A community group worried about the release of millions of mosquitoes into the Maui wilderness has filed a lawsuit in an attempt to force state officials to conduct a more comprehensive environmental impact statement rather than the environmental assessment approved in March.
The complaint was filed Monday in the 1st Circuit’s Environmental Court on behalf of Hawaii Unites and Tina Lia, who founded the nonprofit in January. Attorney Margaret Wille said her clients want to make sure the state follows the letter of its own environmental laws and conducts a thorough evaluation of all of the project’s potential shortcomings.
“Instead of eliminating the mosquitoes — who knows? — it could end up adding to a mass of mosquitoes. And it could be really dangerous,” Wille said.
The legal challenge comes as federal, state and private conservation officials are gearing up to launch a project that aims to save native forest birds threatened by an onslaught of mosquitoes carrying deadly avian malaria.
Scientists are predicting at least two bird species, the kiwikiu and akohekohe, could be extinct in as soon as two years if avian malaria is left unchecked, and many others are rapidly declining. The state last year received $14 million in federal funds earmarked primarily for development for the mosquito- control campaign.
The project calls for repeatedly releasing into the forest male mosquitoes, which are laboratory-raised with the naturally occurring Wolbachia bacteria rendering them incompatible for reproduction. The males, which do not bite birds or people, would then mate with wild female mosquitoes, whose eggs would not hatch.
The technique has been used elsewhere in the U.S. and across the globe to limit the spread of disease to humans.
In Hawaii, officials said, the release of millions of incompatible mosquitoes over time would suppress the wild mosquito population by as much as 90% and stamp out the top threat against Hawaii’s endangered honeycreepers.
The plan calls for drones, helicopters and ground methods to release the mosquitoes into an area that encompasses nearly 65,000 acres of National Park Service land, state lands and private lands managed for conservation, with nearly 1,400 proposed release locations.
Both the state Board of Land and Natural Resources and the National Park Service approved a 300-page environmental assessment and “finding of no significant impact” in March, and a coalition of state, federal and private conservation agencies and organizations is gearing up for the project under the banner Birds, Not Mosquitoes.
But the suit, which asks for an injunction, could put the brakes on the effort.
According to the complaint, the BLNR is in violation of state environmental law because it must first prepare a full environmental impact statement for any proposed action that “may” have a significant impact on the environment.
“Contrary to the assertions in the (environmental assessment), the plan could actually pose serious risks to native birds, wildlife, the ‘aina, and public health,” the suit says.
Among other things, the suit says the proposal appears to violate Environmental Protection Agency rules on the use of “biopesticides,” has no documented biosecurity protocols and does not address the potential consequences of an accidental release of female mosquitoes.
In addition, the drones used for the project could cause noise disturbances to forest birds and nesting, and the biodegradable packages used in the releases would litter the canopy and forest floor for as long as they remain in the environment, the suit says.
The complaint calls the project an experiment that could go wrong. “Adequate studies and research have not been conducted, and safer, less experimental alternatives have not been considered,” it says.
“We just don’t want another mongoose-rat situation,” Wille said, referring to the notoriously failed effort by the sugar industry to bring the Indian mongoose to Hawaii to control rat populations.
The complaint also argues that BLNR refused to take community response into account when it approved the project in March and perfunctorily denied a contested case hearing request from Lia, the leader of Hawaii Unites.
“Rather than acknowledge and address the organization’s concerns, the BLNR has acted in a consistently dismissive and disruptive manner towards this testimony,” the plaintiffs say. “The rights of Hawaii Unites, of the organization’s supporters, and of the public, to open governmental processes have been infringed upon by the BLNR in their effort to silence discussion about the risks and impacts of the project.”
Chris Farmer, Hawaii program director of the American Bird Conservancy, part of the Birds, Not Mosquitoes coalition, said he believes the approved environmental documents offer more than enough evidence to show the project will not produce any significant impacts.
Having to write an EIS now would be disappointing, he said, because it would add significant delay to the project.
“Any delays could lead to hurting the birds and lead to more extinction,” he said.
