HomeMy WebLinkAboutCOM 0721.037 2018-2020 I E RRA
CLUB
Fc UNDEry 1852
PO Box 1137, Hila, Hawaii 96721
February 1, 2020
Sierra Club Hawaii Group Opposes Resolution 475-20 re.herbicides
to be heard 9 AM February 4, 2020, in the Hilo Council Chambers, at the
Committee on Agriculture,Water, Energy,and Environmental Management
Aloha Hawaii Council Members,
Firstly, I will state the most significant reason to oppose this resolution. I have been working with
Councilmember Villegas on a bill to be substantially different than Bill 101 was written, yet still
accomplish the basic goal that Bill 101 set out to accomplish. Passing this resolution would stand in the
way of passing this more meaningful legislation.
This resolution has been introduced by the same legislators that just this month voted to kill Bill 101,a
ban on herbicide usage on County owned lands.To be clear:a resolution is nothing more than a
suggestion to the administration to create policy,and in fact,we have been going in circles for decades
trying to get whoever the current administration is to stop spraying dangerous herbicides in our public
spaces,and here we are again right at square one:At the very moment we nearly passed our most
comprehensive herbicide bill to date that included a 4 year transition-a bill that was the culmination of
many years of work by many people trying to get this right- we had the votes,got it passed and our
mayor decides to veto it. And now it is replaced with a resolution.
Resolution 475-20 isn't just lacking legal teeth,even its language is vague on how it asks the County of
Hawaii to proceed. Do we really need a resolution to ask that the county follow the State of Hawaii
Pesticide Law 149A that we already do have? Maybe we do. But without specifics,such as were laid out
in Bill 101 that require those spraying herbicides to give notification prior to,and put up a safety barrier
for 4 hours on the day of,the county's use of herbicides,then what is the point?These are the most
basic specifics that we could ask for to make our county safer,on the road to eventually eliminating the
county's usage of herbicides altogether.
Resolution 475-20 asks the County to set an advisory commission for vegetation management drawing
upon "the expertise of the USDA, EPA,WHO,.."and other more local and likely more pertinent
organizations and experts than these three. I have to really question the intent of bringing in these
Comm. No. �2 •� _
Ref. To:. P 1 A W Mc
Ref. Date FED - 4 2020,
National and International orgs into our local committee to reduce herbicides,especially given the fact
that the EPA recently defended Monsanto/Bayer in court in regards to glyphosate,and on pesticides,
the USDA defers to the EPA. Is the point of the advisory committee to have academic debate about
glyphosate between the thinking of the EPA and the thinking of WHO(that determined glyphosate
causes cancer)?| thought the point of committee was to reduce usage of herbicides.Again,this points
to this resolution being another example of going in circles and not making any meaningful change. It is
worth noting that the original Bill 101 did in fact draw upon local expertise for the sole purpose of
transitioning out of herbicide usage over the next four years. Leave the debate for the county council,
not a transition committee,otherwise such a committee could be very unproductive.
|would like toreinforce why weneed alaw and not aresolution. During the Bill 1O1process,you
received testimony from the Hawaii Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics,the State of Hawaii
Sierra Club, and many individual pediatricians as to why that bill needed to pass.We are talking about
the health and safety of our county workers,our kieki and kupuna,the general public, and the
environment ofHawaii that vveall share. We are talking about away nfdoing business—name|y using
toxic herbicides—that is a declining culture in the,face of more and more lawsuits and proven health ill-
effects. We are talking about creating an unwavering path to a better way of doing things,and not
wasting the public's time,or the county's time,on reversable half measures after many lengthily and
expensive discussions at the county council. We are talking about being in harmony with the State of
Hawaii's Board of Education that made the policy last year that broadly bans all herbicides from being
used on public school grounds, in order to protect the keiki of Hawaii. We are talking about leading the
way for the many others that will have to face the eventuality that we have to get off the dangerous
chemical treadmill and start working with nature, and in earnest commit to utilizing non-toxic and
earth-friendly methods inland management.
Again,a reminder that I am currently working with Councilmember Villegas on a bill substantially
different from Bill 101,that would be able to accomplish the same goal as this original bill set out to do.
Please vote this resolution down and wait for more effective legislation. Mahalo.
Blake Watson,
Sierra Club Hawaii Group
sent bye-moJ/iomJ33cory@grnoil.00nnto8ow^/YCounty Council members
aunon.chung@haweiicuunb/0ov
ma0e.david@hawaiicounb/Qmv
Kan*n.Eoff@huwmiicounh/guv
maM.koneulii'No/n/b/der@hommiicounb/gov
eohleyki*n#owicz@hammiicounb/Quv
xua.&uloy@hawaiicounb/Aov
Va/erie.Po/noexbvr@hawmiiouunb/Anv
tin.rioha/dx@hom/aiitmunb/gov
naboxoa.vJlegmo@huwuiiouunb/gov
and totestimony address:
oounoilteatinony@hawaiiomunb/gov
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