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Gam- Environment Hawaii F RECENED a monthly newsletter Price: s;.So ~ County Council lf)-~f_.. New Plan for a Hilo Irradiator Gets WongWa~ys Corrigan! Backing of State, County Officials Jim Co ' aChi rngan, sago grocer, and Lyle Wong, of the Hawaii Department of ews that the administration of "predicted opposixion to future projects be- Agriculture, have done more to promote Hawaii Counrywould be seeking ing planned for the Big Island, including irradiated fruit from Hawaii than any to build a fruit irradiation facility trying to lure the U.S. Department of Agri- other two people. made the front page of TheHonoluluAdver culture co build an irradiation plant here." A No doubt, they mean well. But when riser on December 30, r996. In an article by 'few days lazer, Yaniashiro met in Hilo with viewed as part of a lazger picture, it's hazd the Advertiser Big Island correspondent, officers ofIsomedix, Inc., an irradiation firm not to see them as pawns in ahigh-stakes. Hugh Clazk, Mayor Steve Yamashiro was on the mainland, the owner ofa grocery [hat +game to make irradiation commonplace in saidrobeplanningtoasktheCountyCouncil sells irradiated food in Chicago, and other `the UnicedStatesandabtoad-agame for sz million to support a facility to irradiate proponents of irradiation. that has nothing ro do with protecting food tropical fruit for shipment to the mainland. Another foreshadowing of the mayor's quality and everything to do with reviving The county's plans, which Yamashiro in- intent may be seen in a December r996 drafr a moribund nudeaz industry. lists are still not well formed at this stage, of a high-tech "strategic plan" prepazed by In this issue, Environment Hatvai i representthethirdgeneracionofplanningfor the Hawaii Island Economic Development providesanoverviewofrecencdevelop- a fruit irradiation facility. Boazd, a private group that receives substan- mencs on the Hawaii irradiation front. In The first generation developed in the late vial public funding and which works closely addition, we devote several pages co a sum- r98os, when the scare proposed building an with Yamashiro's office. That drafr report mary of some of the most frequent argu- irradiator for treatment of papayas in Hilo. rolled forsupport of"expedited partnerships menu for and against irradiation. We hope That plan, which never enjoyed populatsup- and timelines for a produce and product this will be useful in the months to come, pon, ultimatelycollapsed in r989when the s5 irradition [sic] facility."The final document, as the public and lawmakers at the state million in funds tha[ the stare had obtained dated January z, r997, contained identical and wunry level consider the issue. (including s4 million from the U.S. Depatt- language (down co the misspell). ment of Energy) fell shott of the s6 million estimated cost of construction. $ $ $ The second generation of planning for an IN THIS ISSUE irradiation Facility began in r993 when the Setting the Stage state Department of Agriculture's Plant In- 2 dusrry Division, under the leadership oELyle For about fouryears after the initial proposal Wong, began todiscusssttategiesforbuilding to developafruicirradiationfacilitymetwirh lrradiarion ofmirirradiationfaciliryarorneartheHono- clefeat,thestatedidlittletopromotetheidea No. Thanks-Again lulu airport. (Those plans were discussed in further. In February t993, however, Wong the July r995 edition of Environment drafred a letter, signed by then-Department 6 Hatwri`i.) ofAgricultureadminiscratorYukioKitagawa, TheProrandCon: Yamashiro's effort comes even as Wong is raising once more the prospect of irradiation Oflrradiatixg Food still working for the Honolulu site. Wong asameansofincreasingthevalueofHawai is cold£nvironmentHarvai`ithatthetimingof agricultural exports. Respondingtoarequest 10 Yamashiro'sannouncemencwasunexpeaed, bystateRepresemativeRobettN.Herkesfor but it could not have come as much ofa an esrimare of the value of crops Hawaii Cetiant lrradiaror surprise. As early as July t995, Yamashiro had could produce if fruit flies were eradicared, Hat Yer To Leave Draruiag Boards indicazedhisimerescindevelopinganirradia- Kitagawacitedafigureofs3oomillionayeaz. 11 cionfaciliryontheBigIsland.Anartideinthe (The figure was takenfromarepottprepared H:nvni'i Trihune-Hera/don Juh~ z ofthar year by The Nature Conservancy of Hawaii on Coar Gives Greer Light ~eporred that Yamashiro, in a meeting with alien pest species: Kitagawa acknowledged For H£LCO PGr,u the H:nvai`i Island Contractors Association, See "lrrndiario,:'; page3 E1AiGi11~~~ J ~~t r..S7 ~ x.. i<et. '3bt~'esen Ref. APR 4 199