THE HAWAII INVASIVE SPECIES PROTECTION ACT

THE HAWAII INVASIVE SPECIES PROTECTION ACT

Congressional Record, Volume 171 Issue 9 (Thursday, January 16, 2025) [Congressional Record Volume 171, Number 9 (Thursday, January 16, 2025)] [Extensions of Remarks] [Pages E45-E46] From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [ www.gpo.gov ] THE HAWAII INVASIVE SPECIES PROTECTION ACT ______ HON. ED CASE of hawaii in the house of representatives Thursday, January 16, 2025 Mr. CASE. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to join my Hawaii colleague, Representative Jill Tokuda, in introducing our bill to protect one of the most unique and fragile environments on Earth, our Hawaii, from devastating invasive species. Invasive species pose an especially grave threat to Hawaii's ecosystems, natural resources and agricultural communities, in part due to Hawaii's unique geography. Hawaii 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 Hawaii evolved like nowhere else. Hawaii has the world's highest percentage of endemic species--90 percent of terrestrial and more than 25 percent of marine species are found nowhere else on Earth. These species include the Hawaiian scarlet honeycreeper, the `i` iwi; the flowering evergreen; and the state mammal of Hawaii, the `ilioholoikauaua (Hawaiian monk seal). However, tragically, in large part due to invasive species, Hawaii has become the endangered species and extinction capital of the world. The Pacific Islands are home to 44 percent of the threatened and endangered species listed under the Endangered Species Act, and Hawaii currently has 578 species listed as endangered or threatened, more than any other state. 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 Hawaii, in 2023 alone eight Hawaiian species were declared extinct. The threat to our state tree, the `ohi`a lehua, is also illustrative of out 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 Hawaii 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 Hawai'i Island in 2014, ROD has spread to Kauai, Maui and Oahu, and has killed hundreds of thousands of trees. Hawaii's unique cucumstances 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 [[Page E46]] against which they have no natural defenses. Invasive species have drastically impacted agriculture in Hawaii, threatening some of the island's most valuable crops in the state's third-largest industry. Another prime and very current example of the challenges we face is the coconut rhinoceros beetle. It has become a menacing invader in Hawaii, wreaking havoc on the islands' palm trees and posing a serious threat to both the enviionment and the economy. This formidable beetle, with its massive size and powerful mandibles, burrows into the trunks of coconut palms and other tropical crops, such as kalo and bananas, causing extensive damage. According to the Hawaii Invasive Species Council, once the beetles bore into these plants, they can kill them, jeopardizing the entire ecosystem, agriculture and food security. The destruction of coconut palms by the beetle is especially harmful. These trees are vital to Hawaii's agricultural production, supplying coconuts for food, cosmetics and traditional practices. Additionally, they serve as iconic symbols of the islands' tropical landscape. With no natural predators to keep its numbers in check, the beetle's rapid spread continues to outpace control efforts, making it a growing crisis for Hawaii's environment, economy and cultural heitage. Yet despite these incontrovertible and growing impacts of external species on Hawaii's natural resources and economy, existing federal law leaves Hawaii 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 rigorous screening of exports from Hawaii to the Continental United States to screen out invasives from Hawaii viewed as harmful to mainland agriculture (invasives that, ironically, were invasives into Hawaii to start with). Our bill, the Hawaii Invasive Species Protection Act, will require the U.S. Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Inspection Service (APHIS), in cooperation with other federal departments and the State of Hawaii, 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 Hawaii. 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 Hawaii. Our bill further requires APHIS to work with the State of Hawaii to develop and publish a list of the high-risk invasive species and agricultural materials for the State of Hawaii. 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 island countries, most notably New Zealand, that have not only recognized this threat but actually have done something about it. And it is certainly not revolutionary when compared to longstanding domestic restrictions on exports from Hawaii, leading to the basic point that if these invasive species prevention requirements are good enough for the rest of the country and much of the world then they're good enough for Hawaii. Mr. Speaker, I am grateful to this House for their understanding and careful consideration of Hawaii's challenge and opportunity and ask for our bill's expeditious passage. ____________________