Don’t give away rights to sue farming operations • ‘Welcome to the club, ladies’ • Don’t use people as experiments Don’t give away rights to sue farming operations Stop State Bill SB590. This bill gives all rights to farmers and
Don’t give away rights to sue farming operations • ‘Welcome to the club, ladies’ • Don’t use people as experiments
Don’t give away rights to sue farming operations
Stop State Bill SB590. This bill gives all rights to farmers and denies any rights to citizens should they become ill or die from chemicals, insecticides, pesticides, fumes, chemical fertilizers, sprays, herbicides, et al. We cannot accept big ag companies using our people, land, rivers and ocean as guinea pigs in their experimental chemicals without any recourse should we become sick from them.
Right now, our only recourse is to declare a farming practice a public nuisance and this bill denies us this right. This is just part of the bill:
“No court, official, public servant, or public employee shall declare any farming operation a nuisance for any reason if the farming operation has been conducted in a manner consistent with generally accepted agricultural and management practices.
There shall be a rebuttable presumption that a farming operation does not constitute a nuisance.
The right of farmers and ranchers to engage in farming and ranching practices shall be guaranteed in this state.
No law shall be enacted that abridges the right of farmers and ranchers to employ generally accepted agricultural technology, livestock production, and ranching practices.
‘Farming operation’ includes but shall not be limited to:
• (1) Agricultural-based commercial operations as described in section 205-2(d) (15);
• (2) Noises, odors, dust, and fumes emanating from a commercial agricultural or an aquacultural facility or pursuit;
• (3) Operation of machinery
• (4) Ground and aerial seeding and spraying;
• (5) The application of chemical fertilizers, conditioners, insecticides, pesticides, and herbicides.”
Call our senators and representatives to halt this bill.
Deborah Lynn
Princeville
‘Welcome to the club, ladies’
Kauai’s continuous landfill destination issue (19 years ongoing) has again appeared on the cycle of distracting, unresolved issues that pop-up regularly at our council meetings. The good news is that in the last few days new voices are crying out and joining in the meager efforts shown by Kaua‘i residents to resolve this issue.
In the Jan. 31 and Feb. 1 issues of The Garden Island, two new names have surfaced requesting answers to issues engulfed in the malfeasance, misfeasance and nonfeasance, along with fraud and other violations, of our county, state and federal agencies.
Bonnie Bator (“New dump will bring trouble for Kaua‘i, Jan. 31) discussed the new Municipal Solid Waste Landfill (MSWL) issue and the continuing kow-towing to “International Billionaire Investor Group” (I-BIGs) members and the awarding of extra special amenities, as well as exemptions from environmental rules and regulation; rules and regulations that we lesser peons must abide by. Mention was made of the “multi-million dollar consultant (tax payer funded) ….scrambling to scheme who is the accepting authority for the new landfill.”
Jana Greene’s letter (“Who will be the new county personnel director,” Feb. 1) questions the fulfillment of “political debts” as well as the mayor’s integrity after being accused of stealing from the county. I haven’t heard much about this issue in the TGI as of late. Will another appointment be made for reasons of political indebtedness?
In 2008, a $130 million proposal was offered to the county to build a new state of the art MSWL, at no cost to the taxpayer other than partial tipping fees, which was ignored by the council and mayor. If built at the Kekaha landfill, an EIS would not have been needed since one already was performed. Such an offer would have saved taxpayers millions of dollars plus precious time.
Was it always a done deal to wait until AOL billionaire, Steve Case, owner of Grove Farm company was ready to make sure that the “access highway(s) for the countless semi-trucks to bring rubbish will go through his land”; having tax payers pay for the needed road which “will most assuredly have lots more urban sprawl, luxury homes, gentlemen estates, resorts, unaffordable subdivisions for local folk and bumper-to-bumper traffic.”
As Jana Green states: “Wake up Kaua’i” and welcome to the club, ladies.
John Hoff
Lawa‘i
Don’t use people as experiments
For the sake of our children and yours, you must halt SB590. In this critical age, the biotech/agriculture needs more regulation and scrutiny. SB590 would further deregulate an already hazardous industry. What really needs to be revised are the so called “generally accepted agricultural and management practices.”
You must not accept chemical/agricultural companies using our islands, and our people as the test tube for their self-serving experiments. I urge you to keep your oath as a public servant to serve the people and not the private sector. Your legacy and the wellness of our future generations is at stake.
Ua Mau Ke Ea O Ka Aina I Ka Pono: The life of the land is perpetuated in righteousness.
Nicolas “Cola” Lindman,
Hanalei
