Island Watch

Chemical Endocrine Disruptors Object Of State-UH Study in Kane`ohe Bay

The state Division of Aquatic Resources, an arm of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, and the Hawai`i Institute of Marine Biology will soon begin sampling Kane`ohe Bay water and sediments for the presence of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. The program of sampling is intended to determine whether these chemicals, found in land-based pesticides and other industrial formulations, are present at levels great enough to impact the reproduction of fish in the bay.

The study will be financed with funds from the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program (about $75,000), matched with a $25,000 fine levied by the state Commission on Water Resource Management against Pacific Atlas (Hawai`i) for unauthorized work in two Kane`ohe area streams.

In addition to sampling sediment and water, the study will attempt to identify effects, if any, on the reproductive tracts of populations of tilapia in streams and the nearshore areas of Kane`ohe Bay.

The Division of Aquatic Resources received approval from the Board of Land and Natural Resources to engage the University of Hawai`i for the study at the board’s meeting of November 21. O`ahu board member Mike Nekoba posed the question to acting DAR administrator Bill Devick: “So, let’s say you find the tilapia population goes down two percent in one year, what is this going to tell you? Is it going to tell you you should ban some sort of herbicide?”

“It will tell you first of all you’ve got some kind of problem,” Devick replied. “In terms of tilapia, if the population goes down two percent, so much the better.”

More seriously, Devick said, tilapia are easy fish to study. If there’s going to be a problem, he said, it will show up in the tilapia.

Annette Niles, a Maui rancher convicted on charges of animal cruelty, is among just 14 farmers and ranchers statewide who have qualified to bid in auctions of leases of state-owned land. The auctions were scheduled to occur in early December.

In screening out qualified bidders from a pool of applicants, a review committee rejected 11 out of a pool of 25. On Maui in particular, Niles was one of just two qualified applicants out of a pool of seven. The five who were rejected were all determined to have submitted incomplete applications.

On November 21, the Land Board was asked to concur with the screening committee’s decisions. Members were obviously concerned about the low number of people applying as well as the even lower number qualifying. When someone suggested the requirements might be too stringent, Maui board member William Kennison commented they couldn’t be that stringent, “since Annette Niles is on the list.”

In any case, board members generally agreed with the sentiments of Hawai`i board member Chris Yuen. “My goal is to help people get on state land and to qualify… People should be given an opportunity to fix things that are wrong with their applications.”

Niles, who managed a ranch on 4,800 acres of state land at Ma`alaea, was convicted on 23 counts of cruelty to animals in 1994. At one point, the only source of water for cattle grazing the arid land was just one bathtub, filled manually from time to time.

The lease was held in her father’s name, but her father, Stephen Perreira, was acquitted on similar charges, with the jury determining that he had no involvement in the day-to-day ranch operations. After the conviction of Niles, the state revoked the lease, but under state law, only Perreira is disqualified for a period of five years from the time of revocation. Niles is still legally eligible to apply for a lease.

When a member of the public commented that something must be wrong with the DLNR’s qualification procedures if someone like Niles could pass muster, board chair Mike Wilson appeared not to know of Niles’ conviction. “Although she may have participated, the extent to which we can actually hold her accountable only goes so far,” he said.

Yuen, however, agreed that the Niles case pointed out a problem in the selection process. “The problem,” he said, “is that undoubtedly her experience in managing this ranch counted towards qualifying her to bid on a new lease.”

In defense of Niles, Kennison observed that her case is still on appeal. But Wilson again indicated he was unaware of her conviction. “It’s another question whether any legal action has been taken with respect to mistreatment of the livestock.”

In the end, the Land Board concurred with the decisions of the screening committee on motion of Kennison.

In the October Island Watch column of Environment Hawai`i, we reported that Moloka`i Ranch was ordered by the Board of Land and Natural Resources to dedicate a public road to Hale o Lono Harbor. The road is one of the terms of a license that Moloka`i Ranch has to operate the harbor, but until now, the state had not enforced this provision in the 38 years since the license took effect.

On October 25, 1996, the Land Board was asked to “clarify” its order. The ranch, citing concerns over liability and protection of its livestock, desired to create a new road to the harbor, rather than have the existing road, or network of roads, be used by the public. The route of the new road has been tentatively laid out, but it will not be completed until early 1997.

