Ten years ago, on June 26, 2013, Kaua‘i County Council Bill 2491, introduced by myself and the late council Member Timothy Bynum, passed its first reading.
The council chambers were packed with an estimated 1,000 people overflowing on to the lawn outside. Hundreds of workers from the four chemical companies concerned about their jobs testified in opposition. Hundreds of other residents concerned about their health offered testimony in support.
At 9:30 p.m., after six hours of testimony, the council approved the bill and scheduled a public hearing for July 31.
Bill 2491 required Kaua‘i’s largest users of restricted use pesticides (RUP), including DuPont Pioneer, Syngenta, DOW AgroSciences, BASF and others — to disclose their pesticide use, and established pesticide-free buffer zones around sensitive areas. It also banned open-air testing of experimental GMO crops, and instituted a temporary moratorium on future expansion pending an environmental impact statement.
The companies claimed the sky was falling, that Bill 2491 would force them to leave and people would lose their jobs. Advocates claimed the negative health and environmental impacts were significant and increased regulation was urgently needed.
The narrative was set, and the battle was on.
Thousands marched, carried signs and submitted testimony. The July 31 public hearing filled Kaua‘i Veterans Center to capacity. At subsequent meetings folks literally spent the night waiting in line outside the Historic County Building to ensure a seat inside the council chambers.
At the time, corn fields covered what seemed to be every square inch of agricultural land on half the island. There was corn along the highway by the airport, across from Kukui Grove Center and surrounding Kaua‘i Community College. To the south, even at Maha‘ulepu, the GMO corn fields flourished. From Hanapepe all the way to Polihale, mauka to makai — everywhere there was corn.
This was GMO corn, experimental corn, herbicide resistant corn, corn grown for ethanol, for high fructose corn syrup and for cattle feed. Corn shipped out in boxes labeled “unfit for human consumption.” Corn grown with federal permits stating “not approved for release into the environment.” Corn, corn, everywhere, and not a kernel to eat.
The corn grew year-round, the continental equivalent of three growing seasons, using three times the pesticides, herbicides and fungicides.
Westside residents complained of the smell and sometimes faint but foul taste of chemical. Families were closing their windows to escape the unnatural odor blowing in from the fields.
There seemed to be more people dealing with cancer and respiratory issues.
Doctors reported what they believed were greater incidents of heart defects among newborns.
At Waimea Canyon Middle School, there were multiple incidents of children being overcome with nausea. The industry denied their spraying of pesticides in adjacent fields was the cause.
On Nov. 16, 2013, Bill 2491, requiring disclosure and buffer zones, was passed into law.
The chemical companies then sued Kaua‘i County and won. The court ruled only the state, not the county, could regulate pesticides.
Advocates then went to the Legislature and won passage of a new state law requiring RUP disclosure, and a first-in-the-nation ban of chlorpyrifos (a particularly nasty pesticide). Modest buffer zones around schools statewide were also put into place.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, since 2013 the agrochemical companies have steadily reduced their presence in Hawai‘i, and today their footprint is about 50 percent of what it was then.
Most would call this a win.
Mahalo to those who stepped up to make it happen, and who continue to step up to fight on behalf of health and environment.
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Gary Hooser is the former vice-chair of the Democratic Party of Hawai‘i, and served eight years in the state Senate, where he was majority leader. He also served for eight years on the Kaua‘i County Council, and was the former director of the state Office of Environmental Quality Control.
