Environmental Racism in Wai’anae – “disposable humanity” in the “dumping ground of O’ahu”

On July 19th, the City and Count of Honolulu executed its sweep of more than 350 residents from the strip of land at Maili point known as “Guardrails”. The majority of the persons evicted were Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian). Among the evicted were many women and children.

Much of the news coverage has been biased against the houseless residents, framing them as a nuisance to be disposed of. Bizarrely, KHON and KITV went so far as to give more time to the plight of evicted animals than to the stories of the people being evicted. The Honolulu Star Advertiser, arriving late on the scene, emphasized the “fiery protest”, but not the distress and desperation.

The Hawaii Independent published an excellent series that captured the human tragedy of the eviction. It was the only news source that reported on the man who committed suicide the night before the sweeps due to the distress of enduring five evictions. Residents reported that there were two other attempted suicides: another man tried to hang himself; and a woman went into the oncoming traffic on the highway.

The video posted by Darlene Rodrigues and Ikaika Hussey is an indictment of a society that treats people as disposable:

Some of the youth from Ka Makani Kaiaulu ‘O Wai’anae came down to “Guardrails” to document the eviction and gather stories from the residents. Kuaika Kaeo wrote about what he witnessed, as did Kahaku Pinero here and here.

Meanwhile, as human beings are swept off the land, developers and officials eye Wai’anae for another landfill. In an op ed piece, Bill Lyon argues against a regional park at a parcel in Lualualei and that the”highest and best use” of the land is another landfill. The site is near the existing construction and demolition landfill (PVT). According to Mr. Lyon: “Leeward Land LLC, a sister company of PVT Land Co. Ltd., owns the land. Adjacent to the PVT construction and demolition (C&D) landfill, the land has been held in reserve for future expansion of the PVT landfill and has been on the city’s short list of potential landfill sites for 40 years.”

PVT literally sits in the backyard of several hundred families where high cancer and asthma rates have been reported by residents. In Wai’anae, trash and toxic waste are a better use of land than people living or playing.

Meanwhile a man convicted of illegally dumping toxic tetracholoroethylene in Wai’anae was sentenced to prison. The link to the Honolulu Star Advertiser article seems to be broken.

July 22, 2010

Wai’anae Environmental Jusice Bus Tour

10.7.24 EJ bus tour flyer july 24

The Concerned Elders of Wai‘anae hope you will join us on July 24th for the fourth Huaka‘i Aloha ‘Aina o Wai‘anae, an environmental justice bus tour. This is a unique opportunity to visit the moku of Wai‘anae and experience the rich history of this vibrant community and fertile land. This is also a great opportunity to connect with the many Wai‘anae residents working to protect one of O‘ahu’s remaining breadbaskets. Together, we can work to bring local, sustainable food production back to Hawai‘i, defend Hawai‘i’s rural communities and open spaces from inappropriate development, and protect the public’s health from contamination of our land and ocean.

We will be meeting at 8 AM at the Waianae Campus of the Leeward Community College. We will visit successful farms in Wai‘anae, see farmland currently in jeopardy of industrialization, and meet with real Wai‘anae farmers. We will pick up lunch at Wai‘anae’s own Farmers’ Market.

Seating on the tour bus is limited, so please RSVP to Marti at 524-8220 or marti@kahea.org. See attached flyer for more details.

Mahalo!
Marti.

Directions:
The LCC-Wai‘anae Campus is located at 86-088 Farrington Highway.
Please proceed along Farrington Highway, past Leihoku Street and Longs Drugstore. LCC-Wai‘anae is on the mauka-side of the road, on the top of the 2-story building behind the Cathay Chinese Restaurant and the Tesoro Gas Station. If you have trouble finding us, please call:

LCC-W front desk: 696-6378
Miwa: 228-7219
Marti: 372-1314

July 2, 2010July 5, 2010

Marine convoy gets stuck in the sand in Wai’anae

A Marine convoy took a wide U-turn and got stuck in the sand at Kahe (on the Wai’anae coast) by accident? Here’s what the Honolulu Star Advertiser reported:

Honolulu police directed the miniconvoy to make a U-turn, and because the vehicles are much bigger than most cars, their wider turning radius took them onto the beach and they got stuck, Crouch said. There was “absolutely” no wrongdoing, he said.

