Press Releases

(Honolulu, HI) – U.S. Congressman Ed Case (Hawai‘i – District 1) today announced that more than $14 million in federal assistance from the U.S. Department of the Interior will go to conservation programs in  the State of Hawaiʻi as a priority distribution from the $1.2 trillion Bipartisan Infrastructure Package (BIP) enacted last year. 

“The funding will assist the state in combating mosquitoes that especially threaten critically endangered Hawaiian forest birds which are found nowhere else in the world,” said Case.

“Invasive species pose an especially grave threat to Hawaii’s unique ecosystems, natural resources and agricultural communities. In large part due to invasive species, Hawai‘i has become the endangered species and extinction capital of the world. Hawai‘i currently has 502 species listed as endangered, more than any other state and almost half of the total endangered species nationwide.

“Many of these species, such as the Kiwikiu (a endemic Hawaiian honeycreeper) on which invasive mosquitoes prey, are critically endangered and face an extremely high risk of extinction in the wild. Although we will never know the true number of species that have gone extinct in Hawai‘i, best estimates are that in the last 200 years alone, 28 bird, 72 snail, 74 insect and 97 plant species have gone extinct.”

Case, a member of the House Natural Resources Committee, says the federal conservation aid is from the BIP that he strongly supported through its enactment last November. Case said the law included $1.4 billion for Ecosystem Restoration and Resilience that will be administered by the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI) to restore habitat restoration, control invasive species like mosquitoes and conserve at-risk listed species. This is a DOI priority disbursement under BIP before other grants are considered. 

 “This is just the latest of many disbursements to Hawai‘i from the BIP, the largest federal reinvestment ever in our backbone infrastructure across the country,” said Case. “The BIP will eventually deliver some $3 billion to our state for roads and bridges, water infrastructure, climate resilience projects, access to the Internet and much more.”

Case is also a member of the House Appropriations Committee, responsible for all federal discretionary spending including the recent $1.5 trillion Fiscal Year 2022 Consolidated Appropriations Act.

That measure won approval of Case’s efforts to include millions more for Hawai‘i for conservation and wildlife programs under the jurisdiction of the Interior Department, including $6 million to help acquire a 3,018 acre parcel adjacent to Haleakalā National Park. This portion of Kaupō Ranch spans from the volcanic crater rim down 10,000 feet to the ocean. The acquisition will expand Haleakalā National Park to protect important natural resources, including priority watersheds and endangered species facing a warming climate and will ensure public access to recreational activities and the Kaupō Gap Trail.

 Additional programs and provisions requested and secured by Case in the Interior section of the Act include:

 ·           $4 million for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s State of the Birds program. These funds support efforts to recover our most endangered Hawaiian forest bird species.

$330 million for National Park Service State Assistance Grants.

·         Language instructing the Office of Native Hawaiian Relations to expand the federal government’s Native Hawaiian community consultation efforts.

·         $33 million, a $3 million increase, for the U.S. Geological Survey Volcano Hazards Program. This includes funding for the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, which monitors the active volcanoes in Hawai‘i, assesses their hazards, issues warnings and advances scientific understanding to reduce impacts of volcanic eruptions.

·         $1.5 million, an increase of $250,000, for the NPS American Indian and Native Hawaiian Art and Culture Grants program.

·         $58 million for State Historic Preservation Offices.

The Act also includes:

·         $1.1 billion for the Drinking Water State Revolving Fund and $1.6 billion for the Clean Water State Revolving Fund, which provides funding to Hawaii’s regulated water systems for Hawaii’s water infrastructure projects. 

·         $92 million for the Leaking Underground Storage Tank Trust Fund Program, which includes funding to address Red Hill issues.

·         $40 million for the U.S. Geological Survey Biological Threats and Invasive Species Research Program.

·         $17 million for the National Trails System, which will benefit the Ala Kahakai National Historic Trail.

Case said today’s announcement of $14 million in BIP funds is just the latest round of BIP disbursements that Hawaiʻi has already received including $49 million for the state’s airports in December, $339 million in January to repair and maintain the state’s bridges and culverts over the next five years, $3.6 million in March to lower energy costs from the Weatherization Assistance Program, and more than $61 million in April for the state to buy new buses, address their repair backlogs, modernize their fleets and transition to new technologies to address the climate crisis.

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