Ed Case

I want to thank the Chair and also Mr. McEachin for their leadership on the Environmental Justice For All Act.

Your support is needed to make sure we take into consideration the outsized issues like this that remote and coastal locations face as our country debates how to approach impacts to infrastructure due to climate change.

I would like to express my gratitude to the Corps of Engineers for its continued commitment to improving and adjusting to these unique situations in Hawaii.

Your committee has within its power the abilities to make a legislative correction to assure this study can move forward.

Hawaii, of course, is an island State, with the ocean on all sides.

There is really no justification for this distinction, especially in the specific case of Waikiki Beach.

The impacts of climate change on coastal erosion and flooding, especially along our world-class beaches, are severe.

This is my top WRDA request to this committee for assistance.

The timeframe here is within 30 days after the emergency order, which Admiral Converse has confirmed twice now the Navy will comply with.

I completely endorse what Congressman Kahele said in the last 30 seconds.

I mean, they did, in your view and experience, directly try to influence those decisions, correct?

I think all you have to do is figure out a way to make him the Secretary of Commerce and everything will be cool.

Some have downplayed these audit results and said they were episodal, there was no big deal, just one or two this or that about them.

The extent and the percentage of grants that were deemed questionable for poor recordkeeping or other issues identified would certainly outline a concern.

The process of evaluating Magnuson-Stevens and developing this draft is one of the best I have ever seen.

Well, we're not a member, but it seems to me we have been awfully passive about it and that's the distinction.

I guess my big question is, are we just going to just let it go?

But a lot of work still to be done, obviously.

I think as we have all recognized, just recognizing the Pacific Islands and showing up even in a virtual hearing like this is critical to our presence in the Pacific Islands.

I really appreciate your allowing me to be a part of this critical hearing.

Some are realizing the importance of the region in large part through the efforts of many on this subcommittee and Representative Case.

Well, first of all, Congressman, it was great to host you in Hawai`i in conjunction with our--both of our membership then on the Agriculture Committee.

The oceans are not some integrated, you know, separate ecosystem from the land, and from our air.

In my home state of Hawai`i, we are on the front line of the fight against climate change.

We are of course severely impacting our climate through our actions.