According to Jack Gushiken, this ditch was not used during the summer during sugar plantation days because Pu`u Ka Ele ditch had plenty water. In the late 1960’s insignificant water flow led to no maintenance which lessened flow to non-existent. The Moloa`a ditch was non-functional before the demise of Kilauea Sugar in 1972. It was non-functional for about 20 years at the date of declaration need by the State Water Code in 1988. It had not ever been declared because it was not in use until about 2000.
Apparently, according to Kallai’s research, the theory presented in a pre-dam break letter to the EPA- as PNN reported last week- saying that Moloa`a Ditch originally may have acted as an overflow spillway for the Ka Loko ditch system and ran “in reverse” in order to return excess water to Moloa`a Stream, was incorrect.
Though there is no concrete proof, the illegal diversion is thought to be the work of Pflueger who has been found guilty of various land moving violations in the area including one that resulted in the largest fine for reef destruction in federal Environmental Protection Agency history.
As PNN has reported, according to multiple friends of Pflueger, he had planned a water-sports-based resort in the area and apparently needed more water than the Ka Loko Ditch could provide in order to fill artificial lakes he constructed as well as fill existing area reservoirs like Ka Loko for water and jet-skiing.
According to two area residents who examined the pipes and watched them being installed, the water system crosses the highway through culverts at Pila`a and supplied a series of Pflueger constructed “lakes” makai of the highway which were just recently removed as part of the remediation ordered by the EPA.
Pflueger is set to stand trial for manslaughter this summer as well as defend multiple civil suits for damages related to the Ka Loko dam break and other incidents in the area
The CWRM complaint describes the current reconstructed ditch based on the studies and documents saying
The unpermitted diversion of Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream begins at a new dam (”Pre-2001” according to the Kilauea Irrigation Report April 2009), constructed on state land in the Moloa`a Forest Reserve, continuing 2,750 feet towards Ka Loko through a system of ditches, flumes and tunnels to Mary Lucas Trust lands, where a diversion structure directs water underground through pipes either into Ka Loko reservoir or to the Mary Lucas Trust lands and the Kilauea Irrigation Company (KICO) system distribution lines for sale. These pipes are carried underground through other lands belonging to the State of Hawaii , (TMK (4) 5-1-2:3), according to the above report, and export millions of gallons of water per day out of the watershed of Moloa`a, without engineering, metering or monitoring for about a decade.
The complaint then details the deleterious effects on Moloa`a resident saying
The unpermitted exportation Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream has caused a perennial stream to go dry for 2 summers (2007 & 2008) and had serious negative impacts to the aquatic ecosystem of Moloa`a, seriously diminishing nesting habitat for 3 endangered water bird species and an assemblage of endangered stream and pali plants. Water quality is diminished in the remnant pools. Impacts to the ecosystem must be considered before the massive exportation of water resources.
Since this un-engineered, un-maintained diversion was installed, Moloa`a has experienced many dirty water events – both brown water and grey water reported. Moloa`a stream has experienced un-explained extreme flood events that have damaged stream property and county infrastructure. The ground water aquifer has diminished due to lack of recharge from the stream aquifer. Water well pumps have had to be lowered due to diminished aquifer and most people self-ration. Neighbors with declared Stream Uses are not able to use their water rights. There is no county water distribution system for potable or agricultural water throughout Moloa`a; most farms are dependent upon well water. Now we are having a hard time planting because we cannot depend upon having water.
Many stream front lands are going unworked now because owners do not feel safe due to unknown factors/persons manipulating and controlling the waters.
The complaint was filed with the CWRM which establishes Instream Flow Standards and issues Water Use Permits, Stream Channel Alteration permits and Stream Diversion Permits.
Kallai told PNN there are at least three things she hopes the commission will do.
1 See that Moloa`a water returned and natural stream flow restored.
2 Investigate and prosecute whoever is responsible for stealing our water and selling it
3 With the fines, fund a stream research center and watershed restoration effort and funding for environmental enforcement and enough researchers to perform statewide assessments of our water resources and where they're going
For more background on the Ka Loko ditch and reservoir system and work done on Moloa`a ditch resulting in a lack of water in Moloa`a, refer to the four previous PNN reports.
For the record, below is the full complaint, including endnotes
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DLNR - CWRM Complaint Resolution Form Kalua`a Moloa`a Stream DiversionDate: Thu, 21 May 2009 15:22:55 -1000Complaint/Resolution Information1. Hope KallaiPOB 655Kilauea HI 96754Location: Moloaa Forest Reserve and Mary Lucas Trust lands Headwaters of Kalua`a/Moloa`a streamsMoloa`a Forest Reserve and Mary Lucas Trust lands listed as Land and Landowner State Lands are TMK (4) 5-1-2:3 and 5-1-1:? MLT lands are 5-1-2:5 and 5-1-2:1Parties Responsible1. Unknown person(s) who constructed unpermitted stream diversion from Kalua`a/Moloa`a2. All parties aiding and abetting the exportation and distribution of unpermitted Kalua`a/Moloa`a water3. a. Kilauea Irrigation Company b. Hitch Co. c. all past water managers of that PUC regulated company during construction and operation of Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch
4. The unpermitted diversion of Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream begins at a new dam (~”Pre-2001” according to the Kilauea Irrigation Report April 2009), constructed on state land in the Moloa`a Forest Reserve, continuing 2,750 feet towards Ka Loko through a system of ditches, flumes and tunnels to Mary Lucas Trust lands, where a diversion structure directs water underground through pipes either into Ka Loko reservoir or to the Mary Lucas Trust lands and the Kilauea Irrigation Company (KICO) system distribution lines for sale. These pipes are carried underground through other lands belonging to the State of Hawaii , (TMK (4) 5-1-2:3), according to the above report, and export millions of gallons of water per day out of the watershed of Moloa`a, without engineering, metering or monitoring for about a decade. According to the areas identified on the maps as “Overflow Erosion Channels”, this system shows evidence of breaching both into Ka Loko reservoir and back into the Moloa`a system, which could be responsible for Moloa`a stream’s dirty water events.
