During legislative hearings on the various measures intended to give relief to oil shippers in Hawai`i, the Sierra Club, Hawai`i Chapter was practically the only environmental group with a lobbyist at the table. The lobbyist — unpaid, we would note — is David Kimo Frankel. Here are portions of his comments on one of the most far-ranging drafts legislation to deal with the oil liability issue. They were delivered on April 2, 1992, before Senator Chang’s Committee on Agriculture and Environmental Protection:
“A compromise Superfund bill was passed last year — a bill applauded by HSPA” — the Hawai`i Sugar Planters’ Association — “Hawai`i Tug and Barge, PRI and many others. Why weren’t these issues put on the table last year? The state Superfund has never exempted oil spills from liability. This issue has been ripe for discussion for over three years. Why, then, the sudden concern over the implications of Superfund — after the bill cutoff deadline, and after most bills have gone through three or four public hearings?
“None of the concerns of the Sierra Club to improve egregious weaknesses in the Superfund Law have received serious consideration by this committee. How are corporate fiduciaries and industry able to continually dictate the terms of the discussion? No one has seriously considered the fact that old spills of hazardous substances are not being reported to the Department of Health. Last Year’s bill unjustifiably grandfathered these spills. From the very first hearing on Superfund last year, we spoke of the importance of providing a Superfund in the law. To date this proposal has not received serious consideration. The citizen suit provision is feckless and needs rewording. Once again, however, it appears that these important issues are excluded from discussion.
“The real concern of HSPA, Hawai`i Tug and Barge and PRI is the federal Oil Pollution Act of 1990… In testimony before the House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, Hawai`i Tug and Barge declared that it would not ship oil after 1993 unless the federal Oil Pollution Act is amended. If their real concern is the federal law, let’s leave the state law unchanged until the federal law is changed.”
Volume 2, Number 12 June 1992