Brad Edwards details his conversation with Blake Shiigi. (17 complaints today) Brad Edwards: So I just got off a 30 minute call with Blake from the Maui DOH. Here is a summary of the key points we talked about: Dept. of Ag regulates pesticide use and the DOH doesnt really know (or care since it isnt their jurisdiction) what they are spraying on the cane or how much or when, even if it is right before they burn it. There were a couple of studies done years ago by the EPA that showed pesticide and herbicide levels in the smoke below EPA guidelines so the DOH doesnt feel it is necessary to monitor for this. They are just assuming that things are the same as they were years ago and that HC&S is using the same chemicals in the same amounts as when those studies were done. The DOH has two air quality monitoring stations on Maui (one of them is in Kihei) and he suggested going to the State Legislature to ask for more money if the public wants more monitoring. When asked if the DOH could write it into the permit that HC&S pay for additional monitoring stations, he said that he didnt know if that was possible. Lisa Young, his supervisor on Oahu, issues the permit and there is no requirement to have public input....she may or may not be willing to meet with the community before she reauthorizes the permit but she is not required to do so. I asked him to let me know if she would be willing to meet and he agreed to get back to me. According to Blake, there is nothing in the permit that specifically prohibits the burning of wet cane. HC&S is supposed to measure moisture levels before they burn but there is no specific moisture level requirement anyway. Finally and most importantly, according to Blake, as long as the smoke plume goes up to a certain altitude then HC&S is in compliance....in almost every case the smoke plume inevitably collapses but as long as it goes up initially then it is a good burn. Even if the plume collapses and inundates all of Kihei with smoke, according the the DOH and the permit that they issue, there is no violation. When asked he admitted that he has not issued a violation in the past six months. He also said that most of the complaints that he gets do not have enough information to go on....people only state that there is smoke but do not give a location or provide any additional information. [karens note: this is an absolute lie] He suggested if the public wants to see change that people need to take it up with the State Legislature, implying that the DOH is essentially powerless to do anything. The last words are mine, but that is the impression I got after our phone call. The DOH is powerless to do anything about cane smoke and there really isnt any conceivable situation that would warrant a citation to be issued since as long as the smoke goes up it doesnt matter when or where it comes down. Blake was nice on the phone and I get the sense that he just doesnt have the power to do anything based on the way that Lisa Young (Oahu DOH supervisor) and the DOH staff write the yearly permit. The permit is currently up for review so please call Lisa Young on Oahu at (808) 586-4200 to ask her to come to Maui to meet with community members to hear OUR input BEFORE she reissues HC&Ss Burn permit for 2015! Call your state representative and the Governors office as well and demand that the community on Maui gets to give their input BEFORE the new permit is issued by the DOH.
Posted on: Tue, 09 Dec 2014 01:55:32 +0000
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