This is absolutely ridiculous. The highway has four lanes with a wide median strip. These vehicles could have easily made a U-turn. The driveway into the beach area runs perpendicular to the highway about 30 yards, across an old train track and into a parking area. Cars would have to go through the parking area to get to the sand. There is no other entrance or exit from the sand. There is no way the convoy could have missed the turn and ended up on the beach by “accident.” This was an intentional and illegal act of four-wheel joyriding.

It gets better. The police have no record of an accident on the highway. Did the military make up the story to cover their rears?

View the photos here:

http://media.staradvertiser.com/images/20100702_newsMARINES1.jpg

http://media.staradvertiser.com/images/20100702_newsMARINES2.jpg

http://media.staradvertiser.com/images/20100702_newsMARINES3.jpg

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http://www.staradvertiser.com/news/20100702_Marine_convoy_beached.html

Marine convoy beached

Two armored vehicles get stuck in the sand during convoy training on the Waianae Coast

By William Cole

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jul 02, 2010

The Marine Corps found itself explaining yesterday how two of its armored vehicles got stuck on the beach for several hours after some driver training near the Kahe Point power station took a decidedly wrong turn.

“They have no business being on the beach. There is at least one burial in that area. Fortunately, they were away from it,” said Waianae Coast activist William Aila Jr.

Aila said he spotted one of the big vehicles at about 2 p.m. stuck up nearly to its floorboards in the sand, another with its front wheels partly buried, and a third vehicle attempting to pull them out.

The stuck vehicles were a good 50 yards off Farrington Highway, had driven another 50 yards on a dirt road and traveled 75 yards more on the sand before getting stuck about 30 feet from the surf, Aila said.

Adding further embarrassment to the mired misery were the red caution signs on the front of the vehicles that said, “Student Driver.”

May 19, 2010June 28, 2010

Wai’anae Environmental Justice summer youth program accepting applications for 2010

Applications are now closed. Download application forms here.

Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai‘anae

A Summer Youth Environmental Justice Training Institute

Aloha Kakou

We are Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae. We are learning how to promote environmental justice in Wai’anae.

We know there is a problem – environmental racism.

We swim and play in these waters. We eat food from the land and sea here. We all have family members who are sick with asthma or cancer.

We want environmental justice.

1. Stop or reduce all harmful impacts, not just the streams, but the sources of contamination: landfills, military and industry.

2. We want the clean up of all the contaminated sites.

3. We demand a healthy environment for our community.

A healthy environment is a human right!

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Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae is a summer youth environmental justice organizing training institute for youth from the Wai’anae coast to learn cenvironmental justice and ommunity organizing skills.

The program is geared to youth (age 15 – 19) from Wai’anae who care about the health and well being of their families, communities and the ‘aina. Applicants must be committed to learning community empowerment skills and using those new skills to help their community and the environment become healthier.

We will learn about issues affecting the Wai’anae community, social justice movements in Hawai’i and around the world, the basics of making positive social change, and digital story telling as a medium for shaping the vision and plan for the future of our community.

The Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae Institute runs four weeks – June 21 through July 16, 2010, weekdays from 9am to 2pm.

Most activities will take place at the Leeward Community College Wai’anae office (86-088 Farrington Hwy, Suite 201, Wai‘anae, HI 96792, Phone: 696-6378). The class will take field trips to help students better understand the issues affecting Hawai’i and the depth and scope of doing this work.

Why should you join other students this summer in this life changing experience? Wai’anae is under attack. It is an assault against the community and against the ‘aina, with military bombs and toxic chemicals, contaminated landfills, water pollution, chemical weapons, destruction of cultural sites, rising costs of living and growing numbers of houseless families. The Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae Institute will give the selected candidates a way to learn skills for making grassroots community change and a forum to present their ideas on how to improve conditions for peace and justice and environmental sustainability.

Program eligibility

Must be between the ages of 15-19.
Must be self-motivated and able to work well in a team towards a common goal.
Must have the desire to protect the environment and the health and well being of the Wai’anae community.

Participants who successfully complete the program will receive a $200 stipend.

