Last week, the U.S. Army issued an Environmental Impact Assessment (EA), which found no significant impact for the use of four M1117 Armored Security Vehicles (ASVs) in Hawai‘i.

The Army plans to equip and train Army Military Police units at Schofield Barracks Military Reservation, Wheeler Army Airfield, Kawailoa Training Area, Dillingham Military Reservation, Kahuku Training Area, and Pohakuloa Training Area. The Army identified a need to provide vehicles with improved armored protection, payload capacity, and collective nuclear, biological, and chemical (NBC) protection for MP crews and other Soldiers who use high mobility multipurpose wheeled vehicles.

In order to move forward with the upgrades, the Army assessment considered three alternatives in its analysis: 1) The ASVs would operate on all paved and unpaved roads and trails, all weapons ranges, and all training areas in Hawai‘i; 2) The ASVs would operate only on established roadways and trails in Hawai‘i and not be allowed to be used off-road; 3) The ASVs would not be used in Hawai‘i.

The Army’s assessment found the ASVs to have “less than significant impact” in terms of noise, air quality, geology and soils, water resources, hazardous materials and conditions, biological resources, and cultural resources. The cumulative impact of ASVs operating on roads as well as off-road scored a “significant but mitigable to less than significant impact” rating.

Despite the “less than significant impact” ratings, the assessment also noted that ASVs “could increase soil compaction, which could contribute to increased levels of soil erosion” and that increases in ammunition fired at Schofield and Pohakuloa “could increase the amount of lead accumulation in backstops, range floors, and berms and can increase the potential for leaching into groundwater, being carried off-site in stormwater, being ingested by wildlife, or becoming airborne.” Read More

On Dec. 1, it will be one year since over two dozen workers who supported the union at Pacific Beach Hotel lost their jobs.

The firings, former employees say, came after Pac Beach’s parent company HTH Corporation retaliated against the forming of a workers’ union. The employees formed a union in 2002 after working 8 years without a pay raise.

The International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) Local 42 filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board against HTH Corporation dating back to January 2007. The charges included Pac Beach management refusing to recognize the ILWU as the workers’ elected union, firing workers for union activity, conducting surveillance of workers participating in union activities, interfering with workers’ rights, and failing to negotiate in good faith.

After 8 months of investigation, the National Relations Board charged HTH Corporation with illegal acts in September. A final board ruling is expected to be issued at the end of next year.

“This is a long-awaited day for the workers at Pacific Beach, but it’s just the first step,” said Justice at the Beach boycott coordinator Lance Kamada. “The hearing process can take months, and it’s possible that the hotel will appeal a decision it doesn’t like. This is a six-year struggle that may continue for a long time, unless the company decides to respect federal law.” Read More

Related Osorio: “These are our lands, our responsibility”

In a show of solidarity, hundreds of demonstrators wearing red T-shirts gathered on Monday in front of the Queen Lili‘uokalani statue fronting the Hawai‘i State Capitol. Signs reading “Lingle: withdraw now” and “Save ceded lands” urged Gov. Linda Lingle to reconsider going forward with an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court to overturn a January 2008 decision by the Hawai‘i Supreme Court, which granted an injunction against the state from selling ceded lands from the public lands trust until the claims of Native Hawaiians to those lands have been resolved.

Gov. Linda Lingle said in a statement that she would not withdraw the state’s appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court because she did not believe a Congressional apology to Native Hawaiians in 1993 overturned land rights granted to the state when it was created in 1959.

“Hawai’i’s public trust lands were transferred to the state by United States Congress in trust for the benefit of all the people of Hawai’i,” Lingle said, “and, therefore, the State of Hawai’i has the right and the obligation to use those lands for the public purposes specified in the Admission Act and State law—for the benefit of all Hawai‘i’s citizens. That can include at times, selling or transferring the lands, such as what the Waihee Administration and the state Legislature sought to do to promote affordable housing on Maui.

“I supported the appeal to the United States Supreme Court because I believe the Congress did not take from the State in 1993 the rights it gave the State in 1959. I believe the United States Supreme Court will agree and will confirm Hawai‘i’s rights granted to it in the Admission Act of 1959. As the Governor of all Hawai‘i’s people, Native Hawaiian and non-Native Hawaiian alike, I could not in good conscience seek to withdraw our appeal to the United States Supreme Court and will not do so.” Read More

A letter signed by 16 Hawai‘i state representatives was issued to House Speaker Calvin Say today to address proposed changes in the way House committees are organized. The proposal, lawmakers argue, will make it difficult for the public to stay in touch with bills that have often dealt with both the Hawaiian Affairs Committee (HA) and the Water, Land & Ocean Resources Committee (WLO)—a move that will also require the Native Hawaiian constituents to testify for bills under separate committee brackets.

The joint letter is a follow-up to lawmakers’ previous concerns about the committee reorganization last week.