Please see Inclusions: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 23, 24
5. The unpermitted exportation Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream has caused a perennial stream to go dry for 2 summers (2007 & 2008) and had serious negative impacts to the aquatic ecosystem of Moloa`a, seriously diminishing nesting habitat for 3 endangered water bird species and an assemblage of endangered stream and pali plants. Water quality is diminished in the remnant pools. Impacts to the ecosystem must be considered before the massive exportation of water resources.
Please see Inclusions: 68, 69, 77
Since this unengineered, un-maintained diversion was installed, Moloa`a has experienced many dirty water events – both brown water and grey water reported. Moloa`a stream has experienced un-explained extreme flood events that have damaged stream property and county infrastructure. The ground water aquifer has diminished due to lack of recharge from the stream aquifer. Water well pumps have had to be lowered due to diminished aquifer and most people self-ration. Neighbors with declared Stream Uses are not able to use their water rights. There is no county water distribution system for potable or agricultural water throughout Moloa`a; most farms are dependent upon well water. Now we are having a hard time planting because we cannot depend upon having water.
Many stream front lands are going unworked now because owners do not feel safe due to unknown factors/persons manipulating and controlling the waters.
6.In the late 1990’s – early 2000 or 2001, Moloa`a Steam started behaving totally different. High precipitation events would not raise the stream level; sometimes the stream would rise without rain! The sand berm at the mouth of the river didn’t clear for 3 years making anoxic conditions and prohibiting the migration of o`opu. Moloa`a had many dirty water events reported to DOH-CWB.
Please see Inclusions: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 45, 46, 51
7. The Kalua`a/Moloa`a diversion is unpermitted and undeclared. There were previously 2 historic Moloa`a ditches. In the late 1890’s, the original Moloa`a Ditch carried a minimal amount of water from a high contour ditch to Waipake. The second historic Moloa`a ditch followed easement “W-11” and was used from the 1920’s to about 1965-1968 to carry high rain runoff to Ka Loko ditch near the Parshall Flume, mainly during the winter months. According to Jack Gushiken, this ditch was not used during the summer during sugar plantation days because Pu`u Ka Ele ditch had plenty water. In the late 1960’s insignificant water flow led to no maintenance which lessened flow to non-existent. The Moloa`a ditch was non-functional before the demise of Kilauea Sugar in 1972. It was non-functional for about 20 years at the date of declaration need by the State Water Code in 1988. It had not ever been declared because it was not in use until about 2000.
This Kalua`a/Moloa`a dam, ditch, flume, tunnel and underground pipe system is a new design and installation (“Pre-2001”) and has been installed and operated FOR PROFIT without monitoring, engineering, permits, source water considerations, or any regard to laws or safety.
Until the recent release of the Kilauea Irrigation Report we had no ability to prove the obvious causes to our diminished stream flow. We have been told repeatedly that there is no connection between Moloa`a stream and Ka Loko reservoir. There is no connection visible on the surface. The waters are hidden underground, in pipes, and have been installed on state land to transport water without the state’s permitting process. There is a well documented history of environmental abuse and water mis-management in the Ka Loko area. Difficult access and legal posturing have made an exclusive, uncontrolled and discriminatory use of the state’s water, as District Forester Robert Daehler worried in1988 “Unless an equitable distribution system and volume allotment system is specified in the agreement the “Public Utility” could become dictatorial enjoying a monopolistic hold on the State’s public water resource.”
And continued
Will the granting of a public utility permit such as being considered serve to provide equal opportunity of water for agricultural pursuits on all lands previously serviced by the Ka Loko system? If not, the question of the advisability of locking up a public resource for 30 years should certainly be asked.
Please see Inclusions: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 23, 24, 50
The water from the Ka Loko system previously irrigated over 6,000 acres of the Kilauea Sugar Plantation holdings from Moloa`a to Kalihiwai. The original KICO PUC permit considers re-watering important ag lands from Moloa`a to Kalihiwai. Moloa`a, Lepe`uli, Ka`aka`aniu, and Waipake have been important and productive lands and are still zoned for agriculture. In 1984, an extensive study was performed, the Kilauea Agricultural Water Management Study, considering 10 different alternatives for the Ka Loko water.
Please see Inclusions: 65, 66, 67, 68
Now KICO only services about 20 customers, making the waters of Ka Loko geographically exclusive. KICO is a nebulous company at best and has been operating without insurance since December 2006. KICO management practices have enabled disaster. Regardless of whoever covered up the spillway, KICO daily operations continued without any ability to safely release overspill. KICO manages the unpermitted diversion and aids in the export and sale of unpermitted water.
Please see Inclusions: 4, 5, 6, 7, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68
Management of a dam must include operations of the safety features: a spillway and the ability to divert water from the impoundment for emergencies and maintenance. The increased elevation of the dam face and the removal of the spillway enabled storage of more water. The unpermitted diversion from Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream brought millions of gallons of additional water into Ka Loko reservoir. If the new Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch system only carries ¼ of the flow of the Ka Loko flow (a very conservative underestimate), see historic charts, and the inflow from Ka Loko ditch was estimated at 205 cfs during the 4 days pre-breach, then at least 50 cfs were being added into Ka Loko from the Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch. The added inflow from the new Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch system could have added over 200 million gallons of previously un-accounted for water into the water body of Ka Loko reservoir in only a few days.
As explained in KIR, the unpermitted Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch water can be diverted to KICO and Mary Lucas Trust lands. What was the flow operation of the Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch water during the high precipitation event of Feb-March 2006? Historically, Kaluamakua stream was used to divert Ka Loko ditch water from entering Ka Loko reservoir. KICO has failed to maintain this flume system resulting in an inability to redirect high flows.
