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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0021.074 2014-2016^I Murashige, Laura r,i'.`.- From: David B Gomes <dbgomes2033@gmail.com> om^ r�r ] f'S Q: 59 Sent: Tuesday, December 16, 2014 9:41 PM To: Council Testimony Cc: Kanuha, Dru; Eoff, Karen; Paleka, Daniel; David, Made; Ilagan, Greggor, Wille, Margaret; Onishi, Dennis; Chung, Aaron; Feld enkraisinterest; Poindexter, Valerie Subject: GMO Foods are better' GMO Foods are better! HALLELUJAH!!! The industry has assured us that they have made Roundup tolerant crops, not for their profit but for our benefit so that we can have superior quality food. Since GMO is so GREAT, SHOUT it from the housetops. The GMO industry should gladly want to label everything with GMO products it them, so that We The People can know to select all these GREAT Pesticide laced foods. LABEL ALL GMOs!!! Aloha, David B. Gomes On Dec 15, 2014, at 9:00 AM, Feldenkraisinterest wrote: Aloha Friends! We are so very fortunate to have former Big island residents informing us about what's going on in our own backyard. When THE PEOPLE VOTE and it doesn't clear legislation needs addressing... but in the meantime please keep on preserving... for a future generations. We deserve to know if anything Genetically Modified or Genetically Engineered. We all deserve to eat what we feel we want and know what we are eating. Caem; Ref. Ao. 2-1.754 To: LO Ref. Date GE 1 T 2014 Caution... Oregon lost out by a only handful of votes due to Monsanto's $10 MIL campaign to not allow residents the right to know if their food is genetically modified. SPREAD THE NEWS... PLEASE - let's not let the Big Island be the next casualty. Take 10 mins. of and Email representatives. Below are links to your representatives. Optional Talking points in your letter * When the people's vote says "no" to GMO and multi billion industry says YES ourjudicial system is not working FOR THE PEOPLE. * Though there are mounting statistics backing 2nd hand effects of genetically engineered food deteriorating our health, environment, bees, and nature "proof' through the "scientific method" is controversial and will take years (and billions of dollars) to prove... and may be too late to reverse if not prevented now. Scientist will agree nutritional research is the most controversial science in the health fields. * We have a right to know what is in our food and how it is produced. * Waimea is the "bread basket of all the islands." We as a county have a right to decide how we want our neighborhood and land to be for our children, our farmers and our homelands. We chose to live rural, not city for the health and vitality of our environment and lifestyle. If anything let us be a testing ground of NO GMO and compare differences in health conditons across the islands. Thank you for being concern, And I lappy Holidays OHANA BIG ISLAND Catherine Rosaseo-Mitchell Date: December 12, 2014 at 2:54:05 PM HST From: Jilton Sandy <nativenow2002CcDvahoo.com> Reply -To: Jilton Sandy <nat1venow2002(o_)vahoo.com> To: Jilton Sandy <nativenow2002ayahoo.com> Subject: Fw: Protect our GMO ban—Support an appeal by Dec 17th Hello Big Islanders, Although I am now living in Oregon, I follow some of the island issues. Please consider writing, calling, or attending the meeting mentioned, to express your concerns about the GMO issue the island. We recently lost GMO food labeling here by a very small margin because a judge ruled the votes thrown out (due to signature discrepancies) would not be considered. Monsanto invested over $10M to defeat GMO labeling in Oregon. Aloha to all of you, Sandy Jilton On Friday, December 12, 2014 3:56 PM, GMOFHI <emofreehawaiiislanciggmail com> wrote: Aloha e Kakou, We need you to take action by early next week- and if you are able, please show up to testify on Wednesday December 17th! This is probably the most important email we hav sent this year: On November 26th, U.S. Magistrate Judge Barry Kurren overturned our GMO crop ban Hawaii Island, known as Ordinance 13-121, saying in his ruling that such matters shoulc be regulated by the state, and not the county. The reality is that no such state laws exist to protect Hawaii Island's biodiversity and environment from the pesticide drift, genetic contamination and degradation of soil, air. water quality associated with GE crop operations. The vast majority of both experimental and approved genetically engineered crops are engineered in order to be resistant to and withstand large applications of pesticides. Hawaii County residents and their elected officials know what's best for protecting the future of Hawaii's agriculture, natural resources and wildlife. While we are very disappointed in this ruling, this is by no means over, but we need you help. The county has 30 days after the date of the ruling to file for an appeal to a higher court. We have a new county council, and they need to hear from you next week when they decide whether or not to appeal the ruling. SAVE THE DATE: December 17th, 9am, at the Kona County Council Chambers, the council will convene to decide this. Please start preparing your