Ka`u News Briefs Dec. 1, 2012

Community members are removing invasive plants from Punalu`u Pond this morning. The event is sponsored by
`O Ka`u Kakou. Photo by Nalani Parlin

TESTIMONY ON `AINA KOA PONO making yesterday’s deadline for submission to the Public Utilities Commission includes a statement from biologist Rick Warshauer, who lives in Volcano. The former county planner and retired U.S. Geological Service staff member who grew up in Hawai`i, centers his reasons for “strong opposition” to the proposal around water, lands, invasive species and cost of electricity.

      “The amount of water to be used in the industrial processing plant (“Micro-Dee”) is water that is desperately needed for real agriculture in chronically dry Ka`u, and would be competing with legitimate agricultural use of the water. The water coming out of tunnels in the Ka`u Forest Reserve is both limited and very subject to fluctuating flows and much reduced output during droughts. Given that prolonged, recurrent droughts may be the new norm for Ka`u as global climate change progresses, industrial competition for tunnel or well water needs to be considered a threat to legitimate agriculture, particularly in the future. Who gets priority? Any pumping of basal well water to the elevation of the refinery would be expensive and adds to costs. If irrigation is needed for crops, it is even more expensive and wasteful.

      “Competition by the `Aina Koa Pono operations, for both fee and leased lands, with cattle ranching, is likely to lead to a reduction in cattle ranching, given the well-funded potential of a HELCO-`Aina Koa Pono alliance. Granting this proposal would only drive the coffin nail deeper for ranching and result in loss of livelihoods for Ka`u ranchers, already hard-pressed by the protracted droughts. I doubt that few of these individuals would welcome alternative jobs in the refinery or growing operations. Will they be abandoned like the former Ka`u sugar workers? 

      “The Big Island is already plagued with growing numbers of invasive species appearing in more and more areas of vacant, agricultural, and natural resource lands, and the costs for control are high. To add more species and more areas of fast-growing fuel plants just adds considerably to the problem. If the crop plants are genetically modified and patented, does it add legal restraints of controlling errant crop plants for neighboring agriculture?

Climate change should be taken into consideration when planning for Ka`u lands, testifies biologist
Rick Warshauer. Drought, dust storms and fires plagued Ka`u this summer. Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

      “The electrical needs of the proposed refinery are an enormous elephant in the room, especially given the intent of the oil to be produced is to be used in distant facilities to produce electricity. Add this to the fuel needed to grow, harvest and transport the crops to the refinery, not to mention the energy cost to haul it to the point where the fuel will be combusted, and the cost efficiency of the operation really comes into question. Where is a credible analysis of the cost and benefits of the proposal? Has the PUC seen one, a real one?
      “One really needs to ask the question: Does it take more energy to produce the oil than can be derived from it? Keep in mind that the costs to do any operation in Hawai`i exceed those of similar operations from almost anywhere else, and this situation is amplified by the remote nature of Ka`u district. Again, has the PUC been provided with an outside objective assessment of the question? It seems to me that the only way this operation can be viable is to float it on the backs of the ratepayers. Then the PUC needs to ask who are the real beneficiaries of this proposal? It certainly is not us ratepayers. Should the unproven operation fail after any PUC approval, are not we ratepayers still stuck paying for it for decades?

      “What if this operation is approved but then in the face of real expenses and constraints flops? Are we the ratepayers stuck bailing them out? We are already too burdened forking out taxpayer money to bail out the banks from their poor business-sweet bailout a few years ago. Is this to be more of the same? What happens to the land and facilities?
      “Growing crops to refine oil to burn in the same HELCO generation facilities is not an alternative energy operation. It is still combustion of a fuel that adds more CO2 to the atmosphere. We need real alternatives, not alternative parasites.

Diesel manufactured near Pahala would be trucked to HELCO's power
plant in Kona. Photo from Power Plants Around the World

      “There needs to be a realistic comparison of this operation with truly renewable energy operations. One such would be a photovoltaic facility paired with a pumped-water generation component to provide at least part of its output to be firm power. One might consider doing a similar PV pairing with fuel cells or hydrogen-burning turbine for the firm power aspect. Either way, the facility could be geographically positioned where it could add power to the grid strategically to reduce the considerable line loss of power endemic in the HELCO grid. The current array of power production facilities relative to loads just wastes much of the produced power as line loss (ratepayers pay for it). HELCO’s proposed 20-year biodiesel supply contract with `Aina Koa Pono just continues this imbalance of load and production, and in turn perpetuates the wasteful line loss. Either way, the HEI investors have their “what-me-worry” guaranteed minimum profit, and the line loss continues to be ratepayer loss.
      “It seems to me that the PUC is in the position to request an Environmental Impact Statement and a third party economic analysis before you rule on the proposal? The latter would address the real costs and benefits of the operations and their impacts on the ratepayers, and the former would make an assessment on the other costs and impacts to affected parties and environment. Please do so. We all deserve the answers now. As we have seen before, HELCO and its sister affiliates on other islands will continue to propose ineffective and expensive scams to extract more money from their captive ratepayer pool of fools. We have no say—It is up to the PUC to do the right things for us. Please do so.
      “In the process, you might seek to assess if Hawai`i County might be better off if we had a cooperative running the utility, or even a county affiliate, rather than the blood-sucking HELCO operation. At least the operation would be with a nonprofit motivation rather than the sure-profit deal that the HEI affiliates have for their shareholders. The way it is run now, especially with the parasitic avoided cost provisions, only the HEI investors win with guaranteed minimum returns. This is just a government-sanctioned shakedown of the ratepayers. If it works for the folks on Kaua`i then it could work for us. PUC members and Mayor Kenoi, are you listening?” Warshauer asks.

