Letters: Shut down Kahuku wind farm; Aquarium trade has economic cost

Government actions demonstrate amorality

What is amoral?

We hear the term often, but what are some examples? Is it amoral to tax the first dollar of poor people’s wages, tax basic food and medicine that everyone needs, heavily tax gasoline that working people require to get to work or tax the only income may seniors have, Social Security?

It is amoral that our highway fund is improperly used or public servants are promised retirement and medical care that cannot be provided. It is amoral to underpay our classroom teachers, to misuse the 50-plus agencies we have to manage the homeless, not address our citizen’s mental health problems, release prisoners with no safety net, and allow the Thirty Meter Telescope protesters to thumb their noses at laws, yet expect the rest of us to obey.

Our Legislature must focus on the real problems in our state and give us a belt-tightening appropriate budget that addresses these moral issues.

Gary R. Johnson

Kaneohe

Shut down Kahuku’s wind turbine project

Kanaka maoli have raised many concerns about the Na Pua Makani project, the North Shore wind farm project that is supposed to help Hawaii achieve 100% renewable energy by 2045.

This project betrays public promises made about protecting the aina.

It also runs counter to the Hawaii Tourism Authority’s goal of improving the visitor experience, while maintaining the quality of life for residents. It is located much too close to homes and schools within the community.

Wind turbines also have had adverse environmental impacts on wildlife.

The Kawailoa Wind’s turbines are known to kill ‘ope‘ape‘a, the Hawaiian hoary bat, an endangered species that is one of only two mammals native to the islands.

I urge Gov. David Ige to listen to the people, and to state Sen. Gil Riviere’s proposal to terminate the project.

Ky Anuhea

Kapolei

Aquarium trade has huge economic cost

Thank you, Star-Advertiser, for exposing the Ige administration’s total disregard for coral reef ecosystems, endemic wildlife and the Hawaii Supreme Court, as related to commercial aquarium collection.

The court ruled that stripping marine life from Hawaii reefs for the aquarium trade requires environmental review under the Hawaii Environmental Policy Act. But in 2017, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources fabricated an egregious loophole.

Still missing from the discussion: the dramatic economic cost of the status quo. Beyond Native Hawaiian spiritual, cultural and conservationist concerns, the negative economic impacts of reef wildlife extraction of millions of critters annually are unquantified, diverse and significant — far more than the fees collected from current licensees. Besides tourism businesses taking a nasty hit, so will Hawaii people who depend on subsistence fishing to put food on the table.

Robert Wintner

Kihei, Maui

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