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Two contrasting images of Hawaii's environment — pristine beaches versus the sewage spills and incinerator emissions making headlines — framed a discussion about the adequacy of state environmental oversight. Guest host Bruce Voss led the conversation against the backdrop of a 1994 gubernatorial race in which both guests said environmental issues had received less attention than education, crime, and the cost of living. Bruce Anderson, at the time Deputy Director for Environmental Health at the State Department of Health, argued that measurable progress had been made: he described a new programme to collect household hazardous waste and a glass-container fee to subsidise recycling and reduce groundwater contamination. Susan Miller, an environmental consultant working with the Hawaii Coastal Protection Project, placed greater emphasis on non-point source pollution — runoff carrying soil, fertilisers, and other contaminants from disturbed hillsides and urban surfaces into coastal waters. Miller also defended retaining the State Land Use Commission as a check on county-level development, noting that counties' reliance on property-tax revenue creates incentives to permit growth. The standing question is whether the existing framework of state and county oversight can manage dispersed sources of pollution before further damage is done to Hawaii's coastal resources.
Transcript
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