Program Sponsor

AFSC is a non-profit international human rights organization focusing on peace and social justice. We have worked in Hawai’i since 1941 and have been active in the Wai’anae community since the 1970s. We promote human rights and justice for Native Hawaiians, non-military career alternatives for youth and the restoration and clean up of lands that have been damaged by the military, such as Kaho’olawe and Makua.

American Friends Service Committee – Hawai’i Area Program
Attn: Kyle Kajihiro
Ka Makani Kaiaulu o Wai’anae
2426 O’ahu Avenue
Honolulu, HI 96822

Fax: 808-988-4876

Email: kkajihiro@afsc.org

Mahalo to the Ka Papa o Kakuhihewa Fund of the Hawaii Community Foundation, the Hawaii Peoples Fund and the Kim Coco Iwamoto Fund for Social Justice for their generous support of AFSC’s youth programs.

April 5, 2010

Toxic landfill seeks permit extension in Lualualei

The PVT landfill in Lualualei valley in Wai’anae is the only construction and demolition landfill on O’ahu. It is also certified to take CERCLA hazardous waste, including toxic waste from military clean up sites. Lualualei is also the site of military munitions storage, electromagnetic radio emissions and offshore dumping of conventional and chemical munitions. The mostly Native Hawaiian residents of the area suffer the highest rates of asthma in Hawai’i and have high rates of cancer. They want the landfill to cease operations.

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http://www.thehawaiiindependent.com/local/read/waianae/residents-wait-over-pvt-landfill-permit-extension/

PVT landfill permit extension: Nanakuli residents wait to be heard

Mar 30, 2010 – 07:29 PM | by Austin Zavala | Waianae

WAIANAE—In the heart of Nanakuli, residents are fighting to ensure their safety and health by speaking out against the planned expansion of the PVT landfill. PVT Land Company Ltd., the private landfill’s owner, has applied for an extension permit at the State Department of Health (DOH) to allow the landfill to increase in height.

PVT has operated the landfill on Oahu’s west coast since 1985. The PVT landfill is a construction and demolition material solid waste landfill that is also licensed to accept asbestos-containing materials and petroleum-contaminated soil.

Since its opening, the steadily growing PVT landfill has been the subject of health concerns raised by residents who feel that their voices have not been heard.

“This private landfill is about five-feet away from residents that live there—women, keiki, and kupuna,” said Patty Teruya, chair of the Nanakuli Neighborhood Board. “A landfill does not belong in a community so close to a living area. We, the Nanakuli people, are asking for an EIS [environmental impact statement] of the area or the release of the applications and other paperwork for us to see.”

The main concern raised by the neighborhood board is that a public hearing is not required by law in order for PVT Land Company’s application to be accepted by DOH. Other landfills on Oahu, such as the Waimanalo Gulch Sanitary Landfill, were required to go before the State Planning and Land Use Commission and the neighborhood boards of affected districts. However, State laws only require public notice for permit applications of municipal solid waste landfills, which PVT landfill is not.

“It’s sad this particular landfill is located in a native Hawaiian community,” said Teruya, a 45-year resident of Nanakuli. “Why are all the landfills located on native Hawaiian land? It’s sad that this has been allowed for so long and the community has no opportunity of notices about the landfill making changes. They can go right over the people that live here without them ever knowing.”

In 2007, two public hearings held independently without participation by PVT Land Company allowed DOH members and Nanakuli residents to discuss the landfill’s impact on the community. Over 30 residents in attendance testified about the amount of dust that blows onto residential properties, due particularly to the landfill’s height that exceeds surrounding fencing, and health concerns from asbestos dumping.

In the initial Asbestos National Emission Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants rule promulgated in 1973, a distinction was made between building materials that would readily release asbestos fibers when damaged and those materials that were unlikely to result in significant fiber release, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). The terms “friable” and “non-friable” were used to make this distinction. EPA has since determined that, if severely damaged, friable materials can release significant amounts of hazardous asbestos fibers. Examples of friable materials include sprayed fireproofing on structural steelwork or thermal insulation on pipes.

A non-friable asbestos material is one in which the asbestos fibers are bound or locked into the material’s matrix, so that the fibers are not readily released. Such a material would present a risk for fiber release only when it is subject to significant abrasion through activities such as sanding or cutting with electric power tools. Examples of non-friable asbestos products include vinyl asbestos floor tiles, acoustic ceiling tiles, and asbestos cement products.