Please see Inclusions: 47, 48, 49
:
9. We, and many others, have made ongoing attempts to stop this massive export of Public Trust water to protect the environment and public for the past decade. Lack of access, lack of appropriate corrective response from agencies and letters from attorneys speculating on plumbing has thwarted investigation for almost a decade. Now 8 people are dead and most parties involved are involved in lawsuits. Except the farmers in Moloa`a. We just don’t have water to farm or live.
Please see Inclusions: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 52, 53, 54, 55.
10. The only successful and fair remedy is to immediately return the waters of Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch to the stream systems of Kalua`a/Moloa`a to restore the natural streamflow. For the purposes of the KIR study, Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch waters were returned on August 27-29, 2008 by turning a valve on the Mary Lucas Trust land “diversion structure”. The turn of one valve returns the water to Kalua`a/Moloa`a. This ditch system, operating on state land, without permits, engineering, insurance or permission must be REMOVED.
Please see Inclusion: 47, 48, 49, 50, 51
A thorough investigation of the construction of this ½ mile ditch system must begin immediately and prosecution of the builder to the fullest extent of the law must follow.
Fines must be imposed for the theft of Public Trust waters with the resulting funds being used to expand Hawaii stream research, establishment of Instream Flow Standards for all streams in Hawaii and to support the re-establishment of ditch waters, where appropriate.
There needs to be a thorough investigation of the PUC regulated operations of KICO and their business conditions. How long is the state willing to let them operate without insurance? Another 3 years? An investigation must include why the former ag lands of Kilauea Sugar have been removed from irrigation water consideration by KICO.
There have been many attempts to stop this illegal diversion for the past decade. There has been a total breach of the environmental protection and enforcement system, not just a breach of Ka Loko dam. A thorough investigation must include all agencies involved and why the system has failed and prevent this atrocity from ever happening again.
An unsafe, unpermitted theft of Public Trust waters has been allowed to continue for a decade. It must stop today. Please turn the valve on Mary Lucas Trust lands re-diverting the stolen Kalua`a/Moloa`a waters back to the streams of origin.
I request that the Commission on Water Resource Management assist in resolving the matter described herein.
________________________________ _________________________
Signature Date
Kalua`a/Moloa`a Stream Diversion
Complaint Resolution Request
Inclusions: Most found in http://www.kalokodam.net/report/Report.pdf &
http://www.srgii.com/projects/KilaueaIrrigationReport_April09.pdf.
1
Complaint Resolution Form
2
Streams & Ditches of Kilauea
3
Figure 20 Aerial photo Ka Loko
4
Figure 5-2 Moloa`a Ditch
5
Figure 2-3 Ka Loko Reservoir Infrastructure
6
Figure 5-5 KICO Pipeline System
7
Figure 9-1 Alternative Concept Solution Design 2
8
Exhibit A Eastment W-11
9
Figures 21 & 22
10
Figures 23 & 24
11
Figures 25 & 26
12
Figures 27 & 28
13
1998 Malama Moloa`a & List
14
Nov. 2001 CWRM letter
15
Nov. 2001 CWRM attached map
16
Nov. 2001 CWRM attached photo
17
Nov. 2001 CWRM attached photo
18
Nov. 2001 CWRM attached photo
19
Feb. 2002 CWRM letter DLNR 1285
20
Feb. 2002 CWRM attachments (same as Nov. 2001)
21
March 15 2002 Memo DLNR 1286
22
Sept. 2 2002 CWRM letter
23
Kilauea Irrigation Report April 2009 Pages 11-14
24
Kilauea Irrigation Report April 2009 Pages 37-39
25
March 25 1955 BLNR letter DLNR 532
Kalua`a/Moloa`a Stream Diversion
Complaint Resolution Request
26
March 20 1073 Dyer letter to DLNR-Land DLNR 803
27
Sept 14 1979 DLNR-DFW - Land DLNR 674-675
29
Sept 27 1979 County of Kauai Planning DLNR 655
29
October 24 1979 BLNR DLNR 658 662
30
Nov 28 1979 DoA-BLNR letter DLNR 657
31
Dec 19 1980 Hawaiiana to DLNR letter DLNR 641
32
Nov 17 1988 District Forester - DVM Land letter DLNR 75-76
33
Sept 21 1988 DWLD-Land letter DLNR 83
34
Godbey Report Pages 29-52
35
Dec 2006 DLNR land & AG to McCorriston letter Exhibit D
36
Sept 28 2007 Termination letter D-5
37
Sept 28 2007 Press Release
38
BLNR Minutes Sept 28 2007
39
KICO Meeting Oct 29 2007
40
Moloa`a Flood Feb 2006 picture
41
Moloa`a Flood Feb 2006 picture
42
Moloa`a Flood Feb 2006 picture
43
Ka Loko Reservoir bathymetry
44
Ka Loko Reservoir 1980-2006
45
Godbey Report Pages 58-69
46
Godbey Report Pages 72-78
47
Figure 5-1 Ka Lo Ditch & Kaluamakua
48
March 29 2006 Tom Hitch letter TH002 Exhibit 1
49
Kilauea Irrigation operations page (Brewer) B00678
50
Kilauea Irrigation Report Inflow & Outflow Control
Kalua`a/Moloa`a Stream Diversion
Complaint Resolution Request
51
Godbey Report Pages 12-14
52
October 2001 Garner Complaint Resolution Form DLNR 1287-1293
53
Feb 1 2002 Request to Enter DLNR 1294-1300
54
Feb 15 2002 DLNR to to Garner DLNR 1301-1302
55
Undated Letter to Catherine Kuhlman EPA EPA 000001-000006
56
June 1988 Heacock-CWRM letter - Waiakalua DLNR 1278-1283
57
October 28 2005 Complaint Resolution Form-Perius DLNR 1327-1328
58
March 14 2006 Phone memo from Mike Perius DLNR 1324
59
Sept 1992 CWRM Stream Use Declarations
60
2005 State Water Project Plan Inventory of Stream Diversions
61
March 2001 - Aug 2001 PUC memos PUC 001109 -001144
62
April 2001 PUC staff report PUC 001186
63
May 19 2003 Pu`u Ka Ele Dec of Water Use & Stream Diversion DLNR 1325-1326
64
FY 2005-2006 State of Hawaii Annual Report Pages 24 & 25 (excerpted)
65
1984 KAWMPS Preface
66
1984 KAWMPS Map and Kilauea Sugar plantation irrigation sphere of influence
67
1924 Moloa`a Picture showing extent of plantation agriculture
68
Table 4. Annual Average Rainfall Kilauea Irrigation System Watershed DLNR 1752
69
1996 Bioeconomics of Stream Management in Hawaii M. Kido
70
East Kauai Water User's Co-Op
71
May 3 2009 Malama Moloa`a CRWM IFS Request
72
May 3 2009 Malama Moloa`a EPA letter
73
May 8 2009 Malama Moloa`a BLNR letter
74
May 4 2009 Malama Moloa`a DLNR-Land letter
75
Malama Moloa`a AG correspondence
76
Moloa`a Stream Gone Dry article
77
Moloa`a bridge article
(PNN)- Hope Kallai of Malama Moloa`a has filed a detailed complaint with the state Commission on Water Resources Management (CWRM), a division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), providing evidence and documentation and that she hopes will lead to investigation and the restoration of water illegally diverted from Moloa`a Stream.
