County must preserve water resources

With $1.4 million earmarked in the county budget for the “Lahaina Wastewater Reclamation Facility (LWRF) R-1 Process Expansion,” let’s make sure reclaimed water benefits the greater good. Kaanapali hotels and golf courses, which profit from tourism, use reclaimed water. Local residents and public-use properties, paying water and sewage bills, should have the same consideration. In the 1980s, LWRF’s infrastructure was equipped to pump reclaimed water to the reservoirs and ditch systems to supply irrigation all the way from Kaanapali to Olowalu. Lahainaluna High School still has that ditch crossing its campus.

Updating LWRF’s existing infrastructure, using solar energy, reinstating decommissioned reservoirs and irrigation pipes installed in former ditches, would allow reclaimed water to be returned to the area it was taken from. It makes sense environmentally and for public safety.

Newer housing developments along Kahoma Stream and overall drought conditions have contributed to water restrictions imposed on the community. What’s it going to be like when the current housing construction is complete with its additional water usage?

Besides the negative effects of water restrictions, since 2018, two major fires in Lahaina serve as a warning. Though costly to re-implement this recycled water plan, so is replacing schools, infrastructure, homes and businesses that are in this fire-prone region. Irreplaceable is the loss of life that could happen with another catastrophic wildfire.

The county must prioritize public safety and preserve water resources. Drilling more wells depletes an already tapped aquifer. Replenishing the land with life-giving water is praiseworthy stewardship of natural resources.

MICHELE LINCOLN, Lahaina

The Biden Administration’s delays are threatening species’ future

This year is the 50th anniversary of the passage of the Endangered Species Act, and one of its greatest success stories is itself imperiled by the Biden Administration’s delay and apparent unwillingness to act.

In Montana, hunters can kill as many as 20 wolves each (ten by gun and ten by trap). They can use neck strangulation snares, leghold traps, bait and calls to lure wolves to their death.

In Idaho, there are no limits. Even wolves in Yellowstone National Park have been frequently lured out of the park’s protection to their deaths.

The Biden Administration could have prevented this slaughter and continues to delay action that would stop it.

In August of 2021, Dan Ashe (the former director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service under President Obama) wrote a Washington Post Op-Ed urging Interior Secretary Deb Haaland to act and issue emergency protections for gray wolves as permitted under the Endangered Species Act. Mr. Ashe outlined exactly why she should act and under what authority. He followed up in December of that year with a letter signed by directors of zoos and aquariums in his role as CEO of the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.

Late last year, Jaime Clark (the former director of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service under President Clinton) joined Mr. Ashe and urged Secretary Haaland to immediately protect wolves in the Northern Rockies.

Hundreds of conservation biologists and other scientists, in addition to members of Congress, have implored the Administration to act. To date, Biden and Haaland have ignored the former USFWS directors, scientists and the members of Congress and their pleas to act.

Secretary Haaland herself wrote an Op-Ed in USA Today more than one year ago, saying she is “… committed to ensuring that wolves have the conservation they need to survive and thrive in the wild based on science and law.”

Hundreds of wolves have been killed since then, and she has taken no action and provided no updates. She could end this unsustainable killing with a single secretarial order, as the former directors of the USFWS have asked her to do. Her inaction is difficult to understand and does not align with her words.

This inaction has far-reaching consequences. A recent scientific report found that restoring animals, including wolves, can be a part of the fight against climate change — something the secretary has said is a top priority.

Wolves provide substantial economic benefits to local communities in the form of tourism related to viewing (live) wolves, and they are important parts of their ecosystems.

Wolves are being hunted, snared, trapped and killed in more gruesome ways in Idaho right now. Our country invested substantial resources in bringing them back. Secretary Haaland needs to focus on her responsibilities as the current leader of the U.S. Department of the Interior and at long last act — before it is too late.

JACQUI SKILL, Lahaina

Supreme Court ethics should be a no-brainer

Americans are losing faith in our Supreme Court, and it’s easy to see why.

The nine justices on the Supreme Court are the only federal judges not bound by a code of ethics. It’s up to the justices to self-police on ethical issues, and they want to keep it that way.

That’s why nothing happened when Clarence Thomas didn’t recuse himself from Jan. 6 cases that could have directly implicated his wife. That’s why nothing happened when America found out Samuel Alito more than likely leaked a decision about reproductive health care to anti-abortion activists. And that’s why nothing happened when it was revealed that Chief Justice Roberts’ wife has earned millions of dollars recruiting for law firms with business before the Supreme Court.

It doesn’t have to be this way. Congress has a duty to act as a check on the Supreme Court and restore faith in our judicial system. They can do that by creating a code of ethics for the Supreme Court.

The highest court in the land should be held to the highest standard. It’s time to demand that Congress hold the Supreme Court accountable.

PATRICIA TEETERS, Wailuku