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STATE OF HAWAI'f 

OFFICE OF HAWAIIAN AFFAIRS 

711 KAPI'OLANI BOULEVARD, SUITE 500 

HONOLULU, HAWAI'I 96813 

January 14, 2011 HRDl 1/5523 

Dennis DeVany 

Essential Air Service Chief US DOT 

EAS and Domestic Analysis Div. 

1200 New Jersey Ave SE 

W86-471 

Washington D.C. 20590 

email: Dennis.DeVany@dot.gov 

Re: Essential Air Service Proposal for Kalaupapa Peninsula, Island of MolokaM, 

State of Hawai'i 

Aloha e Mr. DeVany: 

The Office of Hawaiian Affairs (OHA) understands Kalaupapa is a rural community 

currently under consideration for the Essential Air Service (EAS) program. OHA supports this 

initiative because Kalaupapa's geographic boundaries render conventional travel there virtually 

impossible and air travel unaffordable. We urge your favorable consideration. 

Kalaupapa is an ideal candidate for the EAS program, a program put into place to 

guarantee that small communities served by certificated air carriers before deregulation maintain 

a minimal level of scheduled air service. The Department of Transportation (DOT) currently 

subsidizes commuter airlines to serve approximately 140 lural communities across the counliy 

that otherwise would not receive any scheduled air service. The sheer cliff- and ocean-locked 

peninsula community at Kalaupapa is deserving of lower airfares by a carrier that has good 

financial standing and a proven track record operating commercial services in Hawai'i. 

Kalaupapa is in Hawaiian terms a "wahi pana," a place of great significance, and forever 

shall play an important role for generations of descendents of the 8,000 Leprosy patients forced 

into seclusion there from 1866 until 1969. There are but a few remaining patients residing there 

still; however, the need for economical and reliable travel exists today and will continue in 

perpetuity for the many who will visit to honor and respect their ancestors' lives and final resting 

places. The works of Saint Damien de Veuster is also immortalized there. 
Dennis DeVany 

Essential Air Service Chief US DOT 

January 14,2011 

Page 2 of 2 

OHA is obligated to work towards the betterment of native Hawaiians and Hawaiians, 

and to serve the needs and interests of a wide and diverse beneficiary group. OHA must also 

ensure that other agencies uphold their constitutionally, statutorily and judicially mandated 

obligations to the native Hawaiian and Hawaiian people. 

Section 10-3(4), Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), states a core purpose of OHA shall be: 

(4) Assessing the policies and practices of other agencies impacting on native 

Hawaiians and Hawaiians, and conducting advocacy efforts for native Hawaiians 

and Hawaiians (italics supplied). 

Section 10-1(b), HRS, states that: 

(b) It shall be the duty and responsibility of all state departments and 

instrumentalities of state government providing services and programs which 

affect native Hawaiians and Hawaiians to actively work toward the goals of this 

chapter and to cooperate with and assist wherever possible the office of Hawaiian 

affairs. IL 1979, c J 96, pt of Section 2] (italics supplied). 

Given that a majority of Kalaupapa's patients and their descendants have been Native 

Hawaiians and Hawaiians, OHA takes special interest in advocating for favorable passage of 

Kalaupapa as a benefactor of the EAS program's goals. 

We appreciate this opportunity to express our support. Should you have any questions, 

please contact Compliance Specialist Jerome Yasuhara at (808) 594-0129 or by email at 

jeromey@oha.org. 

'O wau iho no, me ka ha'aha'a. 

Cly/de W. Namu'o 

Chief Executive Officer 

CWN.jky