COMMENTARY
State department looks toward Hawaii's economic future
By Ted Liu, Director, Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism
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Have you checked out The Hot Seat? It's our opinion-page blog that brings in your elected leaders and people in the news and lets you ask the questions during a live online chat.
On The Hot Seat last week was Ted Liu, director of the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism. Below is an excerpt from that Hot Seat session. To see the full conversation, go to the Hot Seat blog at www.honoluluadvertiser.com/opinion. (Names of questioners are screen names given during our online chat.)
Reader: The department has a daunting title, and no doubt similarly daunting responsibilities. How are the department's activities prioritized and where are the synergies between them? I may be misinterpreting its role, but the impression I get is that the department's role is often reactive. What does it do on a proactive basis in terms of economic development, how has the proactivism changed in recent years, and how is it anticipated to change henceforth? Predictions are an important part of economics— how different does your guess anticipate Hawai'i's economy will be 10 and 20 years from now?
Ted Liu: DBEDT sees its role as supporting a steadily growing economy leading to a higher standard of living and quality of life for Hawai'i's citizens. To get there, we need to understand the constraints on our economic growth. As a department, we have targeted six priorities: 1) increasing workforce housing; 2) improving the quality of the workforce; 3) changing how Hawai'i uses energy; 4) investing in an innovation infrastructure; 5) increasing our links globally; 6) improving the business environment.
All six areas are interrelated and in all of them, we have been proactive in suggesting new policies and implementing new initiatives. Energy for Tomorrow and the Hawai'i Innovation are just two examples.
Peter: Have you heard of Sustainability 2050? If so, what is your department doing to make Hawai'i more sustainable in the future?
Liu: Yes, we have heard of Sustainability 2050 and the administration has had a representative on the task force. I believe no matter what our collective vision on "sustainability" is, we will not get there without improvements in our education system and the workforce. Our efforts to increase science, technology, engineering and math skills, entrepreneurship, creativity, and lifelong learning in our workforce is what will enable us to achieve those objectives. Our department is taking an active role in these areas, among others.
Richard Ha: I attended the Association for the Study of Peak Oil USA conference, Oct. 17-20 in Houston. This is a nonpartisan association, with chapters in 25 countries, whose purpose is to study the world supply of oil and its consequences. They feel that the world supply of oil will peak by 2011 and enter a period of permanent decline until alternative fuels take the place of oil, several decades from now. Hawai'i imports 80 percent of its food and 90 percent of its energy. If food and energy supplies are disrupted, we may not have enough food and fuel for Hawai'i's people. What is Hawai'i's plan for a future of permanent energy decline?
Liu: We are all concerned about the implication of peak oil coming upon us. In 2006, we put together a package for the governor and Legislature to enact a series of policies to help us make the transformation that is necessary to enable the state to respond to the potential challenges that face us. These policies include an emphasis on energy efficiency and renewable energy to get us off our extreme dependence on oil. It will require us as individuals and as a society to make this transformation to increase the energy security of the state.
Eduardo: Considering that cities with nonstop air service to Hawai'i also have large gay and lesbian populations (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle, San Diego, New York and Sydney, to name a few) doesn't it make sense to collect data on these travelers to inform marketing strategies? The gay market is widely considered to be "trend setting" and known for spending heavily in travel, dining, shopping, cultural activities and sporting experiences.
Current data collection informs the honeymoon and wedding markets. If we could identify travelers participating in GLBT-friendly tourism activities, growth opportunities could be identified within the family/romance and active niche markets. How can we make the data collection process more inclusive to demonstrate the diversity of Hawai'i's visitors?
Liu: You bring us a good point and we are constantly asked to refine our categories. We'll look into this. In some of these categories, we must be careful about privacy issues.
Chris: According to the DBEDT Web site, your mission is to improve Hawai'i's standard of living by diversifying the economy. As overseer of the Land Use Commission, you are in a unique position to do this.
The Land Use Commission is besieged by corporations who want to pave over agriculture and conservation land with gated megamansions.
These projects destroy a diverse economy and boost the cost of living as we are forced to import food from the Mainland. Will you take a strong stance to support laws that designate land for agriculture? Owing to the frenzy of applications many speculators seem not to heed the laws.
Liu: The Land Use Commission is an independent quasi-judicial entity "administratively attached" to DBEDT. Unlike other agencies attached to DBEDT, I do not sit on the LUC; its eight members are appointed by the governor and confirmed by the Senate. DBEDT provides administrative support to the LUC and its executive officer, consisting of fiscal and budgetary, personnel and administrative functions.
The LUC acts totally independently and employs a quasi-judicial system. All applicants seeking approvals by the LUC have the "burden of proof" that the project is consistent with land use standards and criteria, supportive of the community development plans and do not adversely impact natural, cultural and historical resources. Based on "dockets" before it, the LUC commissioners make their judgment on the facts and circumstances of each case. DBEDT does not "supervise" either the process or the decision making.
In 2005, agriculture accounted for approximately $576 million and ranked third behind tourism and military spending. The Lingle-Aiona administration supports the effort to designate "important agricultural lands" (IAL) with the intent to keep these lands in agriculture production. This will provide the stability and certainty with which land owners and farmers can make investments and grow their agriculture businesses.
My department is working hand in hand with the Department of Agriculture to establish incentives designed to promote new agricultural investment on IAL, work to reduce the cost of production for farmers as it relates to land, water and food safety programs (amongst others) and encourage the cultivation and production of biofuel/energy crops. These initiatives support our push for sustainability and a diversified economy.
Keeping these lands in agriculture is an important strategy for the future of the state.
Skip: What is the most innovative project you have on deck to enhance our economic future?
Liu: Among the areas we are most excited about include astronomy and space, ocean and marine sciences, life sciences, dual use sector, creative media and alternative energy. In terms of energy, our energy policies have sparked tremendous interest in a range of projects including solar, ocean thermal energy conversion, wind, wave, and new biofuels technologies. The emphasis on biofuels has the potential to transform Hawai'i agriculture to produce not only food but fuel as well. One of my personal favorites is an attempt to produce biofuels from algae, a perfect use of our state's ocean and marine resources to secure our energy future.
