My heart sank when I read U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard’s comments in West Hawaii Today regarding the National Park Service’s petition to protect the Keauhou aquifer through designation — the aquifer that provides water to much of the North Kona region. I’ve been involved in local land use-protection issues for decades, including taking part in the Kona Community Development Plan, first as a founding steering committee member and then on the action committee. I can assure Rep. Gabbard and other designation naysayers that purported threats to our regional plan posed by designation pale in comparison to ignoring continued abuse of our water supply for shortsighted development.
An orchestrated campaign against designation has been coming from the development community that wants nothing to interfere with the paradigm it’s enjoyed, largely unhindered, for decades. That developer-driven approach to land use resulted in such glaringly insufficient infrastructure, sprawl, environmental degradation and traffic jams that, 10 years ago, the public outcry for smarter planning reached a crescendo. In 2008, community resolve — with support from the Mayor Harry Kim administration and County Council — led to a visionary, community-driven blueprint for development of the region (the KCDP) becoming law.
An overwhelming majority of the thousands of stakeholders who took part in the KCDP process — developers, environmentalists, landowners, realtors, cultural practitioners, teenagers, farmers, teachers … the list goes on — had at least one unifying goal. They wanted to help create a better future for North and South Kona based on “win-win,” smart growth strategies. It had become clear that sustainable development based on respect and earnest protection of public trust resources was necessary for island communities to remain healthy in the long run.
Contrary to Rep. Gabbard’s fear that designation could threaten regional planning, the opposite is true. The first of the KCDP’s eight guiding principles is to “Protect Kona’s natural and cultural resources.” Nothing, in fact, fits better with the KCDP mandate than protecting the region’s aquifer through the more transparent permitting process that designation provides. For someone whose voting record speaks to an understanding of the virtues of democratic process and environmental protection, Rep. Gabbard’s opposition to a protocol proved to be of great benefit to islands such as Maui and Oahu is hard to understand.
Hawaii’s congressional representatives, Hawaii Island Mayor Billy Kenoi and others who oppose a sensible, proactive approach to water protection aren’t hearing the voices of Kona’s residents. Instead, they’re listening to those who say “Wait until it’s too late.” But why wait for a crisis when we know that Kona’s population and demand for water is growing? It always costs more to correct mistakes later than sooner. Elected and business leaders can choose to help Kona’s residents by giving support to proaction like the National Park Service’s water designation petition offers.
If residents, business owners and other stakeholders want to determine the long-term health of our region’s environmental, cultural, recreational and economic health, rather than let short-term profiteers make those decisions, now is the time to speak up. Write via our government officials websites or call Rep. Tulsi Gabbard at 445-7434; Sen. Brian Schatz at 523-2061; Sen. Mazie Hirono at 202- 224-6361; and Mayor Billy Kenoi at cohmayor@co.hawaii.hi.us or 961-8211. Ask them to support the National Park Service’s petition to protect the Keauhou aquifer through designation so that we don’t miss this great opportunity to protect our shared water supply.
Janice Palma-Glennie is a resident of Kailua-Kona.
Viewpoint articles are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily the opinion of West Hawaii Today.