In June, Environment Hawai’i reported that the Del Monte Corp. was continuing to use heptachlor despite a ban on use of the chemical issued in 1978. Under the “existing stocks” exception to the ban, Del Monte spokesmen said, their use of the chemical to control ants was perfectly legal.
Following up on our report, the Conservation Council for Hawai’i called on Del Monte to stop heptachlor’s use. On June 17, the company announced it would no longer be using heptachlor. Lyle Wong, head of the plant industry division of the state Department of Agriculture (and former employee of the Pineapple Growers Association), said that Del Monte would destroy its stocks of heptachlor as soon as it got permission from the Environmental Protection Agency to use Amdro, another ant-control pesticide that has been approved for use on Maui.
According to the Honolulu Advertiser, Pick Zwern, a spokesman for Del Monte, said the decision to stop using heptachlor was a result of the EPA approval for use of Amdro on Maui crops. Wong, however, “said Del Monte officials also told him they were worried about public reaction to the environmentalists’ reports that heptachlor was still being used,” the Advertiser reported.
The day after Del Monte’s announcement, the state Department of Health was reporting that samples of drinking water taken in the area of heptachlor use showed no signs of heptachlor contamination. Actually, heptachlor is not soluble in water under normal circumstances. It does persist in the soil for long periods, however.
DLNR Report to Governor For 1991-92 is Released
In the 1991-92 fiscal year, the Division of Water Resource Management, a part of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, issued 112 permits to drill wells, install pumps, or both.
In the same period, revenues from leases of public lands amounted to $5,575.807, 19,255,000 visits were made to Hawai’i’s state parks, and 446.3 miles of roads were maintained by the Division of Forestry and Wildlife.
One hundred ninety-nine forest or brush-land fires consumed vegetation on 11,376.9 acres between July 1, 1991, and June 30, 1992. In the same fiscal year, licensed hunters statewide took 1,320 quail; 908 pheasant; 1,001 francolin, 276 wild turkey; 1,044 doves, and precisely seven Indian sandgrouse. A total of 3,969 game mammals (pigs, black-tailed and axis deer, goats, mouflon sheep and feral sheep) were taken in 29,628 “hunter trips.” (According to state figures, the Big Island has the best ratio of mammals per hunter trip: 0.31. O’ahu’s is the worst, at 0.09.)
If you want even more statistics, the DLNR’s “Report to the Governor 1991-92” is the place to find them. For more information, call the DLNR at 587-0404 (O’ahu).
Volume 4, Number 1 July 1993
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