Meetings of the state Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity usually fly under the radar. Typical agendas include approval of low-interest loans of last resort for farmers, leases of land in state agricultural parks, and votes on recommendations by the department\u2019s Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals, which mostly reviews requests to import plants, animals, and other organisms, among other things.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The August 26 meeting was different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
On the board\u2019s agenda that day was a petition from Kunani and Ipo Nihipali to approve an interim rule to block the shipment to Moloka\u02bbi of almost everything that could conceivably harbor the coconut rhinoceros beetle (CRB) and its larvae.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The board had already approved an interim rule last October that blocked most shipments of CRB host material from O\u02bbahu, with certain exceptions. It did not block shipments from Kaua\u02bbi, however, even though the CRB has become widespread and there is little expectation it can be eradicated from the island. Lana\u02bbi, Maui, and the Big Island have seen limited infestations and there is still hope that they can avoid following O\u02bbahu and Kaua\u02bbi to the point where the CRB is well established.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Moloka\u02bbi is the only populated island to have escaped any sign of CRB. Increasingly, residents have grown concerned that their treasured and historic Kapu\u0101iwa grove, as well as the thousands of other coconuts grown for food, fiber, and other cultural purposes, would be devastated by the beetle. And not just coconuts: other plants, including Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s endemic and endangered Pritchardia<\/em> palms, are likely to be vulnerable as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nihipalis\u2019 petition, submitted July 29, enjoyed widespread support. More than 130 letters were submitted to the board, including testimony from state employees, legislators, and county officials. All urged approval and stressed the urgency of measures to keep the CRB from entering the island. In written testimony and also in the statements made by members of the public at the August 26 board meeting, no one disputed the need for action. All overwhelmingly endorsed the Nihipalis\u2019 proposal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are residents of Ho\u02bbolehua, Moloka\u02bbi,\u201d they stated in their petition, explaining their interest in the matter. \u201cWe farm sustenance and sustainable foods, including coconut on Moloka\u02bbi. \u2026 In addition to producing agricultural products, we work to restore the culture of ike niu on Moloka\u02bbi. If CRB were to be detected on Moloka\u02bbi, crown and injection pesticide treatments would cause substantial losses to the uluniu [coconut grove] and severely impact our efforts to restore traditional practices and uses of coconut trees. If CRB were to become established on Moloka\u02bbi, we would lose the production of the uluniu and, as we are now seeing on O\u02bbahu, the trees themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIn addition to our direct interests in protecting the uluniu we created on Moloka\u02bbi, we have helped organize, and participated in, many community events, are active community members and strong supporters of Native Hawaiian rights and culture, and work to establish food and water security for Moloka\u02bbi and reestablish a loving relationship with niu, the tree of life.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The Nihipalis\u2019 presentation to the board was heartfelt and even tearful. Should CRB arrive on the island, Ipo Nihipali stated, \u201cWe will be devastated, generationally. So please \u2026\u201d Board members seemed moved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Other testifiers also stressed the urgency of action. Wayne Tanaka of the Sierra Club of Hawai\u02bbi, took issue with the Plant Quarantine Branch staff\u2019s suggestion that the kinds of actions proposed in the Nihipalis\u2019 petition be subject to a statewide interim rule. \u201cIf you wait to do some kind of statewide thing before you protect Moloka\u02bbi, it\u2019s going to be game over,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Pauline Sato agreed that a statewide rule would be desirable, \u201cbut,\u201d she added, \u201cif we wait for that, it could be another year or two of meetings. \u2026 We have to do something now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jonathan Ho, recently named to head up the Plant Quarantine Branch, had stated in his submittal to the board that the petition was precedent setting. Among other things, it \u201ccould be in violation of the Commerce Clause as the provisions appear to be selectively prohibiting the movement [of certain items.] \u2026 It prohibits movement of materials from areas that are not known to be infested with CRB. By doing so, [it] would imply that the rest of the state is infested and that the existing quarantine restrictions would not be needed. It also prohibits the movement of the listed items if they have been staged or stored in any area of the state, which appears to prohibit the movement of any of the identified commodities to Moloka\u02bbi, including imported items in sealed containers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n If the board should want to take action to protect Moloka\u02bbi, Ho said in his report, \u201cthe board can direct PQB staff to work with the petitioners to complete the full advisory review.\u201d Ho also suggested that the wider Moloka\u02bbi community should be consulted, \u201cto ensure that they are aware of the impacts the interim rule would have on them and that they are able to provide their input as they would be the most impacted by the interim rule.