The complaint and it’s 77 endnoted exhibits detail the history of the Moloa`a Ditch from the sugar cane era through the illegal diversion that occurred apparently about 10 years ago and which increased the amount of water supplied to Ka Loko Reservoir and other lands owned by Jimmy Pflueger and the Mary Lucas Estate causing Moloa`a stream slow to a virtual trickle.
After reviewing the voluminous files contained in the state ordered Godby Report and it’s extensive document appendix (compiled after the 2006 Ka Loko dam break that killed seven people), a recent county funded report on the Kilauea area irrigation systems and other documents, the complaint details the apparent theft of Moloa`a water that has caused wells to run dry and farmers to cease operations in the valley since the illegal diversion was completed.
The complaint clears up the history of the Moloa`a Ditch saying
There were previously 2 historic Moloa`a ditches. In the late 1890’s, the original Moloa`a Ditch carried a minimal amount of water from a high contour ditch to Waipake. The second historic Moloa`a ditch followed easement “W-11” and was used from the 1920’s to about 1965-1968 to carry high rain runoff to Ka Loko ditch near the Parshall Flume, mainly during the winter months. According to Jack Gushiken, this ditch was not used during the summer during sugar plantation days because Pu`u Ka Ele ditch had plenty water. In the late 1960’s insignificant water flow led to no maintenance which lessened flow to non-existent. The Moloa`a ditch was non-functional before the demise of Kilauea Sugar in 1972. It was non-functional for about 20 years at the date of declaration need by the State Water Code in 1988. It had not ever been declared because it was not in use until about 2000.
Apparently, according to Kallai’s research, the theory presented in a pre-dam break letter to the EPA- as PNN reported last week- saying that Moloa`a Ditch originally may have acted as an overflow spillway for the Ka Loko ditch system and ran “in reverse” in order to return excess water to Moloa`a Stream, was incorrect.
Though there is no concrete proof, the illegal diversion is thought to be the work of Pflueger who has been found guilty of various land moving violations in the area including one that resulted in the largest fine for reef destruction in federal Environmental Protection Agency history.
As PNN has reported, according to multiple friends of Pflueger, he had planned a water-sports-based resort in the area and apparently needed more water than the Ka Loko Ditch could provide in order to fill artificial lakes he constructed as well as fill existing area reservoirs like Ka Loko for water and jet-skiing.
According to two area residents who examined the pipes and watched them being installed, the water system crosses the highway through culverts at Pila`a and supplied a series of Pflueger constructed “lakes” makai of the highway which were just recently removed as part of the remediation ordered by the EPA.
Pflueger is set to stand trial for manslaughter this summer as well as defend multiple civil suits for damages related to the Ka Loko dam break and other incidents in the area
The CWRM complaint describes the current reconstructed ditch based on the studies and documents saying
The unpermitted diversion of Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream begins at a new dam (”Pre-2001” according to the Kilauea Irrigation Report April 2009), constructed on state land in the Moloa`a Forest Reserve, continuing 2,750 feet towards Ka Loko through a system of ditches, flumes and tunnels to Mary Lucas Trust lands, where a diversion structure directs water underground through pipes either into Ka Loko reservoir or to the Mary Lucas Trust lands and the Kilauea Irrigation Company (KICO) system distribution lines for sale. These pipes are carried underground through other lands belonging to the State of Hawaii , (TMK (4) 5-1-2:3), according to the above report, and export millions of gallons of water per day out of the watershed of Moloa`a, without engineering, metering or monitoring for about a decade.
The complaint then details the deleterious effects on Moloa`a resident saying
The unpermitted exportation Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream has caused a perennial stream to go dry for 2 summers (2007 & 2008) and had serious negative impacts to the aquatic ecosystem of Moloa`a, seriously diminishing nesting habitat for 3 endangered water bird species and an assemblage of endangered stream and pali plants. Water quality is diminished in the remnant pools. Impacts to the ecosystem must be considered before the massive exportation of water resources.
Since this un-engineered, un-maintained diversion was installed, Moloa`a has experienced many dirty water events – both brown water and grey water reported. Moloa`a stream has experienced un-explained extreme flood events that have damaged stream property and county infrastructure. The ground water aquifer has diminished due to lack of recharge from the stream aquifer. Water well pumps have had to be lowered due to diminished aquifer and most people self-ration. Neighbors with declared Stream Uses are not able to use their water rights. There is no county water distribution system for potable or agricultural water throughout Moloa`a; most farms are dependent upon well water. Now we are having a hard time planting because we cannot depend upon having water.