testimony now. If you cannot make it to the hearing in Kona or one of the satellite offices, you can send in you testimony by email (talking points are below). The Office of the County Clerk will accept written public testimony by mail to the Office c the County Clerk, 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, HI 96720; by facsimile to (808) 961-8912, or b, e-mail to It's important to get your testimony in at least one day early. Here is a link to the agenda In addition to sending in testimony to the main email, you can cc your councilmember: Valerie Poindexter valerie poindexter(cDhawaiicounty.gov (808) 961-8018 Aaron Chung aaron chung(c�hawaiicounty.gov (808) 961-8272 Dennis Onishi dennis onishi(5hawaiicounty.gov (808) 961-8396 Greggor Ilagan greggor ilagan(a�hawaiicounty.gov (808) 965-2712 Danny Paleka daniel paleka(a�hawaiicount\/qov (808) 961-8026 Maile David maile david(a)hawaiicounty.gov Dru Kanuha dru kanuhaahawaiicounty.gov (808) 323-4267 Karen Eoff karen eoffahawaiicounty.gov (808) 323-4280 Margaret Wille margaret wille(cDhawaiicounty qov (808) 887-2069 Please also sign the Center For Food Safety's petition to the individual council members— http://salsa3.saisalabs.com/o/1881/p/dia/action3/common/public/?action_KEY=15: a Talking points to consider for you testimony... First and foremost, we feel that the community has already spoken loud and clear on thi issue. For many months, people took time off of work to show up and testify over and ov to support both Bills 79 and 113. At this juncture, the right thing for the county to do is follow through with the law that our island community fought so hard to pass. We are looking to focus on talking points about home rule, and the legal reasons for supporting this appeal, and not so of much a re -hash of why we passed this bill- as in how and why GMO farming is harmful to people and the environment. We did that quite thoroughly already, and now we need to affirm the county's decision on that and get the higher cow ruling that we deserve. Although such talking points are very much valid, of course. Importance of Appealing the Lower Court's decision that rejected Hawai'i County' home rule ordinance on the cultivation of GMO crops/plants: - Accepting the lower court decision means accepting that GMO contamination of conventional and organic farms is legal, legitimate, moral, and ok to do. - Accepting the lower Court decision amounts to a wanton disregard of the property right and health concerns of those who do not use or want GMO crops and plants. - Accepting the lower Court decision without opposition is a rejection of the state motto c Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono. ("The Life of the Land is Perpetuated in Righteousness") LEGAL CONSIDERATIONS: 1.The principle of preemption is to prevent conflict between laws, so that the laws on the higher level of government prevail in cases of conflict. In this case there are no Hawai'i state laws or regulations relating to the cultivation of GMO crops/plants, other than one Department of Health provision about state notification of proposed federal experimenta GMO seed testing permits, so Ordinance 13-121 should be the prevailing law on the matter. 2. This decision by a lower level judge relates to a serious and contentious issue desery of a definitive decision by an appellate court. 3. There is no other jurisdiction where a municipal level GMO related ordinance has bee struck down based on State preemption. 4. The national policy is that laws protecting health are a floor not a ceiling, to laws pass by a lower level of government. 5. Magistrate Kurren's decision relied solely on the authority of the Kauai GMO ordinanc case, also decided by Kurren, whose decision is being appealed by Kauai County. Plaintiffs and Magistrate Kurren did not rely on any other case law precedent finding preemption in the case of any county or municipal ordinance — as there is none. 6. During the past two legislative sessions, the biotech corporations seeking to use Haw as their experimental test grounds for new genetically altered crops and plants corporations sought to enact state laws to prohibit County ordinances that would Interfe with their corporate objectives. BUT, all of that legislation failed... e.g. SB727 (would hal gutted County jurisdiction over matters relating to health and life) and SB 590 (would ha, disallowed County ordinances relating to agriculture). Hence if the lower Court was corr< in saying that the State has carved out this area for exclusive state regulation, then therf would have been no need for these attempts to pass this preemption legislation. 7. Corporation Counsel's recommendation in other cases involving matters significant to the public has been that the County should appeal adverse decisions in order to obtain i high Court ruling (e.g. the Missler decision). To take a contrary position in this case wou be caving in to the biotechs, and the County will be viewed as abandoning the will of the people, affirmed by over 2,000 pieces of written testimony, at least 570 in-person testimonies, and two petitions for both Bill 79 and Bill 113 -both of which received arouni 5,000 signatures. 