Sierra Club Questionnaire
Lance Widner
Candidate-City Council District #9

1. What would be your three greatest environmental priorities for Oahu? How do you plan to accomplish these goals?

First priority is to embrace technology as means of reducing paper and energy consumption. As an example, acquiring a bicycle permit still can’t be done online here in Hawaii. Therefore, people must travel to the satellite city halls and fill out a hand-written application, wasting valuable fuel and paper…a bit ironic for a more eco-friendly method of travel! Other services that cannot be currently completed online are pet registrations, camping permits, and disabled parking permits. By offering these services online at the City level, we not only reduce costs and allow for these savings to be passed along to the customer, but we also become a model for the private industry to follow.

Second priority is to decrease reliance on our automobiles. This can be accomplished through support of mass transit, transit oriented development, work-from-home business models, and shorter work weeks with longer work days. One alternative to explore at the City level is to decentralize some of the City & County jobs by placing certain departments in other locations, perhaps Kapolei or Mililani where commuter traffic is currently the heaviest (as an example), which will reduce the necessity to commute to downtown. Another way the City can directly support reliance on automobiles is by encouraging and allowing mixed-use zoning. By taking these steps, we not only reduce fuel consumption and energy costs, but we also reduce expenses and traffic time for those currently affected.

Third priority is to ensure all City & County office buildings are taking advantage of cost-effective energy saving measures. This would include but not be limited to replacement of incandescent bulbs with CFL bulbs, use of LED ‘EXIT’ signs, light sensors, making sure fire exits are not lit 24/7, and keeping the building temperature at 73 (when on). Doing this for all City & County buildings, if not already being done, is simple and relatively inexpensive. Lining the roofs with solar panels to become self-sufficient will eventually be cost-effective and a major goal as well. Relative to larger environmental issues this is small in comparison, but it’s a manageable and easily attainable goal, and we again become a role model for private enterprise and other government operations around the country, and this is something we can all be proud of.

2. Would you support regulations mandating the implementation of the best available green technology on all new residential and commercial buildings?

Currently I would not, as I believe we are about 10 years away from being able to economically justify forcing ‘best available green technology’ on privately owned buildings. Doing so would increase construction costs even more, which would make it more unaffordable for homeowners and tenants. With that said, we need to continue to incentivize private residence and commercial building owners by offering tax credits and rebates to those who purchase solar water heaters and photovoltaic panels as the biggest reducer of energy costs. Moreover, as energy costs increase, the recovery time for purchasing green technology will decrease, which creates an automatic incentive to make such purchases or retrofit old lights and appliances. These incentives will stave off further price inflation until technology is such that prices will warrant these regulations 5-10 years out.

3. How should Oahu lessen its dependence on imported oil and decrease its greenhouse gas emissions?

To decrease our dependence on imported oil we need to take a two-pronged approached. First, we need to reduce the amount of energy we consume on a per person basis. The can be done by encouraging work-from-home programs, turning 5 8-hour days into 4 10-hour days to reduce our commute expense by 20% for the same number of hours worked, increase mixed-use zoning, encourage mass transit, and transit oriented development as examples among many other alternatives. The second way is to further cultivate alternative energy solutions. Here in Hawaii we are the fortunate beneficiaries of above-average wind and sun exposure. As technology evolves, our capacity to harness these energies will increase and the cost of doing so will decrease, and in the face of increasing oil costs, we will find these alternatives becoming increasingly utilized.

4. Oahu has experienced less than normal rainfall in 9 of the last 11 years (in some years, well below normal). This may become a regular pattern. How should we conserve water? Under what conditions would you mandate the use of the 200 million gallons of treated wastewater that we dump into the ocean every day?

The first way to combat water consumption is by putting rain sensors on community sprinkler systems. I can’t even begin to count the number of times I’ve walked or driven by a park when rain is pouring down only to see the sprinklers activated. These sensors are quite inexpensive and don’t require a great deal of retrofit time; this will decrease consumption almost immediately. The second way to conserve potable water is to put a third line into new construction buildings, which will give homes a hot line, a cold line, and gray line that connect to toilets and outdoor water taps. Gray water is safe for use, but does not have the same potability standard of the water that comes out of our sinks and showers (do we really need to use drinking water to flush our toilets?). Moreover, it’s fairly cost-effective to add a third line during construction where the hot and cold lines are already being run. Regarding wastewater, I understand that we are currently running it two miles out into a deep ocean, which is a standard used for rivers and lakes. I am not aware of any concerns this is creating for our ocean water at this time, and as a surfer who spends a great deal of time in the ocean, I would certainly want to know. I would rather reserve taxpayer dollars used to upgrade our wastewater treatment for other objectives, perhaps overhauling our city sewer lines.

5. How can we reduce the amount of solid waste that we generate? What would you do to encourage the 3 R’s -- reduce, reuse, recycle?