Several intense meetings were held in October with members of the community (primarily Collette Machado and Billy Kalipi), Maui Land Board member Willie Kennison, and ranch representatives. The end result was that until the new road is completed, the ranch has agreed to provide unlimited daytime access to the public on two weekends a month via a road from Kaluakoi.

The new road is to be completed by January 17, 1997, when the ranch has announced it will surrender its license, invoking the 90-day revocation clause of the document. At that time also, the public’s use of the road from Kaluakoi will cease.

Chris Yuen, board member from Hawai`i, expressed some concern over the design of the road. If the road is merely a bladed groove in the land, it would be susceptible to washing out. Yuen asked whether any work be done to the crown of the road, to allow for runoff. “My concern is that the road be in a condition that it is usable and can be maintained, and won’t wash away within two or three years.”

No one could address Yuen’s concerns. Dean Uchida, head of the Division of Land Management, said that he had had some discussions with ranch people about road design that would avoid it being a drainage channel. However, he said, nothing had come of that yet.

Uchida added that the state anticipated something similar to the type of roads that the ranch now uses, even though, as he acknowledged, “when rains come, they need to go out and clear the roads.” Uchida added that he had been “working with the [state] Forestry Division,” the only presence that the Department of Land and Natural Resources has on the island, “to see if they can maintain the road with their crew and equipment.”

In the Waiahole contested case, the state Water Commission has issued a ruling granting the petition of the Waiahole-Waikane Community Association to have Bishop Estate pay fees associated with the expert testimony of one of WWCA’s expert witnesses, Dr. Robert Livingston. Livingston is the only witness whose fees have been paid by an opposing party in the Waiahole contested case, which concerns the fate of water conveyed by the Waiahole ditch from the windward side of O`ahu to the leeward side.

The commission’s decision on the petition for Livingston’s fees was issued on October 25. In the four-page ruling (Order Number 38), Bishop Estate’s attorney, Benjamin Kudo, is described as having filed expert witness testimony, “but withholding disclosure of the exhibits upon which their expert’s testimony was based until after the deadline to file rebuttal testimony.”

This practice, the commission found, “deprived WWCA et al. of the opportunity to prepare or submit rebuttal testimony within the established time limits. Waiahole-Waikane Community Association’s extra costs in retaining Dr. Livingston for additional rebuttal testimony was a direct result of Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate’s actions.”

The report continues: “The commission finds no just cause for this departure from the commission’s ordered deadlines. Kamehameha Schools/Bishop Estate’s counsel’s reading of the commission’s procedural orders was undertaken to secure an unfair tactical advantage and violated the commission’s orders. These actions improperly disadvantaged an opposing counsel and undermined the commission’s own process.”

The commission ordered Bishop Estate or its counsel, Kudo, to pay $3,015 to Environmental Planning Analysis, Inc., to cover Livingston’s fees. The fee since has been paid — by Bishop Estate.

On October 31, 1996, administration of Midway Atoll passed from the U.S. Navy to the federal Department of Interior. That’s the date President Clinton signed the executive transferring jurisdiction over the three islands that make up the atoll, along with the territorial seas around them.

The transfer had been long expected. Since August, the Department of Interior’s Fish and Wildlife Service has been effectively administering the islands as the Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge. As part of its administration of the refuge, it has entered into a contract with Midway Phoenix Corporation to allow use of the island’s facilities in support of various ecotourism and game-fishing operations.

Midway Atoll was designated as an “overlay” National Wildlife Refuge on April 22, 1988, which allowed the FWS to help the Navy manage wildlife on the atoll. Some 15 species of migratory seabirds use the islands, as well as migratory shorebirds, green sea turtles, Hawaiian monk seals, and Hawaiian spinner dolphins. The islands are home to the world’s largest colony of Laysan albatross and the second-largest colony of black-footed albatross.

Although the Navy no longer administers the atoll, it will continue environmental clean-up operations on Midway. That effort is expected to conclude in June 1997.

(Information for this was provided by the Fish and Wildlife Service.)

The Office of Planning — formerly the Office of State Planning — is seeking public comments on a draft document that assesses the office’s past efforts and proposed projects relating to a wide range of coastal issues. The office, which now is housed within the state Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, administers the federal Coastal Zone Management Program.

The draft was scheduled to be available in public libraries across the state on December 1. In addition, the Office of Environmental Quality Control, the DBEDT library, and the Legislative Reference Bureau in the state Capitol were to be given copies for public review.

Comments are due by January 2, 1997. For more information, call (808) 947-1523.

Volume 7, Number 6 December 1996