Bill 2491 is passed; Kauai is about that life

Here’s some news you didn’t realise how bad you wanted to hear: Kauai County Council just voted to override a mayoral veto of Bill 2491. What’s that mean? Well, for the past six months, kick-ass surfer, bad-ass cage fighter and proper-ass community member Dustin Barca has been rallying against the corporations like Monsanto who have turned Hawaiian Island Kauai into ground zero for pesticide testing, and engineering and development of GMOs (genetically modified organisms). In that fight, the best weapon has been Bill 2491, a poison bill that’d effectively mean that those corporations would have no cloak to act behind, and that buffering zones must be placed between testing sites and community areas. Like, uh, schools. Doin’ it for the kids. Snag came when 17 days ago, the Mayor of Kauai vetoed the bill, under the premise that the bill was legally flawed. Immediately afterwards, Dustin told Stab that he was “kinda baffled, ’cause we’ve been working real hard at this for like, six months.” But what Dustin also told Stab that day was this: “I think our county council’s gonna override it.” And now, that’s happened. The Mayoral veto has been overridden, and Bill 2491 is now legit. So, what does that officially win for Kauai? Here it is in Dustin’s words: “The bill gives us full transparency on what chemicals they’re spraying and where they’re doing it. That’s why we’re fighting so hard, for our right to know that. And they must have something to hide if they’re fighting it that hard too. The bill also puts buffers around schools, communities and hospitals, which isn’t a bad thing to ask for. Some of the fields are right next to schools. We’d be able to put buffers up, be it growing big plants there or whatever, just to block some of the dust. ‘Cause the dust they spray with all the chemicals is going all over the community and everybody’s getting sick. This is the best way we could fight it.” Here’s to taking a step in the right direction. – Elliot Struck