83he argument that we should not appeal because the decision could even be worse if federal preemption is found on all bases (in other words if the Court went even further in decision) is meant to create the illusion that the losing side could risk losing even worse The law is void... whether void on one basis or many. FINANCIAL CONSIDERATIONS: There is always some exposure in any lawsuit, however, well experienced attorneys hay offered to appeal this case for the County at no cost to the County. In parting, we would like to share with you again what our mayor wrote to the county council when he signed Bill 113 on December 5th, 2013: "Aloha, Chair Yoshimoto and Members: On Nov. 19, 2013 the Hawai'i County Council adopted Bill 113 Draft 3 adding a new arti, relating to Genetically Engineered Crops and Plants, and on Nov. 21, 2013 delivered the bill to me for my consideration. After careful deliberation and discussions with members my administration and the public, I am signing Bill 113. Our community has a deep connection and respect for our land, and we all understand we must protect our island and preserve our precious natural resources. We are determined to do what is right for the land because this place i! unlike any other in the world. With this new ordinance we are conveying that inste of global agribusiness corporations, we want to encourage and support communi based farming and ranching. The debate over this bill has at times been divisive and hurtful, and some of our hard- working farmers who produce food for our community have been treated disrespectfully. We are determined to protect every farmer and rancher. Agriculture on Hawai'i Island wi continue to grow with county assistance, investment and support. That commitment incivaes initiatives sucn as the pumic-private partnersnip to improve ana expana the Pa'auilo Slaughterhouse to support our grass-fed beef industry, and the launch of the Kapulena Agricultural Park, the largest agricultural park in the state on 1,739 acres of county -owned land. It also includes support for innovative training programs to grow the farmers of the future, and to train veterans to engage in agriculture on Hawaiian Home Lands, and the introduction and advancement of Korean Natural Farming as a sustainat method of producing healthier crops and livestock. It includes completion of the first-in-tl state Food Self -Sufficiency Baseline Study of Hawai'i Island to measure the island's progress toward food self-sufficiency. We are determined to reunite our farming community to create a stronger and more vibr agricultural sector. It is time to end the angry rhetoric and reach out to our neighbors. Or farmers are essential to creating a wholesome and sustainable food supply on this islan, and they deserve to be treated with respect and aloha. We must turn now to a meaningf factual dialogue with one another. With my approval of this bill, our administration will launch a year of research and data collection to investigate factual claims and to seek out new directions that farming in our community should take. This work will include an expanded database detailing the locations of both organic and conventional farms, the crops that are grown, more accura estimates of the revenue earned from these enterprises, and the challenges our farmers face in meeting food safety and organic certification requirements. We will work with our farmers and our ranchers to carefully monitor the impacts of this bill over the next year t( separate speculation and guesswork from the facts. Today our communities expect that government will be as cautious as possible in protecting our food and water supplies. We all want to minimize impacts to the environment while also producing abundant, affordable food for local consumption. This ordinance expresses the desires and demands of our community for a safe, sustainable agricultural sector that can help feed our people while keeping our precious island productive and healthy. Aloha, vviiiiam F'. Kenol MAYOR" Thank you so much, and please share this information with your contacts. Mahalo nui, the team at GMO Free Hawaii Island Standing Together for Hawaii E Kullke Kasen mai ke ka awale o ka GMO, The team at GMO Free Hawaii Island Copyright C 2014 GMO Free Hav ii Island, All rights resorved. You are receiving this email because you opted in to our Email Newsletter on our websiteor at one of our (ace- to -face educational events. Mahalo. Our email address is: amofreehawaiiisland u, mail. Com Facebook: httir www. to ebook com/GMOFreeHawaii Island unsubscribe from this list update subscription preferences Michael C Whelan President Hotel Outfitters P.O. Box 308 Kamuela, HI 96743 Cell: (808) 924-6835 michael cni hoteloutfittershawaii.com PlIVIe I0IMrler the encironnxml hC10re Priming dlis email "It is not the strongest of the species that survive, nor the most intelligent, but the one most responsive to change." —Chocks Darwin— "Listen with an Open Mind. Think with an Open Mind. Act with an Open Mind. And soon those doors that were once closed will suddenly open before you." —Stefan Rudolph— le