All friable asbestos-contaminated material accepted at the PVT landfill site are required to be double-bagged or double-wrapped with plastic before being delivered. Asbestos waste is accepted only on Tuesdays and Thursdays with a 24-hour prior notice and disposed into designated containment pits, unless arrangements are made for extended delivery times. Non-friable asbestos is also accepted for disposal.

Three major health effects associated with asbestos exposure include lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis—a progressive, long-term disease of the lungs.

At one of the public meetings held in October 2007, Deputy Director of Environmental Health Lawrence Lau responded to community concerns. Lau said that it was best for residents to work directly with PVT Land Company and to send complaints to a direct hotline with PVT at (808) 668-1869. He said levels of chemicals found in soil samples in the area had no significant amounts of hazardous materials or metals. Lau encouraged residents to see their physicians when it came to health problems and to document it. He also suggested that residents continue to try and do as much as possible to remain healthy individually. Lau said that the DOH could go as far as revoking the landfill permits from PVT, but also noted that it was a long process.

Since the 2007 meetings, Teruya sent letters to DOH asking for further public hearings and for more information on the PVT landfill.

“We will seek community comments even though public notification of and a hearing on a permit application or draft permit for PVT is not required by law,” said Lau in a response letter. “DOH does care about he community. My staff has conducted many inspections of the facility to ensure that PVT complies with its permit.”

PVT’s operation permit, which expired on February 28, has been under an administrative extension through DOH, which has not yet finalized the application in order for it to be officially reviewed. The application for a permit extension would renew PVT’s existing permit and allow the landfill to extend in height and receive shredded construction debris.

In section 8 of the permit application, which relates to the impact of the landfill on public health and the environment, PVT Land Company stated: “PVT plans to hold a public hearing or public informational meeting regarding the permit renewal. The hearing and meeting will be coordinated with the Nanakuli Neighborhood Board. Minutes will be forwarded to DOH as a supplement to the this permit renewal application.”

State Representative Karen Awana, who represents Nanakuli, assured residents that action would be taken, including surveying community members to record concerns. Awana recently met with Lau and DOH director Chiyome Fukino in March to talk about community health concerns. A spokesperson for Awana said PVT Land Company agreed with DOH to hold a meeting that would hear public input and that they intend to schedule the meeting as soon as the application is finalized.

Promises aren’t enough, Teruya said. She would like to see a hearing process required by law for all landfills like PVT.

“What we are mainly trying to do right now, what we want is the State to produce a resolution or bill that will allow public hearings on any kind of change on [all] landfills—make it mandatory,” Teruya said. “When [the State] did the Waimanalo Gulch, they went through numerous hearings. The State needs to put in a bill that makes it something like that, where it’s required.”

For more information, visit http://sites.google.com/site/donaldhutton02/nanakulipvtlandfillmeeting2.

April 5, 2010

UH Law Forum: Environmental Justice in Wai`anae

Environmental Law Program Colloquium Series

William S. Richardson School of Law

Please join us on Tuesday, April 6, 2010

for an Evening Colloquium, starting at 5:30 p.m.

Moot Court Room

Jarman Fellowship Colloquium:

Environmental Justice in Wai`anae

In a move strongly opposed by some community groups, developers are seeking to build an industrial park on fertile agricultural land in Wai`anae. The project will require the City and County of Honolulu to alter dramatically the Wai`anae Community Sustainability Plan, which now confines industrial uses to lands along Farrington Highway. Wai`anae has long been used for landfills, military bombing exercises, and other projects that substantially harm the environment. The citizens see the industrial park as yet another high-impact project and have called on the City and County to keep all industrial uses focused along the highway, as the current sustainability plan does. But under pressure from the developers, the City and County’s consultant has drafted a new plan featuring a stark purple spot designating industrial use in the middle of a sea of green agricultural land. The Mayor’s office is expected to put forward this “purple-spot plan” for approval by the Honolulu City Council. Come hear the perspective of Wai`anae Coast residents who are concerned that this proposal conflicts with their community’s planning process.

Walterbea Aldeguer

life-long Wai`anae Coast resident and advocate for perpetuating Wai`anae’s rural community lifestyle

Kamuela Enos

Wai`anae Coast resident and staff at MA’O Organic Farms, the only commercial organic farm on Oahu, located in Wai`anae

[Also, Alice Greenwood and Lucy Gay will be speaking.]