Many stream front lands are going unworked now because owners do not feel safe due to unknown factors/persons manipulating and controlling the waters.
The complaint was filed with the CWRM which establishes Instream Flow Standards and issues Water Use Permits, Stream Channel Alteration permits and Stream Diversion Permits.
Kallai told PNN there are at least three things she hopes the commission will do.
1 See that Moloa`a water returned and natural stream flow restored.
2 Investigate and prosecute whoever is responsible for stealing our water and selling it
3 With the fines, fund a stream research center and watershed restoration effort and funding for environmental enforcement and enough researchers to perform statewide assessments of our water resources and where they're going
For more background on the Ka Loko ditch and reservoir system and work done on Moloa`a ditch resulting in a lack of water in Moloa`a, refer to the four previous PNN reports.
For the record, below is the full complaint, including endnotes
---------
DLNR - CWRM Complaint Resolution Form Kalua`a Moloa`a Stream DiversionDate: Thu, 21 May 2009 15:22:55 -1000Complaint/Resolution Information1. Hope KallaiPOB 655Kilauea HI 96754Location: Moloaa Forest Reserve and Mary Lucas Trust lands Headwaters of Kalua`a/Moloa`a streamsMoloa`a Forest Reserve and Mary Lucas Trust lands listed as Land and Landowner State Lands are TMK (4) 5-1-2:3 and 5-1-1:? MLT lands are 5-1-2:5 and 5-1-2:1Parties Responsible1. Unknown person(s) who constructed unpermitted stream diversion from Kalua`a/Moloa`a2. All parties aiding and abetting the exportation and distribution of unpermitted Kalua`a/Moloa`a water3. a. Kilauea Irrigation Company b. Hitch Co. c. all past water managers of that PUC regulated company during construction and operation of Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch
4. The unpermitted diversion of Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream begins at a new dam (~”Pre-2001” according to the Kilauea Irrigation Report April 2009), constructed on state land in the Moloa`a Forest Reserve, continuing 2,750 feet towards Ka Loko through a system of ditches, flumes and tunnels to Mary Lucas Trust lands, where a diversion structure directs water underground through pipes either into Ka Loko reservoir or to the Mary Lucas Trust lands and the Kilauea Irrigation Company (KICO) system distribution lines for sale. These pipes are carried underground through other lands belonging to the State of Hawaii , (TMK (4) 5-1-2:3), according to the above report, and export millions of gallons of water per day out of the watershed of Moloa`a, without engineering, metering or monitoring for about a decade. According to the areas identified on the maps as “Overflow Erosion Channels”, this system shows evidence of breaching both into Ka Loko reservoir and back into the Moloa`a system, which could be responsible for Moloa`a stream’s dirty water events.
Please see Inclusions: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 9, 10, 11, 12, 23, 24
5. The unpermitted exportation Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream has caused a perennial stream to go dry for 2 summers (2007 & 2008) and had serious negative impacts to the aquatic ecosystem of Moloa`a, seriously diminishing nesting habitat for 3 endangered water bird species and an assemblage of endangered stream and pali plants. Water quality is diminished in the remnant pools. Impacts to the ecosystem must be considered before the massive exportation of water resources.
Please see Inclusions: 68, 69, 77
Since this unengineered, un-maintained diversion was installed, Moloa`a has experienced many dirty water events – both brown water and grey water reported. Moloa`a stream has experienced un-explained extreme flood events that have damaged stream property and county infrastructure. The ground water aquifer has diminished due to lack of recharge from the stream aquifer. Water well pumps have had to be lowered due to diminished aquifer and most people self-ration. Neighbors with declared Stream Uses are not able to use their water rights. There is no county water distribution system for potable or agricultural water throughout Moloa`a; most farms are dependent upon well water. Now we are having a hard time planting because we cannot depend upon having water.
Many stream front lands are going unworked now because owners do not feel safe due to unknown factors/persons manipulating and controlling the waters.
6.In the late 1990’s – early 2000 or 2001, Moloa`a Steam started behaving totally different. High precipitation events would not raise the stream level; sometimes the stream would rise without rain! The sand berm at the mouth of the river didn’t clear for 3 years making anoxic conditions and prohibiting the migration of o`opu. Moloa`a had many dirty water events reported to DOH-CWB.
Please see Inclusions: 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 45, 46, 51
7. The Kalua`a/Moloa`a diversion is unpermitted and undeclared. There were previously 2 historic Moloa`a ditches. In the late 1890’s, the original Moloa`a Ditch carried a minimal amount of water from a high contour ditch to Waipake. The second historic Moloa`a ditch followed easement “W-11” and was used from the 1920’s to about 1965-1968 to carry high rain runoff to Ka Loko ditch near the Parshall Flume, mainly during the winter months. According to Jack Gushiken, this ditch was not used during the summer during sugar plantation days because Pu`u Ka Ele ditch had plenty water. In the late 1960’s insignificant water flow led to no maintenance which lessened flow to non-existent. The Moloa`a ditch was non-functional before the demise of Kilauea Sugar in 1972. It was non-functional for about 20 years at the date of declaration need by the State Water Code in 1988. It had not ever been declared because it was not in use until about 2000.
This Kalua`a/Moloa`a dam, ditch, flume, tunnel and underground pipe system is a new design and installation (“Pre-2001”) and has been installed and operated FOR PROFIT without monitoring, engineering, permits, source water considerations, or any regard to laws or safety.
Until the recent release of the Kilauea Irrigation Report we had no ability to prove the obvious causes to our diminished stream flow. We have been told repeatedly that there is no connection between Moloa`a stream and Ka Loko reservoir. There is no connection visible on the surface. The waters are hidden underground, in pipes, and have been installed on state land to transport water without the state’s permitting process. There is a well documented history of environmental abuse and water mis-management in the Ka Loko area. Difficult access and legal posturing have made an exclusive, uncontrolled and discriminatory use of the state’s water, as District Forester Robert Daehler worried in1988 “Unless an equitable distribution system and volume allotment system is specified in the agreement the “Public Utility” could become dictatorial enjoying a monopolistic hold on the State’s public water resource.”
