• Doing the right thing for Kaua‘i • Forget the Superferry, what about the drugs? • Be consistent with EIS • EIS before the ferry • Are they on drugs? Doing the right thing for Kaua‘i Since the Superferry controversy
• Doing the right thing for Kaua‘i
• Forget the Superferry, what about the drugs?
• Be consistent with EIS
• EIS before the ferry
• Are they on drugs?
Doing the right thing for Kaua‘i
Since the Superferry controversy boiled over, The Garden Island’s opinion pages have seen a lot of slanderous accusations hurled around against some of our elected officials. Now someone in your letters section is calling for the recall of the most forward-looking member of the Kaua‘i County Council, JoAnn Yukimura. Something needs to be said.
First, when did the rule of law get repealed, and replaced with rule by opinion poll? Hawai‘i’s environmental review law exists so that short-term self interest does not overwhelm the long-term need to protect Hawai‘i’s fragile ecosystems. If a poll is taken that shows a majority on Kaua‘i want all monk seals exiled from Kaua‘i because they interfere with residents’ enjoyment of beaches should we then circumvent the laws that protect the seals too?
Second, many ardent Superferry supporters continue making an error in logic that needs to be corrected. Being in support of the Superferry having to do an Environmental Assessment does not infer that one is necessarily anti-Superferry. The health of Hawai‘i’s economy is inextricably bound to the quality of its environment. Visitors come here because Kaua‘i is a beautiful place. If our environment is degraded then tourism will suffer. The environmental review law exists to come up with solutions to prevent ecological damage.
Council member Yukimura and other elected representative are doing their duty as public servants. They are not pandering to a vocal minority. They in no way incited Superferry protesters to break the law. They are trying to uphold the law. It’s the moral duty of every citizen to help preserve Kaua‘i’s fragile environment for the sake of future generations. That’s the big picture. That’s why our representatives are being responsible by insisting that the Superferry go through the EA/Environmental Impact Statement process.
David Thorp
Koloa
Forget the Superferry, what about the drugs?
Kaua‘i is so worried about making sure the Superferry is laying off honest job holders that they forgot about the massive drug problem of Kaua‘i. Kaua‘i ain’t even a place to raise children nowadays. It’s sad. Major marijuana bust, major cocaine bust, and now a major meth bust. But still to Kaua‘i people, stopping the Superferry is more important.
Wake up, Kaua‘i.
Joshua Hauki
Bagram Airbase
Be consistent with EIS
France obtains 80 percent of its energy from nuclear power. That figure is 20 percent for the US. The last license to result in the construction and operation of a new nuclear plant in the United States was issued in 1973. For the most part, electricity in the US comes from the burning of coal. The Sierra Club since 1974 has opposed nuclear power. Its paid lawyers have busied themselves with blocking construction of the nuclear power plants that would have prevented millions of tons of carbon dioxide from entering the atmosphere and mercury from entering the seas and making many species of fish unsafe to eat.
The Sierra Club has concerns about global warming. In its top ten list of things we should do for the environment we are enjoined to replace inefficient light bulbs and tune up the car and keep the tires properly inflated. Not a word about cows which produce more methane than all the cars in the world put together and which cows consume extravagant amounts grain that uses up irreplaceable soil and water while polluting streams and ground water.
The Sierra Club has great concerns for whales. What about the cows, the pigs, the sheep, the chickens? Isaac Bashevis Singer once said that “For animals everyday is Treblinka.” Cruelty is the order of the day in the meat industry. Everybody knows about it, but it’s a lot more fun to save whales than to think about the environmental and spiritual cost of cheeseburgers.
Ought not the Sierra Club perform some Environmental Impact Statements of its own?
Every year thousands of children are killed or maimed in car accidents. Every day Superferry protestors get in their cars and drive on the highways and byways where they very well know that they could at any time kill or maim a child. The Superferry might kill a whale while a protestor might kill a child.
To be consistent, shouldn’t protestors stop driving?
Michael Meek
Princeville
EIS before the ferry
We have been coming Kaua‘i for 12 years now and are very concerned that this beautiful environment be protected.
We have been closely following the Superferry issue and are aware of the potential negative impacts if the ferry is allowed to run before completing the Environmental Impact Statement and abiding by what is discovered in the process.
We applaud the court’s decision that the law designed to protect the area from harm be followed.
Is it not the law that the EIS be completed before a business with such a major impact on the surroundings is allowed to operate? To override this law by special legislative action by putting business interests before the environment sets a dangerous precedent especially now at a time when our environment is at risk worldwide. This is known to be the case and cannot be denied.
We understand that the Superferry put the cart before the horse and sympathize that this mistake has been made at great cost. However, it is of utmost importance that the law be upheld and an EIS be done before any irreparable harm is done by the ferry.
EIS before the ferry.
Eleanor Lyman
Bolinas, Calif.
Rick Gordon
Pt Reyes Station, Calif.
Are they on drugs?
Thursday, Oct. 11, 2007, The Garden Island. Front page headlines “ACLU poised to sue over random drug testing of teachers.”
Turn the page. Page 3 headline, “Former O‘ahu school teacher going to prison,” on drug charges. Any questions?
Roger Olsen
Lawa‘i
