Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Sept. 22, 2013

“WE WANT TO ENSURE THAT THE PUBLIC SAFETY and public health is paramount,” Mayor Billy Kenoi told Tom Callis, of Hawai`i Tribune-Herald regarding plans for a study on health effects of geothermal production. “We need to determine with accuracy and specify exactly what harm if any is being caused.” 

      The study was called for by a group who put together a report called the Geothermal Public Health Assessment.
      According to Callis, the group recommended that a health study address four hypotheses: central nervous system degradation will be higher in a sample population as a result of peak exposure to hydrogen sulfide; central nervous system degradation and other health effects from hydrogen sulfide will be greater in areas of highest exposures; contamination of heavy metals and chemicals from geothermal development may have impacted drinking water supplies; and residents who live closest to Puna Geothermal Venture may be more likely to show anxiety disorder symptoms.
      The group also recommended increasing monitoring, evaluating effects on drinking water and ocean environment, ensuring there is no contamination from the closed HGP-A well, strengthening public communication and alerts and requiring that geothermal developers should conduct a health and water resource baseline study before any more drilling occurs.
      See more at hawaiitribuneherald.com.
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“RIGHT-WING RADICALS IN THE HOUSE are going to the mat to throw millions of people off their health insurance – and we need to stop them,” said U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz. He was referring to the the Republican-led U.S. House passing a budget last week "that would defund Obamacare. They are threatening to shut down the federal government unless we enact their radical agenda before the Sept‌. 30 budget deadline – setting up a showdown that threatens our economy, our communities and our lives. 

      “This latest attempt to defund Obamacare will never pass the Senate or be signed by the President. House Republicans again voted against the interests of the American people, risking our economic stability just to prove a point. There have been times in history when both parties are equally to blame for gridlock, but this is not one of them. If Speaker Boehner would stand up to Tea Party extremism and put forward a clean Continuing Resolution, then we can avoid this self-inflicted crisis,” stated Schatz in one of his campaign press releases.
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INDIVIDUALS WITH CONNECTIONS TO MONSANTO are defending the Farmers Assurance Provision attached to a budget bill in the U.S. Congress. Critics of the provision, including Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, call it the Monsanto Protection Act. Gabbard said the provision allows biotechnology companies ignore regulations and sell genetically engineered foods even after a court orders them to stop, or when there isn’t yet evidence the foods are healthy or environmentally safe. 

      Alan Takemoto, Monsanto’s community affairs manager in Hawai`i, told Civil Beat, “Basically, it provides farmers assurance that what they planted, they can harvest. I know (GMO critics) have co-opted the name, but there are a lot of other organizations that have supported the provisions, like American Farm Bureau, the American Soybean Association and the National Corn Growers Association.
      Alicia Maluafiti, executive director of the Hawai`i Crop Improvement Association, a trade organization for biotech companies, said the provision “allows farmers who invested thousands of dollars into growing crops — biotech crops — to continue to harvest those crops despite the onslaught of frivolous lawsuits by environmental activists, which can take years for the courts to decide.”

      She disagreed with the argument that the provision circumvents courts: “The U.S. Department of Agriculture currently has the authority as part of their regulatory powers, but the problem is that the lawsuits tie the hands of the regulatory agencies, and the only people getting hurt are the farmers — not Monsanto,” she said.
      “The bottom line is that farmers have a choice of crops they want to grow, and they have a choice of seeds to purchase. Sometimes they are Monsanto seeds, and sometimes they are not. So the (provision) would protect farmers across the board regardless of what they grow.”
      See more at civilbeat.com.
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