And continued
Will the granting of a public utility permit such as being considered serve to provide equal opportunity of water for agricultural pursuits on all lands previously serviced by the Ka Loko system? If not, the question of the advisability of locking up a public resource for 30 years should certainly be asked.
Please see Inclusions: 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 23, 24, 50
The water from the Ka Loko system previously irrigated over 6,000 acres of the Kilauea Sugar Plantation holdings from Moloa`a to Kalihiwai. The original KICO PUC permit considers re-watering important ag lands from Moloa`a to Kalihiwai. Moloa`a, Lepe`uli, Ka`aka`aniu, and Waipake have been important and productive lands and are still zoned for agriculture. In 1984, an extensive study was performed, the Kilauea Agricultural Water Management Study, considering 10 different alternatives for the Ka Loko water.
Please see Inclusions: 65, 66, 67, 68
Now KICO only services about 20 customers, making the waters of Ka Loko geographically exclusive. KICO is a nebulous company at best and has been operating without insurance since December 2006. KICO management practices have enabled disaster. Regardless of whoever covered up the spillway, KICO daily operations continued without any ability to safely release overspill. KICO manages the unpermitted diversion and aids in the export and sale of unpermitted water.
Please see Inclusions: 4, 5, 6, 7, 61, 62, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68
Management of a dam must include operations of the safety features: a spillway and the ability to divert water from the impoundment for emergencies and maintenance. The increased elevation of the dam face and the removal of the spillway enabled storage of more water. The unpermitted diversion from Kalua`a/Moloa`a stream brought millions of gallons of additional water into Ka Loko reservoir. If the new Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch system only carries ¼ of the flow of the Ka Loko flow (a very conservative underestimate), see historic charts, and the inflow from Ka Loko ditch was estimated at 205 cfs during the 4 days pre-breach, then at least 50 cfs were being added into Ka Loko from the Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch. The added inflow from the new Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch system could have added over 200 million gallons of previously un-accounted for water into the water body of Ka Loko reservoir in only a few days.
As explained in KIR, the unpermitted Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch water can be diverted to KICO and Mary Lucas Trust lands. What was the flow operation of the Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch water during the high precipitation event of Feb-March 2006? Historically, Kaluamakua stream was used to divert Ka Loko ditch water from entering Ka Loko reservoir. KICO has failed to maintain this flume system resulting in an inability to redirect high flows.
Please see Inclusions: 47, 48, 49
:
9. We, and many others, have made ongoing attempts to stop this massive export of Public Trust water to protect the environment and public for the past decade. Lack of access, lack of appropriate corrective response from agencies and letters from attorneys speculating on plumbing has thwarted investigation for almost a decade. Now 8 people are dead and most parties involved are involved in lawsuits. Except the farmers in Moloa`a. We just don’t have water to farm or live.
Please see Inclusions: 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 52, 53, 54, 55.
10. The only successful and fair remedy is to immediately return the waters of Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch to the stream systems of Kalua`a/Moloa`a to restore the natural streamflow. For the purposes of the KIR study, Kalua`a/Moloa`a ditch waters were returned on August 27-29, 2008 by turning a valve on the Mary Lucas Trust land “diversion structure”. The turn of one valve returns the water to Kalua`a/Moloa`a. This ditch system, operating on state land, without permits, engineering, insurance or permission must be REMOVED.
Please see Inclusion: 47, 48, 49, 50, 51
A thorough investigation of the construction of this ½ mile ditch system must begin immediately and prosecution of the builder to the fullest extent of the law must follow.
Fines must be imposed for the theft of Public Trust waters with the resulting funds being used to expand Hawaii stream research, establishment of Instream Flow Standards for all streams in Hawaii and to support the re-establishment of ditch waters, where appropriate.
There needs to be a thorough investigation of the PUC regulated operations of KICO and their business conditions. How long is the state willing to let them operate without insurance? Another 3 years? An investigation must include why the former ag lands of Kilauea Sugar have been removed from irrigation water consideration by KICO.
There have been many attempts to stop this illegal diversion for the past decade. There has been a total breach of the environmental protection and enforcement system, not just a breach of Ka Loko dam. A thorough investigation must include all agencies involved and why the system has failed and prevent this atrocity from ever happening again.
An unsafe, unpermitted theft of Public Trust waters has been allowed to continue for a decade. It must stop today. Please turn the valve on Mary Lucas Trust lands re-diverting the stolen Kalua`a/Moloa`a waters back to the streams of origin.
I request that the Commission on Water Resource Management assist in resolving the matter described herein.
________________________________ _________________________
Signature Date
Kalua`a/Moloa`a Stream Diversion
Complaint Resolution Request
Inclusions: Most found in http://www.kalokodam.net/report/Report.pdf &
http://www.srgii.com/projects/KilaueaIrrigationReport_April09.pdf.
