(ReliableNews.org) – When Barack Obama was president, he rejected the Keystone Pipeline over alleged concerns about wildlife. President Donald Trump’s predecessor’s decision came after months of protests from environmental groups who worried about bird habitats and oil spills. Apparently, Obama forgot all about his supposed conservation values when it comes to his own personal compound in Hawaii.
According to a recent report by ProPublica, Obama and his friend Marty Nesbitt exploited loopholes in the law to build an oceanfront property in Oahu, Hawaii. Nesbitt paid a one-time payment of $61,400 for an easement to basically build by the seawall that’s protecting the coast from erosion. After paying for the permit, he bought the property and began building a multi-million dollar, multi-family complex where the former president and his family will live as well.
The news organization alleges Nesbitt won another environmental exemption after the first, and now he’s trying to get a third. The seawall is causing the beaches around it to basically drown and residents on the island are losing their treasured coastline.
In Hawaii, beaches are a public trust, and the state is constitutionally obligated to preserve and protect them. But officials have routinely favored landowners over shorelines, granting exemptions from environmental laws as the state loses its beaches. https://t.co/sUbx1OXKMH
— ProPublica (@propublica) August 16, 2020
Even worse, two Native Hawaiian burials were discovered on the property and state officials decided to relocate the remains, disturbing graves in order to continue building.
The hypocrisy is astounding. As president, Obama proclaimed to care about the environment and people, but that thoughtfulness seems to end where his desires begin. Why else would he allow the oceanfront to be put in danger, and disturb human remains?
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