FEE HIKES

EVERYDAY PEOPLE ARE STRUGGLING ENOUGH

I find your editorial supporting fee hikes and an increase in the tax on gasoline to be disingenuous in this time of economic decline.

To call for increases in the fuel tax and registration and weight fees is unconscionable. People are having enough trouble making ends meet now. How are they to cope when they are required to dig deep and give even more? Sure, fuel prices have gone down recently, but does anyone know what they will be in the near future? Hawai'i drivers already pay the highest fuel prices in the nation. Do the governor and the editors of The Advertiser really think that Hawai'i's drivers should pay even more?

It wasn't the average everyday people of Hawai'i who raided the highway fund. It was the legislators and politicians at the state House whose shortsightedness depleted the resources allocated to improve our roadways and highways.

The government must learn to live within its means just as all of the rest of us do. We have enough on our plate already. Surely repair of the sewer system, sewage treatment plants, and the water supply system is enough for us to fund for years to come. In addition, there is a rail system to finance on O'ahu.

What's the senior citizen who is retired and living on a pension and Social Security supposed to do? Our investment income has declined appreciably also. Enough is enough!

STATE OF STATE

BUYING LOCAL GOES HAND IN HAND WITH CARGO FEES

I was pleased to hear in Gov. Lingle's State of the State Address the call to support local agriculture, which would benefit the state by keeping money in the local economy, provide jobs, promote self-sufficiency, and protect green space.

Although not mentioned, purchasing locally grown meats, produce and goods also reduces the influx of invasive species that arrive on imported products and in the cargo spaces of the planes and ships that transport them. Buying local actually protects local agriculture from having to deal with new pests.

However, in Gov. Lingle's five-point economic action plan, she clearly stated her desire to repeal or weaken the 2008 cargo fee law, which allows the state to charge a 50-cent fee on every 1,000 pounds of imported goods expressly for invasive species prevention at ports and the building of inspection facilities on each island. The fee is needed because more than 80 percent of our goods are imported, and due primarily to a lack of capacity, less than 2 percent of incoming cargo is inspected.

Buy local, support the cargo fee law, see capital improvement projects at ports on each island, and protect the environment — it is all tied together.

INVASIVE SPECIES

STATE CAN DO A BETTER JOB, USE VOLUNTEERS

I can sympathize with employees of DLNR who may be released due to budget constraints, though I believe DLNR and the state can do a better job than they do.

Invasive species are a major problem for the state and have been for the 40-plus years that I have lived here. In the 1960s, I was called upon infrequently to help identify imported cage birds. While there was a list of approved birds that could be imported, most staff hadn't a clue what most foreign finches were. I suspect that this may be true for plants, etc.

The state of Hawai'i should have set up a severe quarantine process including fumigation of plants to prevent any kind of unwanted species from coming into the Islands. There should have been an approved list of plants for importation, and anything not on the approved list should have been incinerated. The same is true for aquatic species and then they wouldn't appear in our freshwater streams or wetland areas — e.g., bullfrogs, apple snails and the like.

It is never too late for strict enforcement of imports, though getting rid of those invasive species already here will potentially be a long task and the state should not discount the use of volunteers to help.

RAIL MONEY

HANABUSA SHOULD KNOW BETTER THAN TO RAID FUND

It is surprising and perplexing to hear Sen. Hanabusa talking about using the dedicated mass-transit general excise tax revenue for other projects. Having been in office as long as she had been, she should be aware that the primary reason Honolulu jumped ahead of so many other cities competing for federal mass-transit dollars was its commitment to locally fund a major portion of the system. That made all the difference.

If Honolulu (or, more accurately, local politicians politicizing the issue) shows lack of commitment to the most important public works project in recent history, the federal government will send the money elsewhere.

Hawai'i is most fortunate to have a congressional delegation with the influence and the right strategy to bring nearly a billion dollars into our economy, but their efforts will surely be undermined, as it was a decade ago by a vacillating City Council, if Hanabusa follows through with her plans.

Sens. Inouye and Akaka were instrumental in securing the critical start-up money in the Senate that gave Hawai'i its critical advantage. Congressman Abercrombie and Congresswoman Hirono got the funding request through the House.

This is not the time to pull the rug from under these efforts at this stage of the process.

KALOKO DAM

KUDOS FOR REVEALING TRUTH AROUND DISASTER

Congratulations to The Honolulu Advertiser for uncovering the truth about the Kaloko cover-up by the Lingle administration (Jan. 26).

This is a travesty, first that this is an obvious cover-up and puts the state in direct conflict in their prosecution of Jimmy Pflueger and it cast a very dark cloud over the court proceeding by the attorney general.

Some people could compare this to the Nixon cover-up of Watergate. Our governor could face the same serious criticism of this cover-up.

The fault of the Kaloko Dam disaster rests on the shoulder of the state of Hawai'i.

What a terrible injustice to the victims, their families and Mr. Pflueger.