1
Complaint Resolution Form
2
Streams & Ditches of Kilauea
3
Figure 20 Aerial photo Ka Loko
4
Figure 5-2 Moloa`a Ditch
5
Figure 2-3 Ka Loko Reservoir Infrastructure
6
Figure 5-5 KICO Pipeline System
7
Figure 9-1 Alternative Concept Solution Design 2
8
Exhibit A Eastment W-11
9
Figures 21 & 22
10
Figures 23 & 24
11
Figures 25 & 26
12
Figures 27 & 28
13
1998 Malama Moloa`a & List
14
Nov. 2001 CWRM letter
15
Nov. 2001 CWRM attached map
16
Nov. 2001 CWRM attached photo
17
Nov. 2001 CWRM attached photo
18
Nov. 2001 CWRM attached photo
19
Feb. 2002 CWRM letter DLNR 1285
20
Feb. 2002 CWRM attachments (same as Nov. 2001)
21
March 15 2002 Memo DLNR 1286
22
Sept. 2 2002 CWRM letter
23
Kilauea Irrigation Report April 2009 Pages 11-14
24
Kilauea Irrigation Report April 2009 Pages 37-39
25
March 25 1955 BLNR letter DLNR 532
Kalua`a/Moloa`a Stream Diversion
Complaint Resolution Request
26
March 20 1073 Dyer letter to DLNR-Land DLNR 803
27
Sept 14 1979 DLNR-DFW - Land DLNR 674-675
29
Sept 27 1979 County of Kauai Planning DLNR 655
29
October 24 1979 BLNR DLNR 658 662
30
Nov 28 1979 DoA-BLNR letter DLNR 657
31
Dec 19 1980 Hawaiiana to DLNR letter DLNR 641
32
Nov 17 1988 District Forester - DVM Land letter DLNR 75-76
33
Sept 21 1988 DWLD-Land letter DLNR 83
34
Godbey Report Pages 29-52
35
Dec 2006 DLNR land & AG to McCorriston letter Exhibit D
36
Sept 28 2007 Termination letter D-5
37
Sept 28 2007 Press Release
38
BLNR Minutes Sept 28 2007
39
KICO Meeting Oct 29 2007
40
Moloa`a Flood Feb 2006 picture
41
Moloa`a Flood Feb 2006 picture
42
Moloa`a Flood Feb 2006 picture
43
Ka Loko Reservoir bathymetry
44
Ka Loko Reservoir 1980-2006
45
Godbey Report Pages 58-69
46
Godbey Report Pages 72-78
47
Figure 5-1 Ka Lo Ditch & Kaluamakua
48
March 29 2006 Tom Hitch letter TH002 Exhibit 1
49
Kilauea Irrigation operations page (Brewer) B00678
50
Kilauea Irrigation Report Inflow & Outflow Control
Kalua`a/Moloa`a Stream Diversion
Complaint Resolution Request
51
Godbey Report Pages 12-14
52
October 2001 Garner Complaint Resolution Form DLNR 1287-1293
53
Feb 1 2002 Request to Enter DLNR 1294-1300
54
Feb 15 2002 DLNR to to Garner DLNR 1301-1302
55
Undated Letter to Catherine Kuhlman EPA EPA 000001-000006
56
June 1988 Heacock-CWRM letter - Waiakalua DLNR 1278-1283
57
October 28 2005 Complaint Resolution Form-Perius DLNR 1327-1328
58
March 14 2006 Phone memo from Mike Perius DLNR 1324
59
Sept 1992 CWRM Stream Use Declarations
60
2005 State Water Project Plan Inventory of Stream Diversions
61
March 2001 - Aug 2001 PUC memos PUC 001109 -001144
62
April 2001 PUC staff report PUC 001186
63
May 19 2003 Pu`u Ka Ele Dec of Water Use & Stream Diversion DLNR 1325-1326
64
FY 2005-2006 State of Hawaii Annual Report Pages 24 & 25 (excerpted)
65
1984 KAWMPS Preface
66
1984 KAWMPS Map and Kilauea Sugar plantation irrigation sphere of influence
67
1924 Moloa`a Picture showing extent of plantation agriculture
68
Table 4. Annual Average Rainfall Kilauea Irrigation System Watershed DLNR 1752
69
1996 Bioeconomics of Stream Management in Hawaii M. Kido
70
East Kauai Water User's Co-Op
71
May 3 2009 Malama Moloa`a CRWM IFS Request
72
May 3 2009 Malama Moloa`a EPA letter
73
May 8 2009 Malama Moloa`a BLNR letter
74
May 4 2009 Malama Moloa`a DLNR-Land letter
75
Malama Moloa`a AG correspondence
76
Moloa`a Stream Gone Dry article
77
Moloa`a bridge article
Thursday, May 21, 2009
BARKING IN THE DARK
BARKING IN THE DARK: The Sunshine Law in Hawai`i is known nation-wide as one of the best. Yet in situ, access to government records and meetings is acknowledged to be pitiful.
One of the main “jokes” in the law is that the open meetings requirements that the state legislature has enacted, apply to the others but not themselves.
That’s especially true of the notice requirements that force county councils and state and county boards and commissions to publish virtually un-amendable agendas at least six days before they meet.
Not so the legislature. There is only a two day notice requirement on the books and it has so many loopholes at so many points in the four month session that even that notice doesn’t happen sometimes.
In practice there are two speeds a which legislation moves- lightning fast and zero mph. A bill might sit in an acceptable form for months and literally overnight be amended in a way never contemplated by anyone and moved to a full vote.
But even if the two day notice is given that still makes it impossible for councils, boards and commissions to fairly consider and testify on measures that effect them, because in order to even discuss them they need to put them on an agenda six days in advance of meeting.
That’s only one of the reasons why county councils across the state have asked the legislature to either get them out from under the Sunshine Law or subject themselves to the same restrictions, which go way beyond just notice requirements.
So it’s especially strange that the one Sunshine-related measure passed into law this year- one that hasn’t received any “ink” (or bandwidth) that we can find- was Senate Bill 438, now Act 24, that allows the Board of Education- and only the BOE- to “file any notice that specifies only legislation or legislation-related agenda items, no fewer than two calendar days before the meeting” while the legislature is in session.
The bill passed into law without Governor Linda Lingle’s signature and her statement of concern starts off making a good point by saying
I am concerned that making an exception to shorten the time requirement for filing meeting notices may not be the correct approach for resolving the issue of responding to legislation in a timely manner.
I am also concerned that this bill will allow for special treatment of the Board of Education under the Sunshine Law, as no other board or commission will be provided with the same exception provided under this bill. This bill will require the Office of Information Practices to make a distinction for the Board of Education and treat it differently from the numerous other boards and commissions that must also respond to tight legislative deadlines.
Moreover, because the Sunshine Law, like the Uniform Information Practices Act, is supposed to be administered uniformly across all agencies and boards, creating a special exception for only the Board of Education sets an unnecessary precedent.
