[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 12 (Thursday, January 21, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E51-E52]
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, January 21, 2021

  Mr. CASE. Madam Speaker, I rise today to join my colleague, 
Representative Kahele, 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 unique 
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, DC, 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. A 2014 survey identified fully 9,975 endemic species in 
Hawaii. 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

[[Page E52]]

world. Hawaii currently has 502 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 Hawaii, 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, two years ago 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 Hawaii 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 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 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 
Hawaii, threatening some of the island's most valuable crops in the 
state's third-largest industry.
  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 Hawaii 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.
  The cattle industry, which is one of Hawaii's most important 
agricultural commodities, has been dramatically affected by the 
introduction of the invasive two-lined spittlebug. Since being detected 
in 2016, the pest now infects more than 125,900 acres of grassland and 
is clearing lands for invasives grasses that further affect Hawaii's 
ecosystems.
  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 robust 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).
  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 Hawaii. That 
is in addition to the roughly 5,000 invasive species that have been 
introduced to Hawaii throughout its history.
  Our bill, the Hawaii 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 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.
  Inaction is not an option. Since my re-introduction of this bill last 
Congress, the coffee berry borer, which was discovered in Kona on 
Hawaii Island in 2010, now infects all of the coffee growing islands in 
Hawaii. The coffee berry borer can cause yield losses of between 30 and 
35 percent and affects the quality of the coffee beans, directly 
impacting the income of growers. Had this bill been implemented, it may 
have helped prevent coffee leaf rust from entering Hawaii late last 
year. The confirmed presence of this fungal disease, which can lead to 
yield losses of between 50 and 80 percent, on multiple Hawaiian islands 
could leave one of Hawaii's most iconic industries devastated.
  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 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.
  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. Mahalo (thank you).

                          ____________________