Bill Text: HI HCR24 | 2023 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Land And Natural Resources To Protect Hawaii's Waters And Resources By Prohibiting Seabed Mining.

Spectrum: Strong Partisan Bill (Democrat 10-1)

Status: (Engrossed - Dead) 2023-03-31 - Referred to WTL. [HCR24 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2023-HCR24-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.C.R. NO.	24
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2023
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO protect hawaii's waters and resources by prohibiting SEABED MINING.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, the ocean is of significant economic, environmental, and cultural importance to the State; and

 

     WHEREAS, over millennia, Native Hawaiians have developed a unique and sacred relationship with the ocean, in which the health of the ocean is essential to the health of the islands of Hawaii and its people; and

 

     WHEREAS, the waters of the State are known to contain living resources in the form of abundant and diverse marine biodiversity; and

 

     WHEREAS, the waters of the State are known to contain mineral resources in the form of polymetallic nodules on abyssal plains and cobalt-rich ferromanganese crusts on seamounts; and

 

     WHEREAS, there is a critical lack of rigorous scientific information regarding the potential negative impacts that seabed mining could cause on ocean health, from the deep ocean to the coasts, through:

 

     (1)  The production of large, persistent sediment plumes that could have negative impacts on seafloor and midwater species and ecosystems;

 

     (2)  Direct loss of unique, fragile, and ecologically important species and populations as a result of habitat degradation or elimination, some even before they have been discovered;

 

     (3)  The interruption of important ecological functions in midwater and benthic ecosystems;

 

     (4)  The resuspension and release of metals and toxins that might contaminate seafood;

 

     (5)  Noise pollution arising from seabed mining that could cause physiological and behavioral stress to marine mammals and other marine species; and

 

     (6)  Uncertain impacts on ecosystem services including ocean carbon sequestration and storage dynamics, as well as fisheries; and

 

     WHEREAS, these and other impacts could, individually or collectively, cause impossible-to-reverse harm to ocean biodiversity, ocean ecosystems, marine ecosystem functioning, and human well-being; and

 

     WHEREAS, in September 2021, members of the International Union for Conservation of Nature passed a motion calling for a moratorium on deep seabed mining, the issuance of new exploitation and new exploration contracts, and the adoption of seabed mining regulations for exploitation, including "exploitation" regulations by the International Seabed Authority; and

 

     WHEREAS, as of November 2022, six hundred fifty-three marine science and policy experts from more than forty-four countries have signed a public statement recommending that the transition to the exploitation of mineral resources be paused until sufficient and robust scientific information has been obtained to make informed decisions regarding whether seabed mining can be authorized without significant damage to the marine environment and, if so, under what conditions; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's waters provide residents approximately $13,400,000 in fishing income annually, of which approximately $10,000,000 is from non-commercial catch; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's waters also provide an estimated $1,230,000,000 in tourism-related income annually, including but not limited to income attributable to marine mammals; and

 

     WHEREAS, the health and sustainability of the State's communities and economy are closely intertwined with the health of the State's ocean ecosystems; and

 

     WHEREAS, the health and function of Hawaii's waters are threatened by global stressors related to climate change, and by local stressors from land-based sources of pollution, unsustainable fishing practices, and invasive species; and

 

     WHEREAS, protection of deep-sea ecosystems is essential to mitigating the impacts of climate change and preventing further rises in atmospheric carbon dioxide, as the deep ocean below one thousand meters contains eighty percent of the carbon stored in the ocean; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States, as the only maritime power that has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea, bears responsibility to fully utilize its power to safeguard its own waters from the exploitative national security interests of foreign entities; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2023, the Senate concurring, that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is urged to prohibit mining of the seabed within Hawaii state waters; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Land and Natural Resources is requested to take actions to prevent transboundary impacts of seabed mining from other jurisdictions, including areas beyond national jurisdiction; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Transportation is requested to prohibit the use of State ports by commercial vessels affiliated with seabed mining in other jurisdictions, including areas beyond national jurisdiction; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of these Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, Director of Transportation, and Mayor of each county.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Seabed Mining; Prohibition; DLNR; Department of Transportation