Ka`u News Briefs March 15, 2011

Destruction of a home at Honomolino Bay, where tsunami waves washed the building off of its foundation.   
Photo by Kaiali`i Kahele

GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE is flying over the Big Island today to see the tsunami destruction along the coast. Ka`u residents and their neighbors, north to Miloli`i, were largely spared, with the exception of remote houses at Kapua, Okoe and Honomolino. 

`O Ka`u Kakou members clean up Punalu`u Beach,
where sand washed inland, filling part of the pond.
Photo by Katherine Okumura

Turtle warning signs
knocked down at Punalu`u.
Photo by Katherine Okumura

    Punalu`u beach was cleaned up with help from `O Ka`u Kakou. Founder Guy Enriques said the most obvious change at Punalu`u is the disappearance and distribution of sand. Sand washed deeper into private properties. Without permission from private property owners, however, it is unrecoverable. Much of the Pahala side of the pond at Punalu`u has been filled with sand. 

A BILL THAT INCLUDES NEW LANGUAGE that would allow Hawaiian Electric Company to spread rate increases throughout its customer base across the state to pay for new energy is alive at the state Legislature. The Public Utilities Commission recently turned down a HECO proposal to raise rates across the state to help pay for fuel that would come from the proposed `Aina Koa Pono energy farm and factory planned for Ka`u. The PUC ruled that since the biofuel would be manufactured for the Big Island, initially, it could not allow the electric company to charge customers in Maui and O`ahu counties for power they will not receive. 

     However, HECO proposed a measure that would allow spreading the cost. The new legislation was added to a bill that already passed the Senate to allow public utilities to make electronic filings to the PUC. The amendment was added and passed yesterday by the House Consumer Protection Committee. This change would allow the PUC to consider the proposal to spread the cost of the `Aina Koa Pono biofuel to all HECO customers. Rep. Cliff Tsuji, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, voted for the measure during committee meeting. Rep. Bob Herkes was absent. The bill goes to the Finance Committee and, if passed, to the full House of Representatives for consideration. 

Croton caterpillars are grinding through Christmas berries
in the area of Kamaoa and South Point Roads and other
locations in Ka`u. Photo by Arnold Hara, UH-CTAHR

CHRISTMAS BERRIES are under attack by caterpillars that seem to have a population explosion about every 15 years in Ka`u. County Council member Brittany Smart said they are particularly noticeable at the corner of Kamaoa and South Point Roads. Entomologist Patrick Conant said the caterpillars prefer the Christmas berry but will also eat other plants in the same family. The croton caterpillar also likes plumeria, Christ child and castor bean. This caterpillar may be fast reproducing after the drought, followed by recent heavy rainfall. Its larval and egg parasites may have died out during the drought and will take awhile to come back, said the entomologist. The march of the caterpillars may go on for a couple of months, he said. In 1992, the croton caterpillar ate more than 100 acres of Christmas berry near Green Sands subdivision.
     This caterpillar is different from another caterpillar, Episimus stilis, which was released in Na`alehu in 1964 but did not work well in controlling the Christmas berry.

THE NUCLEAR CRISIS in Japan is leading health agencies to bring more radiation detectors to Hawai`i, and some people are stocking up on potassium iodine tablets, which protect the thyroid gland from cancer caused by radiation. 

     State Civil Defense deputy director Ed Texeira said that for now, the chance of radioactive clouds reaching here from Japan is low. The radiation entering the environment in Fukushima - through Tokyo Electric’s intentional release of pressure at the broken nuclear power plants, as well as explosions at the nuclear plants and a fire at a nuclear waste storage pond - has stayed out of the jet stream, according to the National Weather Service. 

A map of projected distribution of radioactive particles
from the broken nuclear power plants in Japan through
Wednesday, as predicted by theweatherspace.com.
It shows the jet stream staying far north of Hawai`i.

     Should it reach the jet stream, it could come this way. It is not unusual for the jet stream to be active between Japan and Hawai`i. In fact, the speed of the jet stream frequently reduces commercial airline flight time between Tokyo and Honolulu.
     The half-life of radioactive Iodine-131 is eight days and would likely lose its radioactivity by the time it reaches here, unless it arrives in the jet stream, health officials said. For now the jet stream is far north of Hawai`i. 

     Theweatherspace.com has come up with a map predicting distribution of the radioactive particles already released in Japan through Wednesday, again, showing any radiation that might be picked up staying far north of Hawai`i at this time.

EMERGENCY SIRENS for every community is an issue being taken up at the County Council today. Being discussed is requiring developers, or even new businesses with a capacity of hosting 50 or more people, to absorb the cost of $75,000 to $100,000 to install a siren should there be no siren nearby. The concern stems from the lack of sirens at Kohala coastal resorts where none were installed nor required when the resorts were being constructed. Whether the cost should be born by the county or private business is one of the points being argued.

TUTU & ME BEGINS ITS PAHALA program next week. The free educational program is open to children up to five years old accompanied by a grandparent or other caregiver. To register, call 929-8571.