House Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection (EEP) - chair: Denny Coffman, vice chair: Derek S.K. Kawakami

Friday, April 20, 2012, 9:15 a.m.. Conference Room 211

Testifier: Anna Hoover, Legislative Committee Member, LWV of Hawaii

Click here to view SB2511 SD2

Chair Coffman, Vice Chair Kawakami and Members of the Committee: The League of Women Voters of Hawaii supports a fee for single use plastic bags and the use of some of the resulting funds for the natural area reserve fund. Curtailing the use in Hawaii of plastic bags by imposing a fee on each bag will discourage their use resulting in fewer bags to be disposed of with some improperly finding their way to our landscape and waters. The images we see of sea turtles ensnared in plastic bags that have washed from mauka areas is but one of many examples that causes us all to reflect on the impact of plastic bags on the natural environment. The League supports placing some of the collected funds into the natural area reserve fund where it will be used for protecting native ecosystems and habitats for rare native plants and animals and protecting forested watersheds for water recharge. It is the position of the League of Women Voters that environmental protections and anti-pollution positions aim to prevent ecological degradation and to reduce and control pollutants before they do harm. Environmental protection and pollution control, including waste management should be considered a cost of providing a product or service. Our position is that consumers must expect to pay some of the costs of environmental protection. We ask you to pass SB 2511 S.D. 2.