This ELP Colloquium was organized by 2009 Jarman Fellow 2L Stewart Yerton and his summer fellowship sponsor Marti Townsend ’05, executive director of KAHEA and ELP alumna. KAHEA advocates for the proper stewardship of our resources and for social responsibility by promoting multi-cultural understanding and environmental justice.

`Ono pupu will be provided to the first 20 students, staff, and faculty!

Prof. Antolini, ELP Director & Assoc. Dean Casey Jarman, Host & the ELP Research Associates

Denise E. Antolini

Professor & Director, Environmental Law Program

P (808) 956-6238 | E antolini@hawaii.edu | W www.hawaii.edu/elp | Faculty Profile

University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa • William S. Richardson School of Law • 2515 Dole Street, Room 207B • Honolulu, HI 96822-2328

December 4, 2009

Army will use robots to clear munitions from ‘Ordnance Reef’

http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20091204_Army_enlists_robots_to_clear_munitions_near_Pokai_Bay.html

Army enlists robots to clear munitions near Pokai Bay

The Ordnance Reef project also will study the long-term effects on the area’s sea life

By Gregg K. Kakesako

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Dec 04, 2009

The Army will undertake an unprecedented $2.5 million underwater robotics demonstration project beginning in October designed to remove or destroy up to 1,500 conventional munitions dumped off Pokai Bay.

Tad Davis, the Army’s deputy assistant secretary for the environment, safety and occupational health, said the Ordnance Reef project will cost $6 million and also includes studying the long-term effects on aquatic life and regenerating coral reefs in the area.

The $6 million does not include another $1.6 million being spent by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which placed four underwater sensors at the dump site in July. The sensors will record the speed and direction of ocean currents over a year to determine where munitions materials would go if they were ever released.

Davis met with the Waianae and Nanakuli neighborhood boards last night to review the situation at Ordnance Reef as well as the ongoing effort to clean up the training range at Makua Valley to allow more access to cultural sites in the area.

The Army stopped live-fire training in the 4,190-acre valley in 2004, pending completion of the environmental impact statement in June. However, it has conducted other training exercises that do not require the use of ammunition.

A federal judge said last month the Army will have to show that maneuvers in the Leeward valley would not contaminate ocean resources or damage cultural sites.

Davis said preliminary results of a series of tests sampling the water and sediment in Ordnance Reef earlier this year show “no high levels of metal.”

“It will be a couple of months before we get the results of tests on fish and limu,” Davis said.

The conventional munitions — as opposed to chemical or nuclear ordnance — ranges from .50-caliber or smaller ammunition to 50- to 100-pound bombs and 105 mm projectiles. Many of the bombs and shells have been in the water so long that they have been become part of the reef.

Davis said the Army wants to clear away dumped weapons from the shore to nearly a mile out, up to a depth of 120 feet.

It will be “a synchronized effort” to remove the munitions and destroy them so that the Army will not have to store them, Davis said.

“There are no immediate plans to detonate munitions that are embedded in the coral reef,” Davis said, “but it is certainly on our list of options.”

October 12, 2009

Premier documentary: Blue Tarp City – houseless in Wai’anae

Premier of Blue Tarp City, a documentary film about the houseless in Wai’anae. Blue Tarp City takes a look at how the Wai’anae native Hawaiian houseless community faces disempowerment and serves to recognize their struggle to exist on the edges of society juxtaposed against post-card beaches and palm trees.

Friday, October 16th, 2009 at 5:45 pm at the Dole Cannery Theaters. You can purchase tix on-line for the shorts “show” http://hawaii.bside.com/2009/films/bluetarpcity_hawaii2009;jsessionid=A8A3F9D1216628358EF68CA3246FCE5F

Watch the trailer:

August 3, 2009August 3, 2009

Homeless or internally displaced peoples?

