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THE SENATE                           S.C.R. NO.            S.D. 1
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  CONCURRENT
                        RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THE UNIVERSITY OF HAWAII AND THE DEPARTMENT OF
    BUSINESS, ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT, AND TOURISM TO INVESTIGATE
    ESTABLISHING A PARTNERSHIP WITH THE UNITED STATES
    DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR, FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICE TO
    EXPLORE THE POTENTIAL RESEARCH, EDUCATIONAL, AND ECONOMIC
    OPPORTUNITIES OF JOHNSTON ATOLL.



 1        WHEREAS, Johnston Atoll National Wildlife Refuge is a
 2   coral atoll near the center of the North Pacific located seven
 3   hundred seventeen nautical miles southwest of Oahu and four
 4   hundred fifty nautical miles south of French Frigate Shoals in
 5   the Northwest Hawaiian Islands consisting of four major islands
 6   and approximately fifty square miles of lush and varied reef;
 7   and
 8   
 9        WHEREAS, it is anticipated that possession of Johnston
10   Atoll would transfer to Headquarters Pacific Airforce in the
11   year 2000 and then to the Department of the Interior in the
12   year 2002; and
13   
14        WHEREAS, Johnston Atoll is 80,000,000 years old and one of
15   the most isolated atolls in the world; and
16   
17        WHEREAS, since its discovery by British sea captain
18   Charles Johnston in 1807, the atoll has had a colorful history
19   including an attempt by King Kamehameha IV to claim the atoll
20   as part of Hawaii; and
21   
22        WHEREAS, the twelve-mile-long atoll was claimed by the
23   United States in 1858, placed under the Navy Department in 1934
24   for construction of an airbase and played a strategic role in
25   World War II as an airfield in the battle for the mid-Pacific.
26   Subsequently, it was managed by the United States Air Force
27   playing an important role in the 1951 and 1952 Korean airlifts,
28   and during the late 1950s and 1960s a series of atomic and
29   atmospheric tests were conducted.  The atoll was also the
30   launch point for several high altitude nuclear tests; and
31   
32        WHEREAS, in the 1970s chemical weapons were shipped from

 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   Okinawa to Johnston Atoll for storage which led the United
 2   States Army to begin considering the construction of a special
 3   environmentally sound facility to destroy these weapons in the
 4   1980s; and
 5   
 6        WHEREAS, in 1985 the Environmental Protection Agency
 7   issued a ten-year Resource Conservation and Recovery Act permit
 8   to the Army for the construction and operation of the Johnston
 9   Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System; and
10   
11        WHEREAS, by the year 2000, the United States chemical
12   weapons stockpile on Johnston Atoll including rockets, bombs,
13   projectiles and over two million pounds of sarin may have been
14   removed from our communities and safely processed through the
15   Johnston Atoll Chemical Agent Disposal System fulfilling its
16   mission; and
17   
18        WHEREAS, with the imminent closure of the Johnston Atoll
19   Chemical Agent Disposal System in sight, focus has turned to
20   dismantling of the facility and the clean up of any leftover
21   contamination from the hazardous waste and the ultimate return
22   of the atoll to the United States Fish and Wildlife Service
23   whose biologists have monitored the natural resources for years
24   and assisted the military in protecting and managing the
25   atoll's resources; and
26   
27        WHEREAS, the Fish and Wildlife Service has identified
28   Johnston Atoll as the breeding and nesting grounds of
29   approximately five hundred thousand seabirds of fifteen species
30   and documented over three hundred one species of fish, twenty-
31   eight species of coral, many more species of invertebrates, and
32   two endangered species, the green sea turtle (chelonia mydas)
33   and the Hawaiian monk seal (monachus schauinslandi); and
34   
35        WHEREAS, current infrastructure existing on the atoll
36   include an airport and runway capable of supporting large jet
37   aircraft, a sea plane landing area, large vessel docking piers,
38   seven large dormitories with living accommodations for over one
39   thousand two hundred people, including kitchen, galley and
40   dining facilities for three hundred people, factories, offices,
41   a swimming pool, and a large air filter building that serves as
42   a disaster shelter; and

 
 
 
 
 
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                                  S.C.R. NO.            S.D. 1
                                                        
                                                        

 
 1   
 2        WHEREAS, the imminent closure of the Johnston Atoll
 3   Chemical Agent Disposal System and the demilitarization of
 4   Johnston Island presents an opportunity for Hawaii to explore
 5   research and economic opportunities utilizing existing
 6   infrastructure and resources on the atoll; and
 7   
 8        WHEREAS, existing programs at the University of Hawaii,
 9   College of Business Administration, Pacific Business Center
10   Program link the resources of the university with the greater
11   needs of the business, government, and nonprofit communities;
12   and
13   
14        WHEREAS, the Pacific Business Center Program has
15   facilitated the successful development of eco-tourism
16   throughout the Micronesian Islands by providing the necessary
17   expertise to conduct feasibility studies, prepare a business
18   plan, and assist in the actual development and implementation
19   of the plan; and
20   
21        WHEREAS, the University of Hawaii is a world leader in
22   tropical oceanographic research with specific expertise on
23   Johnston Atoll, its faculty and programs having conducted past
24   research there, including an ecological survey by the
25   University of Hawaii Zoology Department, a coral study by the
26   University of Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, deep water
27   research by the University of Hawaii Undersea Research
28   Laboratory, and a geophysics study; now, therefore,
29   
30        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
31   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, the House of
32   Representatives concurring, that the University of Hawaii and
33   the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism
34   are requested to investigate establishing a partnership with
35   the United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife
36   Service to explore the potential research, education, and
37   economic opportunities of Johnston Atoll including development
38   of an eco-tourism industry, a long-line fishing base or
39   outpost, and an open ocean aquaculture industry; and
40   
41        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Business,
42   Economic Development, and Tourism is requested to report

 
 
 
 
 
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 1   findings and recommendations to the Legislature twenty days
 2   prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2000; and
 3   
 4        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
 5   Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Secretary of the
 6   Interior, the Director of Business, Economic Development, and
 7   Tourism, the President of the University of Hawaii, and the
 8   Chairperson of the Board of Regents.