First and foremost, we need to get curbside recycling available island-wide. My wife and I currently deliver our recycling to the bin at the elementary school near our home, and it’s quite inconvenient. The more convenient we make recycling for people, the larger the percentage of the population that will do the right thing, and curbside recycling makes this process very convenient. To reduce, there needs to be a partnership between government, businesses, and consumers to go paperless whenever possible. Most statements can be emailed or accessed online (with corresponding bills to be paid in the same manner), and the internet now rivals both newspaper and television as the primary media source. As a side note, nearly all newspapers can be accessed online now. If businesses must print, two-sided copiers and printers are now reasonably priced and can reduce paper use by half. To reuse, a trend in the medical community over the past several decades has been to move from reusable to disposable products, vastly increasing the amount of biohazard waste created. Facilities can create product evaluation committees to determine in what instances products can be safely reused. A transition toward reusable products will reduce disposable waste and bring significant cost-savings by reducing disposal fees. Also, businesses and consumers can work with local stores/vendors by using reusable totes which will dramatically reduce waste from disposable packaging and bags. Some businesses have successfully implemented this by adopting the Reusable Totes Program.

6. Should we burn our solid waste to generate electricity? Should we ship our opala to the mainland? Why or why not?

Yes, and yes. We should burn what we can through the current technology used at the HPower Garbage-To-Energy Plant here on Oahu because it’s cost-effective and reliable. This method is environmentally friendly, and it reduces the volume of solid waste that we send to the landfill. However, we may still have to send some of our waste to the mainland because it will reduce the pressure on us to create a new landfill, which currently takes 5-7 years to construct. At the rate we are filling the Waimanalo landfill we will not have the luxury of 5-7 years. Therefore, by sending some trash away AND reducing the volume we send to Waimanalo landfill by taking advantage of the Garbage-To-Energy facility here on Oahu, we will give ourselves the time we need to develop a new landfill. Once that landfill is up and running, ideally we will have the technology to reduce the amount of solid waste we produce to the point that the new landfill will be the last we ever create in Hawaii.

7. What would you do to make recycled products more available? Would you mandate a plastic recycling plant on Oahu (for example, one that would make plastic lumber for picnic tables, benches, chairs)?

While I would not mandate a plastic recycling plant on Oahu, I would mandate City support of a private company that establishes a plastic recycling plant here. There is enough business to be had that a plant such as this could operate profitably. If the City sets precedence by purchasing picnic tables, park benches, etc. from this company, this will give the company enough financial support to sustain itself as other private companies and consumers develop an awareness of its existence and support the plant directly.

8. What policy changes should the City make to encourage transportation alternatives to the automobile? What form of mass transit should the city support? What features would you like to see in transit oriented development?

I believe the City should do three things to decrease our reliance on the automobile. First, it needs to use its power to increase the utilization of mixed-use zoning. The old model of a city was built around the notion that the business industry was in the center, and residential development was build around the periphery. As energy costs, traffic congestion, and awareness of air pollution increase, there has been a movement to mixed-use zoning, which increases the work here, live here, play here philosophy. In addition to reducing energy consumption and associated costs, it encourages pedestrian traffic, which creates a healthier lifestyle. The second would be support of mass transit, and rail seems to be as good a solution as any currently. Ridership will increase as energy costs increase, steel-on-steel is the most cost-effective and reliable, travel times will become more precise for scheduling purposes, and it’s a chance to show the rest of the world that Hawaii can modernize. I would like to see transit oriented development include mixed-use zoning and security mechanisms to minimize rail-station crime.

9. Do you support acquiring more lands for open space and conservation purposes? If yes, what mechanisms would you use to pursue these goals?

This is a topic that’s near and dear to my heart because a developer from the mainland tried to rezone preservation land in the middle of our community (land that was sold as ‘proposed golf course’ land) back in 2006. I developed at Government Affairs Committee and worked with our legislators to protect the land, sending a very clear signal to the buyers that we would not allow such rezoning and development. Instead of direct acquisition of land for open space, I am more inclined to support a well-designed plan that focuses on the blending of residential, commercial, light industrial, and open space integrated into one organized community. The Oahu Sustainable Communities Plan was designed for this reason, and because the preservation land that was in our community was part of this integrated plan we felt the need to protect its status.

10. Currently almost 90% of the food we eat is imported. How would you encourage more small family farms, community gardens, farmers’ markets, and farmer co-ops as opposed to fake farms and gentlemen estates?

I know it’s controversial, but it seems to me that the best way to encourage more local produce is through genetic modification. It’s a way of assisting crops in their eventual evolution, and farmers have been hybridizing and modifying crops for years anyway; only recently have regulations forced the labeling of crops as such, which means the only thing that has changed is our awareness. Genetic modification reduces the need for pesticides and keeps crop yields high because they don’t fall victim to the bug and fungus infestation that could otherwise wipe out crops in large volumes. To my knowledge there is no scientific proof that genetically modified crops are less healthy than unmodified crops, while there is overwhelming evidence to support the health impact of crops treated with pesticides. The more readily available crops are, and the less it costs to protect them, the more competitive local crop prices will be, which will increase support of local farmers. The more local farmers are supported, the more they will be encouraged to grow crops for local consumption.