Who needs the EPA and NOAA? Hawaiʻi does

Honolulu Star-Advertiser | Sunday, March 26, 2017 | Editorial, Island Voices | Marti Townsend President Donald Trump’s first budget proposal, which he named “America First: A Budget Blueprint to Make America Great Again,” is a declaration of war on the environment. He is proposing to cut the budget of the Environmental Protection Agency by 30 percent and that of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration by at least 20 percent. These budget cuts have serious implications for Hawaii.The EPA does a lot of heavy lifting for Hawaii’s environment. It has been the lead agency to hold the U.S. Navy accountable for the leaks from their fuel tanks at Red Hill, after considerable public outcry. It was the EPA, at the behest of concerned residents, that investigated and sought to fine Syngenta $4.8 million for exposing workers to pesticides last year on Kauai. In 2010, the EPA set Honolulu on a course to upgrade its aging sewer system after the massive raw sewage release in the Ala Wai Canal. This is in addition to the state Department of Health staff who do the day-to-day work of protecting our environment — from clean water permits to hazardous waste regulations — and they do it with significant funding from the EPA.The specifics of how the proposed budget cuts would be implemented in each department are still unknown. But we do know that a nearly $3 billion budget cut across the board means that at least 3,200 people at the EPA would lose their jobs. It means that critical programs and departments are on the chopping block, like the EPA’s Office of Environmental Justice, which addresses the disproportionate harm that pollution causes low-income and minority communities. And it means that 100 federally funded positions in Hawaii’s Department of Health could be cut.

At NOAA, a general 20 percent cut to the budget means less support in Hawaii for severe weather events, sea-level rise, and fisheries management. NOAA is the agency that we count on for reliable information during hurricanes and tsunamis. Programs in NOAA like the Sea Grant Program provide crucial data about sea level rise, as well as techniques for mitigating and adapting to the changes sea-level rise causes. NOAA’s Coastal Zone Management Program gives Hawaii authority and resources to ensure our beaches and nearshore waters are well-managed and protected for everyone’s benefit. Trump’s “skinny budget” zeroes out these programs, setting these crucial agencies back to mid-1990 funding levels.While his “skinny budget” has been labelled by GOP politicians as a disaster that is “dead on arrival,” this criticism brings little comfort, knowing that the EPA and NOAA are already underfunded. And it’s clear that federal lawmakers are not considering an increase in funding to combat climate change, the most pressing issue of our time. Yet this is exactly where our focus should be this session.What we need right now is a New Deal Era for nature. The federal government should be tackling climate change and the plague of under-employment with a massive investment in conservation jobs that upgrade our shared infrastructure, document the health of our environment in real time, and restore damaged ecosystems. Doubling down on the protection of our natural resources is the way to provide mass employment opportunities, while counteracting climate change and preserving the planet for us all.If the federal government cannot deliver on what we need, then Hawaii should prepare now to meet these needs and be a model for the world. Hawaii is a community that is uniquely dependent on a healthy environment. We already are suffering the effects of legacy contamination and climate disruption. We cannot afford to let crucial environmental protections go unenforced, lest we become another Flint, Michigan.We urge local lawmakers to prioritize funding for crucial environmental protection efforts in our state budget. If necessary, raise taxes in a creative and conscious way to protect our shared resources without harming the most vulnerable communities. The Tax Fairness bill currently being considered would re-instate 2015 tax rates on Hawaii’s highest earners, while maintaining tax credits for the most vulnerable in our community.