ORD 2013-121 2012-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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4oJMtV os h,1�'; •'• COUNTY OF HAWAII •_4 ";' '' • STATE OF HAWAII • 1•.Y:.ie! r. • •�F•N�'i1 BILL NO. 113 (DRAT 3) ORDINANCE NO. 13 121 AN ORDINANCE AMENDING CHAPTER 14 OF THE HAWAII COUNTY CODE 1983 (2005 EDITION, AS AMENDED), BY ADDING A NEW ARTICLE RELATING TO GENETICALLY ENGINEERED CROPS AND PLANTS. BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII: SECTION 1. Findings. (1) The public trust doctrine is memorialized in the Hawai`i State Constitution, Article XI, Section 1 "Conservation and Development of Resources," and in the Charter of the County of Hawai`i, Article XIII, Section 13-29 "Conservation of Natural and Cultural Resources." Pursuant to the public trust doctrine, our natural resources, including land and water, are entrusted to our care for the benefit of both current and future generations. The county government in its trustee capacity is subject to the precautionary principle and therefore must exercise a higher level of scrutiny in establishing reasonable measures and making appropriate assessments in order to avoid harmful impacts to our public trust resources. The Council therefore recognizes the right of the people and their government to guard against the intrusion of potential contaminants and prevent the contamination of non-genetically engineered crops, plants and lands by genetically engineered crops and plants without having to first wait for definitive science. As the United States Supreme Court made clear in Maine vs. Taylor (1986), the government is not required "to sit idly by and wait until potentially irreversible environmental damage has occurred or until the scientific community agrees on what disease organisms are or are not dangerous before it acts to avoid such consequences." In this context the precautionary principle requires that if a new technology poses threats of harm to human or environmental health, the burden of proof is on the promoter of the technology to demonstrate that the technology is safe, not on the public or governments to demonstrate that the technology is unsafe; (2) The Council finds that policies relating to agricultural practices are most appropriate to be determined by each county of the State of Hawai`i given the island-by-island variation in customary and generally accepted agricultural practices and opportunities, the variation in topography and land ownership patterns, and in light of the natural geographic ocean barriers that allow for these distinctions. (3) The Council finds that optimizing a local agricultural policy that promotes non- genetically engineered crops and seeds along with eco-friendly agricultural practices affords the County of Hawai`i a unique economic opportunity to capture a niche market for non-genetically engineered produce, seeds, and meats. Optimizing this opportunity is consistent with the Hawai`i County General Plan (Economic policies 2.2(h)): "Promote and develop the island of Hawai`i into a unique scientific and cultural model, where economic gains are in balance with social and physical amenities. Development should