Hawaii loves to conserve!

I stumbled upon a report from the South Kona- Kau coastal conservation task force to the 2007 legislature in Hawaii. They apparently had the governor stop all construction and development for a year in South Kona so that they could prepare a report about the development and subsequent preservation of this land. This task force would like for the state to deem these lands undevelopable unless the development doesn't impact the environment. Also they are asking that there be a boundary set up for this preservation area. They would also like to set up a trust in which people who donate their land to the trust will be given a very good tax break. And finally they would like to fund this strictly through private monies.

There are many people out there that would love to conserve nature and would finance this, but I know many more that would pay a lot of money to be able develop the land. This is kind of a classic example of the government not trusting the people to do the right thing. Instead of finding a way to buy the land and conserve it, the task force is looking to the government to do it for them. I wish that these task force people would see that it is also in the interest of developers not to ruin the islands, because if they did, less and less people would want to visit and they would loose business. Hawaii depends a lot on tourism and can't afford to stifle the growth of that industry, in the end it will mean more unemployment and a failing economy. Taxing the land that is bought by developers if they are ruining the land, is much more effective than just saying they can't develop at all!