Most of these houseless families are Kanaka Maoli (Native Hawaiian). It would be more historically accurate to describe them as landless or internally displaced peoples, uprooted from ancestral homelands by America’s taking of Hawaiian lands, ‘collateral damage’ of U.S. occupation. The eviction of the houseless from the beaches is only moving them further into the bush. Meanwhile the government is not building new shelter or affordable housing. So the

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Posted on: Monday, August 3, 2009

Hawaii’s homeless, rousted from parks, now living in remote areas

Many believe – incorrectly – that police lack jurisdiction there

By Will Hoover
Advertiser Staff Writer

Remote, unimproved and isolated O’ahu beaches have become the newest homeless refuge for some of those forced to vacate Wai’anae Coast park encampments in recent months.

With fewer beach parks available, homeless camps are spreading to unimproved coastal stretches – with Ma’ili Point and an area beyond Kea’au Beach Park chief among the sites.

These areas are increasingly favored by homeless who want no part of the shelter system. That’s because of an incorrect perception that these locations are outside the jurisdiction of Honolulu police enforcing the effort to keep reclaimed city beaches free of tent city populations.

While homeless-service workers say the number of tent dwellers has increased in these locations, precise figures have been elusive. A City & County of Honolulu Point-in-Time Count of Homeless conducted in May noted that volunteers along the Wai’anae Coast did not survey “homeless individuals residing in areas that they felt were unsafe to visit.”

Some unimproved and secluded beach locations present additional health and sanitation risks as more tent dwellers move in and take over. And police report that a recent rise in crime at Kea’au Beach Park and the bush area beyond could be a result of overcrowding.

“We’re discussing what we can do when they congregate on our beaches,” said Russ Saito, homeless-solutions coordinator for the state, referring to a bush area on unimproved city state, and private lands in Makaha with a reputation so fearsome it’s often referred to as “the wild west.”

“In the area past Kea’au Beach Park, it’s hard even for us to ask our outreach providers to go out there. Because many of them are women, and that’s not exactly the safest environment.”

Utu Langi, who in addition to running the Next Step shelter in Kaka’ako, feeds Wai’anae Coast homeless on weekends through his program Hawai’i Helping the Hungry Have Hope, said he has noticed the growing population of unsheltered people in isolated coastal areas.

“The natural reaction to the closing of these parks is that they (homeless folks) hide out,” said Langi. “They tend to find places that are kind of hard to access. When if comes down to our trying to provide for some of their needs, it’s pretty challenging.”

More than two years ago, the City and County of Honolulu adopted a strategy to clean up and reclaim city beach parks along the Wai’anae Coast taken over by an explosion of tent dwellers made homeless largely by rapidly rising home prices beginning around 2003.

The strategy became feasible after Hawai’i Gov. Linda Lingle passed an emergency proclamation that allowed the state to fast-track an emergency and transitional homeless shelter system along the Leeward Coast.

Once that system was in place, city police began systematically giving homeless beach people four weeks’ notice to leave a particular beach park by a certain date, after which it would be closed to the public while work crews cleaned and improved the facilities.

When a park reopened, signs were posted stating it would be closed nightly from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m. – making it difficult for tent dwellers to regain a foothold.

Since October 2006, hundreds of beach dwellers on the Wai’anae Coast have been displaced as city work crews have conducted park improvement projects at more than half a dozen major beach parks.

In June, a large and long-standing encampment at Depots Beach in Nanakuli disappeared. Two weeks ago, city crews shut down Lahilahi Park in Makaha after the last of some three dozen homeless people pulled up stakes and departed on July 19.

Tulutulu Toa, homeless-ness specialist for the Wai’anae Community Outreach program, said 20 of those at Lahilahi have signed up at the state’s emergency homeless shelter in Wai’anae. As for the rest, there’s no telling where they could be.

“Some of the individuals move, but we don’t know where they move to,” she said. “They move in with friends or relatives, or they move to another beach.”

More and more, they are moving to an area between Lualualei Naval Road in Nanakuli and Ma’ili Point along Farrington Highway.

One person who moved there after being evacuated from another beach park is Renee Barrett, 47. Barrett says she has spent much of her life in prison and admits she’s had problems with drug and alcohol abuse. That’s in the past, she insists. Now, she wants only to stay on the beach.

“This is my lifestyle,” said Barrett. “I refuse to go in the shelters. It would be like I’m institutionalized again. I’ve maxed out my time.”

If she’s ever forced to leave the water’s edge, she’ll find shelter on somebody’s porch, she said. Or she’ll sleep on the sidewalk: “I know how to survive.”