On Nov. 13, Rep. Calvin Say removed HA from the Natural Resources bracket—renamed to be the Physical Resources bracket—and placed the committee in the Human Services bracket. Say’s proposal also removes the Housing Committee (HUS) from the Human Services bracket and places it in the Physical Resources bracket.

In a statement, Say said the decision to move HA into the Human Services bracket was “because the Hawaiian community faces many problems with health and other human services issues.”

However, Rep. Mele Carroll, who was selected to serve as HA chair, argues that the proposed changes to the brackets are counter-intuitive to the way committees were organized in the past. Previously, both housing and human service issues, as well as Native Hawaiian and natural resource issues, were each respectively addressed under one bracket. Read More

Giving a voice to the voiceless is key in an ever-changing society.

One method in accomplishing that goal has been through photovoice.

University of Michigan professor Caroline Wang developed photovoice as a process by which people can identify, represent, and enhance their community through a specific photographic technique. Photovoice has been used in the past for research, education, social change, and creating effective public policy.

Beginning Dec. 12, a photovoice installation titled “Re-Visioning Family” gives a voice to transgenders and their families in Hawai‘i in a project presented by the University of Hawai‘i at Manoa’s Women’s Studies Program.

The installation will display 40 photographs taken by 16 study participants as part of a follow-up to the 2008 dissertation study by L.L. Ikeda-Vogel, from the School of Social Welfare. Read More

The American International Building in lower Manhattan.

AIG Hawai‘i is not likely to go out of business, nor are its thousands of Hawai‘i insurance customers likely to lose their policies, as a result of the well-publicized financial problems of its parent holding company, American International Group. But AIG Hawai‘i and other local companies held by AIG may be sold off to repay the billions in loans that the parent company is getting from the federal government.

According to the AIG Hawai‘i Web site, “It was announced at the conference call to investors on October 3, that the AIG Personal Auto Group is on the list of assets for sale. This does not necessarily mean that the company will be sold, or a buyer has been identified.”

The state, meanwhile, says policy holders are safe.

“Edward Liddy, the fellow who took over AIG with the Fed’s blessing, has said that he doesn’t want to sell off the companies individually,” says Hawai‘i Insurance Commissioner Jeffrey P. Schmidt. However, Schmidt believes AIG’s local assets may be sold off as part of a larger package. Read More

The last time three Hawai‘i airlines went head-to-head in a price war, Aloha Airlines’ passenger service was shut down, leaving 1,900 people unemployed.

Today, Mokulele Airlines launched its inter-island jet service between Honolulu, Kona, and Lihu‘e. Mokulele joins its former business partner, Mesa Air Group’s go!, and Hawaiian Airlines in a three-way battle to survive through a hurting economy and historically cut-throat business practices.

Mokulele’s 70-seat Embraer 170 jet service is the result of a new service agreement with Indianapolis-based Republic Airways.

“We welcome this agreement between Republic Airways and Mokulele Airlines,” Gov. Linda Lingle said. “This is very good news for the economy while providing the people of Hawai‘i an additional choice in inter-island service. This agreement also means new job opportunities, and that is very welcome news for our residents.” Read More

The land-based OTEC facility at Keahole on the Kona coast of Hawai‘i.

The increasing urgency to adapt to global warming has fueled the search for an economically viable source of renewable energy.

The state of Hawai‘i currently relies on imported fossil fuel for 94 percent of its energy.

Today, Governor Linda Lingle announced plans to build a 10 megawatt Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion (OTEC) plant in Hawai‘i to act as a pilot for further potential projects. The plant will be the product of an energy partnership between the Taiwan Industrial Technology Research Institute and the Lockheed Martin Corporation, the largest defense contractor in the world.

“As island economies in the Pacific, Taiwan and the State of Hawai‘i share very similar challenges of over-dependence on imported petroleum for their energy needs,” Governor Lingle said. “Taiwan and Hawai‘i also share a common vision and plan to increase renewable and clean energy generation based on indigenous energy resources.” Read More

After hours of testimony, seven members of the Hawai‘i County Council successfully overrode Mayor Harry Kim’s veto of a bill which would ban genetic engineering of coffee and kalo on the Big Island.

Bill 361, introduced by councilman Angel Pilago, was unanimously adopted last month. The council’s move came amidst overwhelming pressure from food growers on the island, many of whom were galvanized by the state Legislature’s failure to pass a similar ban on genetically-modified kalo earlier in the year.

The issue has become increasingly politicized, with multinational biotech firms and University of Hawai‘i researchers on one side, and independent kalo farmers, Kona coffee growers, and Native Hawaiian cultural advocates on the other.

Outgoing mayor Harry Kim vetoed the bill on Oct. 31, spurring Council Chair Pete Hoffman to convene a special session to override the veto.

The meeting began at 10 a.m. and continued until the council adjourned at midnight. More than 100 people came to the Council offices today to witness the override of the veto.

Bill 361 will now become an ordinance.