Emergency proclamation covering nene stays in place

Gov. Neil Abercrombie will not withdraw an emergency proclamation issued in April to help relocate a nesting colony of Hawaiian nene geese near Lihue Airport, his spokeswoman said Tuesday.

The emergency proclamation suspended more than two dozen state procurement, public works, land use and environmental laws to relocate more than 400 nene, which the governor believes pose a threat to public safety because they could collide with aircraft.

The Sierra Club Hawaii chapter and several other environmental and cultural groups asked the governor on Monday to withdraw the emergency proclamation on nene relocation and an emergency proclamation on unexploded ordnance issued in June. The groups contend that the governor misused his emergency powers by invoking a state law meant to respond to enemy attack and to natural and man-made disasters.

Donalyn Dela Cruz, an Abercrombie spokeswoman, said Monday that the governor would not withdraw the emergency proclamation on unexploded ordnance. On Tuesday she said the governor would not withdraw the emergency proclamation on nene relocation.

"The governor will not rescind this executive proclamation," Dela Cruz said in a statement.

State House Majority Leader Blake Oshiro (D, Halawa-Aiea) said lawmakers might revisit parts of a bill vetoed three years ago that would have limited the governor’s emergency powers. Lawmakers pursued the bill after then-Gov. Linda Lingle used her emergency powers to help build homeless shelters on the Leeward coast.

The bill would have required governors, among other things, to determine that tangible and measurable harm or damage is possible from an emergency and that disaster relief could not otherwise be achieved through legislative action.

"However, we first need to discuss this matter more fully amongst our colleagues, with the Senate and the administration to determine whether legislation is necessary," Oshiro said in a statement. "If they are going to be implementing internal controls and notice, which was what we were told, that may mitigate the need to change the law."