Corps of Engineers presses on with plans
By Frank Oliveri
Advertiser Washington Bureau
WASHINGTON — The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers plans to award a contract to repair breakwaters at Kaumalapau Harbor on Lana'i, despite President Bush's intention to kill the project as too costly.
• The Hawai'i Water Management and Hawai'i Water Systems Technical Assistance project, which would improve irrigation in West Kaua'i, East Kaua'i, Maui and O'ahu. • Erosion control on Waikiki. • Wailupe stream control on O'ahu
Senior Army Corps of Engineers officials told Rep. Ed Case, D-Hawai'i, recently that they're scheduled to award the $7.25 million construction contract this summer. Case said he will fight for the additional money that will be needed to complete the project.
Other local projects Bush may cancel
Constance Gillette, a Corps of Engineers spokeswoman, said the construction contract was scheduled to be awarded this year. The White House plan to cancel the project is part of its proposed fiscal 2005 budget, which means the construction money is safe, she said.
The Kaumalapau project would repair breakwaters built in the 1920s and badly damaged by storms in the 1980s and 1990s. The harbor was transferred to the state in July 2000 from the former owner, the Lana'i Co.
Corps officials had said the harbor work isn't worth the cost, but Case argued that assessing "indispensable infrastructure" solely on cost-benefit grounds doesn't make sense.
White House proposals to cancel six Hawai'i projects worth more than $72.2 million target "unobligated balances" at the end of 2004.
Hawai'i lawmakers vowed to fight the proposed cancellations.
Case has met with Brig. Gen. Larry Davis, commander and division engineer for the Army Corps' Pacific Ocean Division, Lt. Col. David Press, commander and district engineer for the Corps' Honolulu District, and Eugene Ban, the Corps' director of programs, about projects in his district. The Corps faces an 8 percent cut in its overall civil works budget.
Kaumalapau Harbor was Case's top priority among the canceled projects.
The ambitious program would cost between $10 million and $25 million. About $2.3 million has been spent to date. Case described the harbor as "an absolute lifeline for Lana'i."
Case also is working to protect money for improving navigation at Ma'alaea Harbor on Maui, another project the administration has targeted.
The project would spur development in the inner harbor basin and create 127 new berthing locations.
The president targeted the $16.9 million project as a low priority.
Case said a third environmental impact statement on the project will be complete later this year.
