This letter does not state support nor opposition to a drag strip being built in West Hawaii. Our group does, however, oppose Hawaii Racing Association’s proposed Mahaiula location as one that threatens decades of work and critical Hawaiian coastline.
Kekaha Kai State Park, including Mahaiula and Maniniowali (aka Kua Bay) was the vision of Gov. John Waihee over two decades ago. After the land was publicly acquired, that vision became the shared dream of hundreds, if not thousands, of residents who took part in a years-long series of charettes to envision what the park might be like. Years of task force planning meetings followed with a diverse stakeholder group that included government representativess, community and business leaders, cultural experts, kanaka maole and grassroots and environmental organizations, including the Sierra Club Moku Loa Group.
Volunteer dedication melded with many millions of taxpayer dollars to protect this unique, irreplaceable, public space (which is directly across the highway from the proposed racing facility — not 1.5 miles away as shown on HRA’s website).
Outside of motorsport enthusiasts, people can’t imagine that a racing facility would ever be approved next to the park, no less sandwiched between it and a new university-based community (Palamanui). But they underestimate HRA’s determination and lobbying as well as the passion of racing enthusiasts who see driving to Hilo’s drag strip an inconvenience. In fact, HRA’s president recently asked for significant taxpayer funding to further the plan in that location.
Hydrocarbon pollution like fumes, oil and other toxic runoff is an inevitable by-product of motor sports that would endanger the park’s nearshore water and air quality. Night time racing is on the table, meaning that extreme lighting could scar starry skies in an area planned for camping and disrupt bird and sealife dependent upon natural cycles of light and dark. Stunning, culturally significant viewplanes would also be undermined by industrial-style development directly upslope. Along with known threats, other negative impacts on humans and the environment could occur.
With so many questions and dangers looming, why not focus on a location that doesn’t pit neighbor against neighbor — one that would preserve as much for racing enthusiasts and their ohana as for anyone in our community who appreciates the value of protected, coastal, open space? And HRA might consider shrinking the project’s massive size (planned to be five times bigger than Hilo’s drag strip and 75 acres larger than the coastal land recently acquired as a county park at Ooma) to one that would be easier to find a home for.
Our group, along with others in our community, agree that there are more compatible uses of those ceded lands. Culturally, environmentally and “Smart Growth” appropriate ideas include linking new and older communities to the shoreline with expanded hiking, biking, horseback riding trails possibly even extending mauka to connect the top of Hualalai to the coastal park. Akamai possibilities are vast, exciting and feasible on what are largely public lands.
In Kekaha Kai State Park’s Environmental Impact Statement, the Sierra Club cited a widely accepted definition of wilderness as “ … a place where the impacts of nature are greater than those of man … in this age of increased human impact, wilderness is ever more precious, rare, and difficult to find. … It’s value, is therefore, even greater, and the goal of preserving it that much more important.” Twenty years later, the value of wilderness is felt as well scientifically proven by studies that show benefits including de-stressing human psyches tasked with navigating an increasingly complex world.
In a world of bad development ideas, Kekaha Kai State Park was an extremely good one. If you’d like to help protect this public treasure — a hard won, irreplaceable public asset set aside to preserve and protect all that is valuable about coastal wilderness for future generations — you need to speak up. Sign a petition at http://petitions.moveon.org/sign/wildernesspark-and-drag?source=c.em.cp&r_by=2382796.
Write a letter to editor and online news services, and send emails to Mayor Billy Kenoi, ohmayor@hawaiicounty.gov; Rep. Nicole Lowen, replowen@Capitol.hawaii.gov; Rep. Richard Creagan, repcreagan@Capitol.hawaii.gov; Sen. Lorrain Inouye, seninouye@capitol.hawaii.gov; and Sen. Josh Green, sengreen@capitol.hawaii.gov. Tell them that a wilderness park and drag strip don’t mix!
Janice Palma-Glennie is a member of the Moku Loa Group of the Sierra Club.
Viewpoint articles are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily the opinion of West Hawaii Today.