Act to protect water supply

Senate Bill 2930 ought to be a no-brainer. It relates to eliminating the risk that the fuel stored at Red Hill might leak and destroy Honolulu’s water supply. Not even the smallest possible risk that this could happen is acceptable.

So far, there are only two heroes in this story. The first is Board of Water Supply chief Ernest Lau. When he apparently couldn’t get any authorities to address the risk, he took the courageous step to go directly to the public by sending a warning letter to every water user. I am sure that didn’t win him any friends among the powers that be.

The second hero is the Sierra Club, which did what it always does so well: Take ’em to court.

It is time for the Legislature and governor to act. And besides, what is the reason for any reluctance? Any cost will be paid with federal government money.

Richard Manetta

Wilhelmina Rise

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Recycling deposit fund was raided

Here we go again: a proposal to increase taxes on Hawaii consumers to clean up the environment and the streets of Hawaii (“If approved, a state Senate bill would increase can and bottle deposits to a dime,” Star-Advertiser, March 19).

Face the facts. The reason the public is not recycling containers is because it’s no longer convenient to do so.

When bottle bill legislation first passed, redemption centers were conven- iently located in every neighborhood. While ignoring advice from experts and the industry, our politicians assured the public the 2-cent handling fee per container on top of the nickel in unclaimed deposits would create a fund to reimburse redemption centers, many of which are now out of business; fund an ad campaign to encourage the public to recycle; and reduce litter.

Instead, the fund was raided multiple times by the Legislature for as much as $10 million.

Do you see lots of containers on the street? Our exploding homeless popu- lation is taking care of that problem. Don’t be fooled by another money grab.

Dan Whitford

Kailua

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Redemptions rise with 10-cent fee

The facts are clear. States with stricter recycling policies have increased redemption rates.

Michigan leads with a 93 percent redemption average from 2014-2016.

Following Michigan with the 10-cent deposit fee is Oregon, which is already showing an increase from 64 percent to 82 percent in the last quarter of last year.

Stronger incentives are known to increase return rates, keeping pollution out of our waterways and from overflowing landfills.

Plastic bottles especially are known environmental pollutants with 500-year breakdown rates.

In all efforts to reduce environmental impacts and keep recycling strong throughout the islands, the increased bottle deposit fee from 5 cents to 10 cents is the most effective answer. The journey to change begins here.

Marissa Kunsch

Intern, Sierra Club of Hawaii

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Cartoonist left enduring legacy

The obituary for Dick Adair was a fine tribute to a great man (“Cartoonist remembered for dry sense of humor,” Star-Advertiser, March 14).

A Dick Adair cartoon in a 1982 issue of The Honolulu Advertiser encouraged students to strive to attain goals. I wrote to thank him for caring about our youth and told him that the cartoon from the newspaper was tacked to the bulletin board in my classroom.

What a surprise it was to receive an inscribed, large copy of the cartoon. It remained on the wall at the front of my classroom for many years.

Thank you, Dick Adair, for the wit and wisdom in your editorial cartoons. They will be an enduring legacy.

Irvin Sasaki

Ala Moana

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Nothing wrong with ‘konnichiwa’

I don’t know U.S. Interior Secretary Ryan Zinke, but I seriously doubt that he was trying to offend U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa by using the polite Japanese greeting, “konnichiwa,” for good afternoon (“Zinke defends ‘konnichiwa’ comment to Hanabusa,” Star-Advertiser, Top News, March 18).

It is not “blatantly insensitive” or “flippant and juvenile,” as described by other equally thin-skinned politicians.

Zinke is a combat veteran, a wartime U.S. Navy Seal commander, who recognized Hanabusa’s ethnicity. If she had been sharper, she might have responded with a similarly polite greeting in German. Does she know whether or not his grandparents were interned?

I recognize that she is always campaigning for yet another political office and got some free publicity. But does she now feel that all Hawaiians should be offended when greeted by a non-Hawaiian who says “aloha ‘auinala,” the equally polite Hawaiian equivalent to “konnichiwa?”

After all, all of their ancestors lost their sovereignty to foreigners.

Keith Haugen

Nuuanu