Bill Text: HI HR137 | 2019 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The State Board On Geographic Names To Consult With Community Members Who Have Direct Traditional, Cultural, And Familial Ties To The District Of Puna To Establish Appropriate Names For The Fissure 8 Vent And Other Features Of The 2018 Eruption Of Kilauea Volcano.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 13-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2019-03-28 - Report adopted; referred to the committee(s) on JUD with none voting aye with reservations; none voting no (0) and Representative(s) Cabanilla Arakawa, C. Lee excused (2). [HR137 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2019-HR137-Introduced.html

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	137
THIRTIETH LEGISLATURE, 2019
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

 

 

URGING THE STATE BOARD ON GEOGRAPHIC NAMES TO CONSULT WITH COMMUNITY MEMBERS WHO HAVE DIRECT TRADITIONAL, CULTURAL, AND FAMILIAL TIES TO THE DISTRICT OF PUNA TO ESTABLISH APPROPRIATE NAMES FOR THE FISSURE 8 VENT AND OTHER FEATURES OF THE 2018 ERUPTION OF KILAUEA VOLCANO.

 

 

 

     WHEREAS, section 4E-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, provides that the members of the State Board on Geographic Names shall consist of the following or their representatives:  the Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the Chairperson of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, the Chairperson of the Hawaiian Homes Commission, the Director of the Office of Planning, the President of the University of Hawaii, the State Land Surveyor, and the Director of the Bernice P. Bishop Museum; and

 

     WHEREAS, section 4E-3(a), Hawaii Revised Statutes, requires the Board to "designate the official names and spellings of geographic features in Hawaii and provide for circulation thereof to the appropriate state and other agencies" and, in its deliberations, to "solicit and consider the advice and recommendations of the appropriate county government officials, and, should the board desire, other knowledgeable persons"; and

 

     WHEREAS, on May 3, 2018, following a magmatic intrusion into the East Rift Zone of Kilauea Volcano, the first of two dozen fissures erupted near Mohalu Street in Leilani Estates; and

 

     WHEREAS, on May 5, 2018, the eighth fissure, known as Fissure 8, opened near Luana Street in Leilani Estates, and briefly erupted lava fountains that reached an estimated two hundred thirty feet in height, sending a slow-moving lava flow approximately 0.6 miles northward and covering many homes in the subdivision; and

 

     WHEREAS, on the night of May 23, 2018, Fissure 8 reactivated and sent a fast-moving flow northward that crossed Pohoiki Road; surrounded Puna Geothermal Venture; crossed Highway 132; covered Noni Farms Road and Railroad Avenue; inundated papaya farm land; crossed Highway 137; entered Ka Wai a Pele (Green Lake); burned hundreds of homes in Kapoho Farm Lots, Kapoho Vacationland, and Kapoho Beach lots; filled in Kapoho Bay; and destroyed the Waiopae Tidepools Marine Life Conservation District; and

 

     WHEREAS, eruptive activity from the twenty-three other fissures have become concentrated at Fissure 8, where a gushing fountain has built a broad cone approximately one hundred eighty feet high; and

 

     WHEREAS, because the United States Geological Survey defines a volcanic fissure as an "elongate fracture or crack at the surface from which lava erupts", the term "Fissure 8" is an inaccurate name for the large tephra cone located on the East Rift Zone within Leilani Estates; and

 

     WHEREAS, the ongoing eruption is creating numerous other new and unnamed volcanic features, including the enlarged crater, or nested caldera, at Halemaumau; the collapsed crater at Puu Oo; the line of fissures and steam vents extending through Leilani Estates and Lanipuna Gardens; the ocean entry at Malama Ki Forest Reserve; and the channelized lava flow to the ocean at Kapoho Bay; and

 

     WHEREAS, the naming of a volcanic feature in the Hawaiian language may encode information about its physical characteristics, historical events associated with its formation, ecological surroundings, geographical location, or related oral histories; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Geological Survey uses informal names to identify and communicate information about volcanic features, but defers to the local community, including Hawaiian elders, for formal names; and
     WHEREAS, the global community of amateur lava watchers have suggested many names for Fissure 8, but the names for this and other new volcanic features associated with the current eruption should be provided by community members with direct traditional, cultural, and familial ties to the district of Puna; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirtieth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2019, that the State Board on Geographic Names is urged to consult with community members who have direct traditional, cultural, and familial ties to the district of Puna to establish appropriate names for the Fissure 8 vent and other features of the 2018 eruption of Kilauea Volcano; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a certified copy of this Resolution be transmitted to Chairperson of the State Board on Geographic Names.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Kilauea Volcano; Fissure 8; State Board on Geographic Names