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Board members seemed more favorably inclined than Ho to take some action. Board member Nathaniel Oswald, representing Moloka\u02bbi, asked if the board could override the staff recommendation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The deputy attorney general advising them, Jennifer Waihee-Polk, answered with a hard no. The board could only approve interim rules if the Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals first recommended them, she said, referring to Hawai\u02bbi Revised Statutes \u00a7150-9.5. That law says, \u201cNo interim rule shall be adopted without \u2026 a finding by the advisory committee on plants and animals\u201d that \u201cthe importation or movement of any flora or fauna \u2026 creates a situation dangerous to the public health and safety or to the ecological health of flora and fauna present in the state which is so immediate in nature as to constitute an emergency.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThat\u2019s a statutory requirement,\u201d she said. \u201cYou can\u2019t override it. Even if I could find a way for you to override your own rules, you cannot override a statute.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Oswald pressed ahead, asking DAB chair Sharon Hurd what was the most expedient way to move this forward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hurd: \u201cWe could table it, but what we can do is ask all the people who offered impassioned testimony, just be vigilant. Have voluntary compliance. Don\u2019t be bringing plants under your shirt. You know, Moloka\u02bbi has a very rugged coastline. Don\u2019t bring a boat in there and start offloading compost and material. Just do the right thing. We can do that right now. \u2026 Whatever this petition says, we can do that right now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Ho repeated the suggestion: \u201cOne of the things we can do is very strongly suggest people who are moving a lot of material, particularly the goods that we have more difficulties with the inspection process, to just not move them interisland. To the extent of what we can do, we\u2019ve changed some of the inspection processes, for larger potted plants, larger than 10 gallons, we\u2019re requiring people to depot the plant so we can check for the potential for grubs like we were seeing in Lana\u02bbi. \u2026 We\u2019ve taken measures to the extent of you know to do more. We can I think work with shippers now while we do the interim rule process.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n As far as that process is concerned, Ho continued, his recommendation to the board was to follow the standard process for developing interim rules, and this would be not just for Moloka\u02bbi, but for the entire state. \u201cIt\u2019s the same amount of meetings to do an interim rule for a statewide restriction versus one for Moloka\u02bbi. If the board is looking to take the petition as is, no changes, we could probably do it relatively quickly \u2013 I\u2019d say, two meetings \u2013 provided that the Advisory Committee has the findings that, you know, a ban essentially is warranted for a year and bring it back to the board before the next meeting.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, the board approved a motion to have the Plant Quarantine Branch initiate the rule-making process by referring the matter to the Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals, with the instruction to return to the board with its recommendation by the next board meeting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n A Quick Approval<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n The Advisory Committee on Plants and Animals met on September 17 \u2013 its first meeting in nearly a year. After a presentation by Ho, explaining how he had modified the Nihipalis\u2019 petition to bring it more in line with departmental precedent, the committee heard from a number of people, most of them Moloka\u02bbi residents and all of them in strong support of the Nihipali\u2019s proposed interim rule. <\/p>\n\n\n\n An hour and a half after the meeting began, the committee unanimously voted in favor of recommending that the Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity approve the Nihipali rule at the board\u2019s next meeting, scheduled for September 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When the board met, the Plant Quarantine Branch report recommended that the board approve an interim rule closely following the language of the Nihipalis, but with certain technical changes. Much of the board\u2019s discussion focused on the prohibition of gravel shipments to Moloka\u02bbi. Testifiers, including all of the Moloka\u02bbi residents who weighed in on the matter, insisted that the on-island quarry would be sufficient to address the gravel needs of the island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the end, the board approved the interim rule. Meanwhile, the interim CRB rule adopted last year will expire October 11. In January, new regulations addressing the transport of CRB-host material were adopted. According to the Plant Quarantine Branch, \u201cthe existing rule and the permanent regulations in Chapter 4-72 somewhat overlap, so even if the interim rule expires, there will still be permanent restrictions on CRB host materials moving interisland.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u2014 Patricia Tummons<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Meetings of the state Board of Agriculture and Biosecurity usually fly under the radar. Typical agendas include approval of low-interest loans of last resort for farmers, leases of land in state agricultural parks, and votes on recommendations by the department’s … Continued<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16598,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[21,25,542],"tags":[7],"class_list":["post-16760","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-agriculture","category-invasives","category-october-2025","tag-patricia-tummons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16760","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16760"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16760\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/16598"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16760"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16760"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/environment-hawaii.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16760"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}