Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 3, Number 8, 1 ʻAukake 1986 — Another Land Ripoff [ARTICLE+ILLUSTRATION]

Another Land Ripoff

By Moanikeala Akaka T rustee, Hawaii

Sorry to have to relate to you that another "ripoff' was sanctioned by this past legislature, not just of us the natives, but of the general public as well by the Campbell Estate and State Department of Land and Natural Resources. Twenty-five thousand acres of Kahaualea are being exchanged

for 27,000 acres of state ceded land just below it— ceded lands we Office of Hawaiian Affairs trustees have a fiduciary responsibility to protect. The legislature mandated 20 percent of ceded land revenues to go to OHA for the native Hawaiians while the rest is earmarked for the general public. These crown lands, ceded under pressure when our beloved islands were illegally seized by the United States, are now held in trust by this state and OHA. This dowry, the treasury of the people of this state, must be protected for the present and future residents of these islands. In this exchange of 25,000 acres of Kahaualea-Camp-bell land, almost 6,000 acres have been overrun by Pele during the last few years. Another almost 6,000 acres are to be given to the National Parks as a buffer zone for Volcanoes National Park. Over 1,000 acres are pali and another 1,000 acres are part of the "raped," sacred, unique, ohia forest (I shared with you over a year ago). The 6,000 acres transferred to the National Park are supposed to be exchar>ged with the federal government. However, according to a front page story in the June 20, 1986, edition of the Hawaii Tribune Herald, a National Park Service official in Washington, D. C. said that according to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), surplus federal lands must be sold to pay the federal deficit, build more bombs, pay for more Contras, etc. The same article quotes Bill Tam, assistant state attorney general, saying "... the state engineered this land exchange." Show me how we, the people of this state, benefit from the loss of this particular 6,000 acres. What this means is that with Campbell's 25,000 acres traded for our ceded lands, there is a loss of 14,000 usable acres to begin with, plus the 2,000 acres differenee with whieh we started. This means that in this exchange, there is actually a loss of 16,000 acres of aina to all the people of this state, not just we native Hawaiians. The state, especially this "lame duck" administration, seems to be doling out your children's present and future trust — aina. There has been a recent loss to OHA of over one quarter million dollars of ceded land revenues since 1980 because of reclassified ceded lands; reclassified without permission of OHA. The state cannot be allowed to collude with special interests in detriment to the people. F or example, there is the grossly inadequate Department of Hawaiian Home Lands, Hilo, Waimea, Motokai airports land exchange by the state whieh is still on hold with the Department of the Interior. There is a loss of ineome of one quarter of a million dollars a year with an exchange of 204 acres of airport lands for 13 acres of ceded industrial land, as well as loss to OHA of $53,000 a year in the process. Maui County has also given the old Makena Road, whieh is state ceded land, to Seibu Hotel. There is Chris Hemmeter's usurpation of three acres of ceded lands at Waikoloa valued at $1 million an acre, not to forget destruction of unique anaehialine ponds. These, as well as the Kahaualea Campbell Estates gain of our ceded lands, are but a few instances of how' this Ariyoshi administration has allowed corporate and government interests to eome before the fiduciary responsibility to our people: we were elected to protect our land trusts. Some who favor the Kahaualea exchange allude to the quality for quantity factor as the equalizer though many question and doubt the value for value appraisal. We have heard the exchange will enable a savings of one quarter million per geothermal well for Campbell. We Hawaiians feel uneasy that our land base is being eroded by speculators, appraisers and profiteers of different stripes. As responsible trustees, we must put pressure to

protect these public land trusts or we neglect our responsibilities to you, our constituents. Please eall or write to our OHA offices statewide and let staff know that we trustees cannot sit idly by while our land trust is being stolen before our eyes. Tell them we must take action to protect your children's trust lands. DLNR has no right to trade ceded lands without first consulting OHA. Look at what this Ariyoshi maehine does to us. Regarding the "right to sue" veto, Ariyoshi said on television and through the newspaper he received many calls from Hawaiians telling him to veto the bill. This is "shibai" because a member of the governor's staff told us only one Hawaiian called to veto the bill. It seems to me we have a low-lying "lame duck" administration. We must ask all candidates running in this year's eleetions their positions on issues crucial to the Hawaiian community, people and aina of this state. We must vote wisely in this election. We must hold these politicians accountable and responsible. Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono!