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    Marine Monument Nominated as World Heritage Site

    President George W. Bush at a news conference today in Washington, D.C. announced the nomination of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) World Heritage Centre for consideration to the World Heritage List.

    The Monument, which includes the islands and waters of the northwestern Hawaiian archipelago, is the nation’s largest protected area. Also being nominated to the World Heritage List is Mount Vernon, Virginia, home of America’s first president, George Washington. These are the United States’ first nominations to be forwarded for consideration on the World Heritage List since 1994.

    “The nomination of Papahānaumokuākea Marine National Monument recognizes its exceptional geological and ecological processes, its provision of critical habitat for some of the world’s most endangered species, and its sacred place in the history and culture of Native Hawaiian people,” said Governor Linda Lingle.

    “World Heritage sites truly belong to all people of the world. They incorporate the most universal and significant aspects of natural and cultural heritage as well as legacy of the past and present for future generations,” Governor Lingle added.

    The United States will now submit its nominations to the UNESCO World Heritage Centre. Following the submission of the nomination package, Papahānaumokuākea will undergo an 18-month review by the advisory bodies to UNESCO World Heritage Centre, International Union for Conservation of Nature for its natural resource heritage, and by the International Council on Monuments and Sites for its cultural resource heritage. The final nominations would be considered by the World Heritage Committee in the summer of 2010.

    If inscribed under the World Heritage Convention, Papahānaumokuākea would join a globally exclusive list of sites with outstanding universal value that are unique and diverse – such as East Africa’s Serengeti, the Egyptian Pyramids, Australia’s Great Barrier Reef, Hawai‘i Volcanoes National Park, and the Galapagos Islands.

    Papahānaumokuākea is the first site nominated with cultural connections to the sea, and adds to underrepresented World Heritage sites from the Pacific. It would be the U.S.’s first marine site, and the world’s first cultural seascape. If inscribed, it will become only the 26th World Heritage Site to be recognized globally for both its natural and cultural significance, out of 878 sites currently on the list.

    Papahānaumokuākea is being nominated as a “mixed” site (for both its natural and cultural resource values) because of its unique geology, ecology, biology, Native Hawaiian cultural heritage, and its significance to the world.

    Native Hawaiians view the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands (NWHI) as an integral part of the archipelago and a deeply spiritual location. Physical remnants of wahi kūpuna (ancestral places) and oral traditions provide evidence of the various past uses of the islands and surrounding ocean by Native Hawaiians both as a home and a place of worship.

    The Monument contains one of the world’s most significant marine and island ecosystems, representing a major stage of the earth’s evolutionary history, and habitats where rare and endangered plant and animal species still survive. It is home to more than 7,000 marine species, a quarter of which are found nowhere else on Earth, the largest nesting albatross colony in the world, and the primary habitat for critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals and threatened green turtles.

    The NWHI provide habitat for 23 threatened and endangered species, most found nowhere else in the world, such as the Nihoa Finch and a species of loulu or palm called Pritchardia remota.

    The beaches and waters constitute the foraging and nesting grounds for nearly the entire population of the critically endangered Hawaiian Monk Seal, and 90 percent of the threatened Hawaiian Green Turtle.

    Over 14 million seabirds nest in the islands and forage in the waters of the Monument, making the NWHI the world’s largest tropical seabird rookery.

    UNESCO’s World Heritage List protects and preserves natural and cultural heritage sites of “outstanding universal value” as determined by the standards and process established under the World Heritage Convention, the most widely adopted international agreement for the conservation of natural and preservation of culture.

    World Heritage Sites currently include 878 sites from 144 countries – 679 cultural, 174 natural, and 25 mixed natural and cultural sites.

    Additional information about the nomination process is posted at http://whc.unesco.org.

    Tobacco firm on Kauai fined for pesticide use

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    The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently fined Vector Tobacco Inc. $65,040 for allegedly misusing pesticides and failing to comply with federal pesticide worker safety laws. Vector Tobacco, a subsidiary of Vector Tobacco Group of Durham, NC, allegedly misused six pesticides during their application at its agricultural research facility in Kekaha, Kauai, in 2005 and 2006. And on 93 occasions, Vector Tobacco failed to follow label directions intended to protect workers from exposure to pesticides, in violation of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act.

    “Employers of agricultural workers must ensure their employees are provided with information and protections that minimize the risk of potential exposure to pesticides,” said Katherine Taylor, Associate Director of the EPA’s Communities and Ecosystems Division for the Pacific Southwest region. “Failure to provide these necessary safeguards is considered a serious violation.”

    The six pesticides were Terramaster 4EC, Nemacur 3, Lorsban 4E, Prowl 3.3EC, Devrinol 50DF, and Ridomil Gold EC.

    During the pesticide applications in 2005 and 2006, Vector Tobacco failed to provide its workers and pesticide handlers with required protective equipment, pesticide information, decontamination supplies, safety training, and notification that pesticides had been applied. These safeguards are required by the federal Worker Protection Standard, which aims to reduce the risk of pesticide injuries to agricultural workers.

    Vector Tobacco also failed to prevent workers from entering areas where pesticides had recently been applied, and subsequently denied them prompt transportation to a medical facility after these workers reported averse health effects due to the pesticide exposure.

    The Hawaii Department of Agriculture discovered the violations during inspections performed in March and June of 2006. Worker complaints triggered the initial investigation. Since the inspections, Vector Tobacco has shut down the Kekaha facility.

    Before selling or distributing any pesticide in the United States, companies must register the pesticide with the EPA and include on the pesticide labeling directions for use and other information necessary to protect human health and the environment. Federal law requires that agricultural employers comply with these labeling directions during pesticide applications to protect their workers from occupational exposure.

    For more information on pesticide enforcement and the Worker Protection Standard, please visit the EPA’s Web sites:

    EPA fines company for Kauai pesticides

    HONOLULU – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently announced a settlement with Syngenta Seeds, Inc., for $17,550 in fines for alleged violations of federal pesticide regulations. The Hawaii violations are part of a larger action totaling of over $284,000 in penalties.

    The settlement is part of three separate administrative complaints totaling $284,050 in civil penalties with Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc., and Syngenta Seeds, Inc., for violations of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide and Rodenticide Act. EPA Region 4 in Atlanta consolidated the violations throughout the United States to emphasize the need for quality control in all aspects of pesticide production and distribution.

    The EPA found alleged pesticide worker protection violations by Syngenta Seeds, Inc., in Kekaha, Kauai. These violations include failing to store all personal protective equipment separately from clothing and apart from pesticide-contaminated areas, and failing to post the spraying of the pesticide Liberty at its Central Notification Site.

    Syngenta Seeds, Inc. also settled alleged violations including use of a pesticide contrary to a provision of an Experimental Use Permit (EUP) issued by EPA. EPA alleged that the company had not obtained a State permit or license from the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico prior to the shipment and/or use of a corn that was the subject of the EUP.

    The other settlements include:

    • Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. agreed to pay a penalty of $196,300 for alleged violations involving two products. The settlement agreement resolved alleged violation of distributing Mesotrione Wet Paste with ingredients that differed in composition from the formula submitted to the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency. Mesotrione Wet Paste is produced in Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc’s Bucks, AL facility. The settlement agreement also resolved alleged advertising violations of the pesticide Lumax Selective Herbicide because television commercials aired in the Midwest did not include the classification that it was a restricted-use pesticide.
    • Syngenta Crop Protection, Inc. self-disclosed additional violations under EPA’s Audit Policy regarding written advertisements for restricted use pesticides and paid a penalty of $70,200.

    FIFRA regulates the sale, distribution, and use of pesticides within the United States. Importers, distributors, and retailers, are required by federal law to ensure that any pesticides they distribute have been registered with EPA and comply with FIFRA.

    For more information on pesticide regulation and enforcement, please visit: http://epa.gov/compliance/civil/fifra.

    EPA and Department of Health present awards to Hawaii County

    At a ceremony today at the Kona Outdoor Circle Education Center, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Stephen L. Johnson and the Hawaii Department of Health honored the County with the 2008 Hawaii Drinking Water State Revolving Fund Project and Clean Water State Revolving Fund Project of the Year Awards.

    Hawaii under tsunami watch after Japan quake

    UPDATE: Tsunami warning cancelled at 9:23 p.m.

    A magnitude 7.9 earthquake centered about 1,000 miles north of Japan and just off Russia’s Kuril Islands has led the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center (PTWC) to issue a tsunami watch for Hawaii, and a warning for coastal areas of Russia and Japan, as well as Midway, Wake, and the Northern Marianas islands. “It is not known that a tsunami was generated,” reads the PTWC advisory. “This warning is based only on the earthquake evaluation. An earthquake of this size has the potential to generate a destructive tsunami that can strike coastlines near the epicenter within minutes and more distant coastlines within hours.”

