December 19, 2019 - Issue: Vol. 165, No. 206 — Daily Edition116th Congress (2019 - 2020) - 1st Session

[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E1625]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]





      INTRODUCTION OF THE HAWAI'I INVASIVE SPECIES PROTECTION ACT

                                 ______
                                 

                              HON. ED CASE

                               of hawaii

                    in the house of representatives

                      Thursday, December 19, 2019

  Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to join my colleague, 
Representative Gabbard, in introducing our bill to protect one of the 
most unique and fragile environments on Earth, our Hawai'i, from 
devastating invasive species.
  Invasive species pose an especially grave threat to Hawaii's unique 
ecosystems, natural resources and agricultural communities, in part due 
to Hawaii's unique geography. Hawai'i is the most isolated island chain 
and one of the most ecologically diverse places in the world. We are 
2,282 miles from the Continental United States, 2,952 miles from Japan 
and 4,772 miles from Washington, D.C., with no other islands in close 
proximity. We have within our constrained borders ten of the thirteen 
world climate zones, with ecosystems ranging from desert to tropical, 
where plants and animals that found their way to Hawai'i evolved like 
nowhere else. A 2014 survey identified fully 9,975 endemic species in 
Hawai'i. These species include the Hawaiian scarlet honeycreeper, the 
'i'iwi; the flowering evergreen; and the state bird of Hawai'i, the 
nene.
  However, tragically, in large part due to invasive species, Hawai'i 
has become the endangered species and extinction capital of the world. 
Hawai'i currently has 503 species listed as endangered, more than any 
other state and almost half of the total endangered species nationwide. 
Many of these species are critically endangered and face an extremely 
high risk of extinction in the wild. Although we will never know the 
true number of species that have gone extinct in Hawai'i, best 
estimates are that in the last 200 years alone, 28 bird, 72 snail, 74 
insect and 97 plant species have gone extinct.
  As one particularly poignant example, earlier this year the Atlantic 
published an article, The Last of Its Kind, which chronicled the death 
of George the snail. He was the last achatinella apexfulva, a species 
of tree snail that is endemic to the island of O'ahu. This article 
calls attention to the alarming fact that snails in Hawai'i are 
disappearing at an alarming rate, perhaps faster any animal on Earth 
right now, victims of various factors in part linked to invasive 
species.
  The threat to our state tree, the `ohi'a lehua, is also illustrative 
of our growing crisis. Used for poi boards and outrigger canoes, the 
'ohi'a lehua is important to Hawaiian culture and the islands' 
watersheds. As the first tree to grow in new Hawai'i lava flows, 'ohi'a 
grows throughout the watershed creating new soil, stabilizing steep 
mountain ridges and comprises approximately 80 percent of Hawaii's 
native forests. However, rapid 'ohi'a death, or ROD, caused by an 
invasive fungal pathogen, kills 'ohi'a trees quickly, and threatens the 
stability of Hawaii's native forests. Since its discovery on the Big 
Island in 2014, ROD has spread to Kaua'i, Maui and O'ahu, and has 
killed hundreds of thousands of trees.
  Hawaii's unique circumstances also have given rise to one of our 
nation's most diverse and productive agricultural communities. With a 
year-round growing cycle, our crops have ranged throughout our history 
from the highest quality sugar and pineapple and cattle to tropical 
specialty crops like fruit and cut flowers in the highest demand 
worldwide.
  Yet it is exactly because these crops like our natural resources have 
adapted to Hawaii's uniqueness that they are the most susceptible to 
devastation from external species against which they have no natural 
defenses. Invasive species have drastically impacted agriculture in 
Hawai'i, threatening some of the island's most valuable crops in the 
state's third-largest industry.
  The coffee berry borer, which was discovered in Kona in 2010, now 
infects all ofthe coffee growing islands in Hawai'i, except Kaua'i. The 
coffee berry borer can cause yield losses of between 30 and 35 percent 
and affects the quality ofthe coffee beans, directly impacting the 
income of growers. Our failure to prevent coffee leaf rust from 
entering Hawai'i could leave one of Hawaii's most iconic industries 
devastated.
  Hawaii's third most valuable crop, the macadamia nut, is under threat 
from the macadamia felted coccid. Macadamia felted coccid has been 
found in all of Hawai'i Island's macadamia growing regions. The felted 
coccid reduces macadamia tree output by draining nutrients from the 
tree. Invasive species coupled with increased rain led to a 22 percent 
decline in the macadamia nut harvest this year compared to last year.
  Yet despite these incontrovertible and growing impacts of external 
species on Hawaii's natural resources and economy, existing federal law 
leaves Hawai'i largely defenseless against increasingly destructive 
invasives. Imports by air and sea, the only means of in-bound 
transportation to our island state, lack any effective regulation to 
screen out invasives. This is despite a fairly robust screening of 
exports from Hawai'i to the Continental United States to screen out 
invasives from Hawai'i viewed as harmful to mainland agriculture 
(invasives that, ironically, were invasives into Hawai'i to start 
with).
  I sought to crack down on this lax regime to prevent and curb 
invasives with my introduction in 2005 of H.R. 3468, modeled after New 
Zealand and other isolated jurisdictions with then like now the most 
stringent invasive species prevention regimes in the world. Since the 
introduction of that bill, the threats from invasives have only grown. 
Since 2005, 195 invasive species have been introduced to Hawai'i. That 
is in addition to the roughly 5,000 invasive species that have been 
introduced to Hawai'i throughout its history.
  Our bill, the Hawai'i Invasive Species Protection Act, will require 
the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Animal and Plant Inspection 
Service (APHIS), in cooperation with other federal departments and the 
State of Hawai'i, to conduct visual, x-ray and canine inspections, as 
appropriate, on person, baggage, cargo and any other article destined 
for direct movement to the State of Hawai'i. The inspections will 
search for high-risk invasive species and agricultural materials. The 
inspections will be conducted at airports, ports and postal sorting 
facilities prior to direct travel to the State of Hawai'i.
  Our bill further requires APHIS to work with the State of Hawai'i to 
develop and publish a list of the high-risk invasive species and 
agricultural materials for the State of Hawai'i. It pays for these 
inspections by increasing Agriculture Quarantine Inspection fees to 
cover the full cost of inspection.
  If we truly care about the threat that continued and escalating 
invasive species pose to one of the most invaluable and unique 
ecosystems on earth, in addition to our unique economy and way of life, 
then the stark reality is that this bill is what it will take. Again, 
it is not revolutionary when compared to other countries that have not 
only recognized this threat but actually done something about it. And 
it is certainly not revolutionary when compared to longstanding 
domestic restrictions on exports from Hawai'i, leading to the basic 
point that if these invasive species prevention requirements are good 
enough for the rest ofthe country and much ofthe world then they're 
good enough for Hawai'i.
  Madam Speaker, I am grateful to this House for your understanding and 
careful consideration of Hawaii's challenge and opportunity, and ask 
for our bill's expeditious passage. Thank you (Mahalo).

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