I call upon the Legislature to address in a comprehensive manner the conflicts between the Sunshine Law and legislative notices that provide inadequate time for boards, commissions, and the public to respond.
But if hopes that she would call on the legislature to conform with the notice requirements for others were raised by that premise, her conclusion is one that goes in the direction of less sunshine rather than more, saying
At a minimum, the Legislature should consider revising emergency meeting procedures for all boards and commissions that should be afforded the opportunity to comment on pending legislation.
Though on the surface that might seem like a reasonable solution it is one that fulfils the fears that the step in the wrong direction that this legislation embodies makes the slope all the more slippery.
The nuts and bolts problem addressed in the new law is one of many presented by the legislature’s exemption from the Sunshine Law, supposedly because the legislature meets in a hurry up and wait four month session.
That in and of itself is problematic and leads to flawed legislation every year. This year already it has been reported that the new cigarette tax may not be able to be implemented because the two bills that deal with it are inconstant.
The pitfalls of the four month session and exemption allow county councils to argue that they should be exempt too if only as a matter of fairness because to ask the legislature to follow the Sunshine Law would be to ask them to fully reform the way they conduct business and require a constitutional amendment.
But participation in government process is the foundation of democracy and, as Thomas Jefferson said, the solution to the messiness of democracy is more democracy, not less.
Every year some “problem” posed by the legislature’s four month session crops up and is the subject of proposed legislation that tinkers around the edges, usually producing a less than acceptable bill that dies because the piecemeal approach to legislation rarely makes for good lawmaking
Yet when these bills do pass and they’re flawed many times it’s because, in the rush of a short, rigid schedule, those in the public who might be able to offer a better way or at least point out the potential flaws are shut out by the lack of sunshine in the legislative process.
To use the problems posed to create less participation, as this new laws does, is a step in the wrong direction. But until people get fed up enough to demand a change to a year-round legislature with full-time legislators bad laws produced in the dark will be the order of the day.
One of the main “jokes” in the law is that the open meetings requirements that the state legislature has enacted, apply to the others but not themselves.
That’s especially true of the notice requirements that force county councils and state and county boards and commissions to publish virtually un-amendable agendas at least six days before they meet.
Not so the legislature. There is only a two day notice requirement on the books and it has so many loopholes at so many points in the four month session that even that notice doesn’t happen sometimes.
In practice there are two speeds a which legislation moves- lightning fast and zero mph. A bill might sit in an acceptable form for months and literally overnight be amended in a way never contemplated by anyone and moved to a full vote.
But even if the two day notice is given that still makes it impossible for councils, boards and commissions to fairly consider and testify on measures that effect them, because in order to even discuss them they need to put them on an agenda six days in advance of meeting.
That’s only one of the reasons why county councils across the state have asked the legislature to either get them out from under the Sunshine Law or subject themselves to the same restrictions, which go way beyond just notice requirements.
So it’s especially strange that the one Sunshine-related measure passed into law this year- one that hasn’t received any “ink” (or bandwidth) that we can find- was Senate Bill 438, now Act 24, that allows the Board of Education- and only the BOE- to “file any notice that specifies only legislation or legislation-related agenda items, no fewer than two calendar days before the meeting” while the legislature is in session.
The bill passed into law without Governor Linda Lingle’s signature and her statement of concern starts off making a good point by saying
I am concerned that making an exception to shorten the time requirement for filing meeting notices may not be the correct approach for resolving the issue of responding to legislation in a timely manner.
I am also concerned that this bill will allow for special treatment of the Board of Education under the Sunshine Law, as no other board or commission will be provided with the same exception provided under this bill. This bill will require the Office of Information Practices to make a distinction for the Board of Education and treat it differently from the numerous other boards and commissions that must also respond to tight legislative deadlines.
Moreover, because the Sunshine Law, like the Uniform Information Practices Act, is supposed to be administered uniformly across all agencies and boards, creating a special exception for only the Board of Education sets an unnecessary precedent.
I call upon the Legislature to address in a comprehensive manner the conflicts between the Sunshine Law and legislative notices that provide inadequate time for boards, commissions, and the public to respond.
But if hopes that she would call on the legislature to conform with the notice requirements for others were raised by that premise, her conclusion is one that goes in the direction of less sunshine rather than more, saying
At a minimum, the Legislature should consider revising emergency meeting procedures for all boards and commissions that should be afforded the opportunity to comment on pending legislation.
Though on the surface that might seem like a reasonable solution it is one that fulfils the fears that the step in the wrong direction that this legislation embodies makes the slope all the more slippery.
The nuts and bolts problem addressed in the new law is one of many presented by the legislature’s exemption from the Sunshine Law, supposedly because the legislature meets in a hurry up and wait four month session.
That in and of itself is problematic and leads to flawed legislation every year. This year already it has been reported that the new cigarette tax may not be able to be implemented because the two bills that deal with it are inconstant.
The pitfalls of the four month session and exemption allow county councils to argue that they should be exempt too if only as a matter of fairness because to ask the legislature to follow the Sunshine Law would be to ask them to fully reform the way they conduct business and require a constitutional amendment.
But participation in government process is the foundation of democracy and, as Thomas Jefferson said, the solution to the messiness of democracy is more democracy, not less.
Every year some “problem” posed by the legislature’s four month session crops up and is the subject of proposed legislation that tinkers around the edges, usually producing a less than acceptable bill that dies because the piecemeal approach to legislation rarely makes for good lawmaking
Yet when these bills do pass and they’re flawed many times it’s because, in the rush of a short, rigid schedule, those in the public who might be able to offer a better way or at least point out the potential flaws are shut out by the lack of sunshine in the legislative process.
To use the problems posed to create less participation, as this new laws does, is a step in the wrong direction. But until people get fed up enough to demand a change to a year-round legislature with full-time legislators bad laws produced in the dark will be the order of the day.
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