    Feds investigate bird shooting in Kailua

    The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is investigating the killing of a protected Laysan albatross, or moli, earlier this month on the windward side of O‘ahu. The injured bird was brought into Sea Life Park on Jan. 5 after reportedly being found in the Keolu Hills area in Kailua, and died two days later. It had been shot by a .22 caliber pellet. “It saddens me that someone would indiscriminately kill such a majestic native bird,” said Special Agent George Phocas, who said the albatross is struggling to make a comeback in areas such as Ka‘ena Point. “True sportsmen and gun users in Hawaii fulfill their kuleana to everyone — and especially to the ‘aina — by first learning the rules and the proper skills and standards,” he said. Killing an albatross is bad luck, he said, as well as illegal: the bird is protected by both federal and state law. Anyone who has information about the incident is asked to contact the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service at (808) 861-8525, or the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources Hotline at 643-3357.

    Another earthquake rattles Hawaii

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    Big Island residents hoping to sleep in on Thanksgiving Day were shaken out of bed at about 9:20 this morning by a 5.0 magnitude earthquake. The quake struck about 13 miles north of Kailua Kona, not far from where a 6.7 magnitude earthquake hit on Oct. 15. This morning’s quake did not generate a tsunami, and unlike last month’s event, there are no reports of major damage. Power went out for some Big Island neighborhoods, but most are back online as of this report.

    Residents shaken by another small quake

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    An earthquake shook buildings and startled Honolulu and Molokai residents shortly after 8 p.m. last night, but did not cause any damage. The magnitude 3.6 event was centered offshore, 30 miles northeast of Kailua, according to readings from the Hawaii Volcano Observatory. Although relatively weak, the quake prompted some high-rise residents in Makiki and Waikiki to leave their buildings, and scientists received reports from as far away as Waialua and Kapolei. Stuart Weinstein of the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center told KGMB that the quake was far too weak to generate a tsunami, but it was certainly strong enough to rattle some people. A resident intereviewed by the station compared the sensation to a bomb blast, and another said he feared his building would collapse. The islands were shaken by a magnitude 4.5 quake off the coast of the Big Island only a month ago. As in that quake, KHNL reported, the cause was likely the settling of the Earth’s crust under the weight of the Hawaiian Islands.

    Environmentalists hail Hawaii biopharming ruling

    A federal judge has ruled that a federal agency should not have allowed genetically modified crops to be planted in Hawaii without first determining their potential impact on endangered species or the environment — a ruling that, some say, sets a major precedent in the national battle over genetically-modified organisms, or GMOs. Local and national environmental groups had sued the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) after it gave permits to several companies hoping to investigate the medicinal applications of genetically-modified crops, known as biopharming, on Kauai, Maui, Molokai, and Oahu. The crops have already been harvested and the permits have expired, and in its response to the lawsuit, APHIS had asserted that the case had no merit because no protected species or habitat was actually harmed. In his ruling, however, U.S. District Judge J. Michael Seabright minced no words in blasting the government agency for shirking its duties. “APHIS’s utter disregard for this simple investigation requirement, especially given the extraordinary number of endangered and threatened plants and animals in Hawaii, constitutes an unequivocal violation of a clear congressional mandate.” Seabright also said the “no harm, no foul” defense was “absurd.”

    High tide swallows beaches, streets

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    High tide in Hawai’i has been unusually high in recent days, causing beaches to disappear, turning streets into lakes, and pushing the Ala Wai Canal to the brink of its banks. Star-Bulletin humor columnist Charles Memminger recently researched the bizarre situation in Mapunapuna, at the intersection of Ahua and Kilihau streets, where ocean tides at Keehi Lagoon and the storm drain system flood the area every day. Area businesses surrounding “Lake Ahua” barely blink an eye as tilapia swim past their driveways, and adjust their operations to work around flooded loading bays and countless stalled cars. KHON followed up with a report that revealed that spring tides have submerged whole stretches of popular Ala Moana beach, and brought the Ala Wai Canal’s infamous water within inches of spilling into Waikiki. Alignment between the sun and moon, coupled with higher sea levels overall, are behind the phenomenon, and scientists say it’ll happen again in early December… and may be even more pronounced then.