According to Toa, some move to unimproved beaches because they believe those are outside Honolulu Police Department jurisdiction.

“Yes, that’s correct,” said Toa, who believes the Nanakuli to Ma’ili Point stretch will be evacuated and cleaned by the city and county before the end of this year. If and when that happens, Kea’au Beach Park in Makaha – already the most crowded and remote beach park population on the Wai’anae Coast, and a growing concern for police – could explode and spill over into the vast thicket known as “the wild west.”

Toa tells tent dwellers she invites into the shelter system that one day all beaches along the Wai’anae Coast – including those in the farthest reaches – will be evacuated, cleaned and thereafter closed overnight. Whether there would be enough shelter space to accommodate the waiting homeless, were they to decide they even wanted it, is anybody’s guess.

And it is highly unlikely that more shelter space will be built, given the state’s budget crisis, Saito said.

Meanwhile, time seems to be running out for those who sleep under the stars. Honolulu Police Maj. Michael Moses warned that no beaches along the Wai’anae Coast are outside police jurisdiction.

“Ma’ili Point is actually on unimproved city and park land,” said Moses. “And we have jurisdiction at state parks – different rules, though. We can enforce state park rules, which actually are stricter than the city park rules.”

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com.

Source: http://www.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/20090803/NEWS01/908030345/Hawaii+s+homeless++rousted+from+parks++now+living+in+remote+areas

July 22, 2009

NOAA monitors munitions dumped off Wai’anae

NOAA to track munitions in sea

Monitors at weapons dumpsites will check environmental effects

By Gregg K. Kakesako

POSTED: 01:30 a.m. HST, Jul 22, 2009

Nine ocean current monitoring sensors will be placed off Pokai Bay at two World War II weapons dumpsites Friday as part of the Pentagon’s continuing assessment of the potential effects of sea-disposed munitions.

Tony Reyer, a scientist with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said yesterday that four sensors will be located at the conventional weapons dumpsite a few miles off Waianae known as ordnance reef. Two will be placed in 300 feet of water, and another two at 50 feet.

Five others will be anchored with 3,000-pound weights in 8,000 feet of water at a deep-sea chemical weapons munition disposal site 10 miles west of Pokai Bay. A string of sensors will be linked at depths of 40, 492 and 1,476 feet.

Kekaula Hudson, project manager for the Army Corps of Engineers, said the Army hopes to begin recovering some of the conventional weapons dumped at ordnance reef as early as next summer using underwater robots.

“The plan is to use a barge system,” Hudson said, “and to treat the munitions on the barge and then take the scrap metal out of the state for disposal.”

All of the sensors will be battery operated and will be in place for a year.

The sensors will record speed and direction of ocean currents to determine where they would carry munitions materials if they were ever released.

“These sensors will collect data that has not been previously available and will give us a better understanding of the ocean conditions in the area,” said Jason Rolfe, co-leader of the $1.6 million NOAA project.

The current data also will be used in other projects, Reyer added, such as coastal zone management, pollution control, tourism and search and rescue operations.

Sensors will be deployed from the 68-foot NOAA research ship Hi’ialakai, commanded by Cmdr. John Caskey, and the UH research vessel Klaus Wyrtki.

Sixty years ago, the military dumped munitions off the coast of Waianae and now the NOAA is launching a study to learn more about the potential impacts from those sites.

Reyer, who was involved in NOAA’s 2006 sampling of sediment, water and fish at ordnance reef, said the dumpsites have not caused any health problems. No explosives or related compounds were detected in the fish samples taken during the two-week survey. Most munitions are covered with coral growth.

No similar tests were done at the deep-water dumpsite, Reyer said.

Hudson said a follow-up screening at ordnance reef will take place next month.

Tad Davis, the Army’s deputy assistant secretary for the environment, safety and occupational health, said the Army will spend $3 million to remove or destroy in place up to 1,500 conventional munitions using remote underwater drones and other robotic techniques perfected by oil companies.

The weapons range from .50-caliber or smaller ammunition to 50- to 100-pound bombs and 105 mm projectiles. Many of the munitions have been in the water so long that they have been become part of the reef.

The Army’s goal is to clear the water from the shoreline to 120 feet offshore.

Source: http://www.starbulletin.com/news/20090722_NOAA_to_track_munitions_in_sea.html