Paul Makuakane, at left, has sent testimony to the PUC objecting to the
`Aina Koa Pono project as "unsafe and unhealthy."

PAUL MAKUAKANE, OF MARK TWAIN, writes: “I am a lifetime resident of Ka`u and of the aboriginal descendants of this island. I feel this `Aina Koa Pono project is unsafe and unhealthy for the residents of Ka`u, the `aina as well as for the ports, if an accident should happen there. I think the PUC should not approve of this project due to health and safety issues for the future. We have no foresight of where the area might be contaminated, and everyone would have to leave the area. The cost of the biofuel for a 20-year contract sounds unreasonable as the cost will be shared among all users and myself. I oppose the `Aina Koa Pono Project.” 

      Makuakane signs his letter with, “Aloha `aina kulaiwi, Malama `Aina, Maka`ainana, Kama`aina and Ua mau ke ea o ka `aina ika pono.

TED STETHEM, OF PAHOA, writes that “the `Aina Koa Pono contract needs to be disapproved. Biodiesel has not proven to be cost competitive, (and the) result has been the cost of biodiesel per gallon is always more than diesel at the pump, sometimes several times.” He contended that project is being endorsed by HELCO because it would mean HELCO would not have to alter their exiting power plants. He points out that an alternative energy act of 2008 mandated HELCO to retire their diesel-electric plants as other alternatives became available to produce equivalent power or more.

Sen. Daniel Akaka is retiring.

“IT IS WITH MUCH ALOHA that I say to you now, a hui hou, see you again,” said Sen. Daniel Akaka, who chaired the U.S. Senate Indian Affairs Committee for the last time this week. Akaka, 88, retires on Jan. 2 after 22 years in the Senate. He served in the U.S. House from 1976 to 1990, when he was appointed to the Senate following the death of U.S. Sen. Spark Matsunaga. He won a special election to the Senate in 1990 and was re-elected in 1994, 2000 and 2006.
      Akaka sponsored the Native Hawaiian Recognition Bill, also known as the Akaka Bill, to create a process for Native Hawaiians to gain federal recognition as an indigenous people. Supporters have been unable to gain passage of the bill in Congress.
      “As I begin the difficult task of closing my offices, I want to take this time to thank you for allowing me the honor and privilege to serve you for 36 years,” Akaka says on his website. “I am proud of my accomplishments on behalf of our federal workers, consumers, veterans and all the people of Hawai`i. You have always been my first and foremost priority.”

      See more testimony and other documents at puc.hawaii.gov/dockets. Docket number is 2012-0185.

Japan has pledged $5 million to clean up tsunami debris landing
on U.S. coastlines. Image from NOAA

FIVE MILLION DOLLARS for tsunami debris cleanup is pledged by Japan, which announced the gift to the U.S. government yesterday. Japan’s Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda promised the gift to Defense Secretary Hillary Clinton, according to a report in this morning’s Washington Post. The announcement was made yesterday by Japan’s Foreign Ministry. The money will be split between Hawai`i, Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California and will be managed by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Hawai`i already received a $50,000 pledge from NOAA. The tsunami followed a 9.0 earthquake in Japan on March 11, 2011. A big yellow thing made of metal is largest item that has washed up on the Ka`u coast since the tsunami, but is unconfirmed as tsunami debris. However, numerous items with Japanese writing were reported by an NBC story featuring Kamilo Beach in Ka`u earlier this week. 

TONIGHT IS DIGITAL MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL at 6 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The public can still view 11 films by students from Ka`u and Puna at youtube.com/user/digitalmountain2012 and vote for their favorite by sending an email to kupono_mcdaniel@nps.gov. The winner receives a MacBook Air, and additional prizes are awarded to the top film, chosen by judges, in categories 7th - 9th grade and 10th - 12th grade.

VOLCANO ART CENTERS NI`AULANI CAMPUS in Volcano Village hosts the holiday concert Anela Strings, Music of a Higher Place tonight at 7 p.m. with harpist/percussionist Kristin Aria Shaw and harpist/keyboardist Irminsul. Admission is $16 for the general public and $14 for VAC members. Call 967-8222 for more information.

HELCO MEETINGS TO GATHER public comments on electric utility planning take place from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Tuesday in Hilo, Wednesday in Kona and Thursday in Pahala. See notice at right for more information.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUNEWSPAPER.

FIND MORE OF OUR DECEMBER 2012 EVENT PHOTOS ON OUR FLICKR ACCOUNT. 

Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 30, 2012

Evening views of Halema`uma`u Crater from Jaggar Museum overlook thrill visitors. Photo by Mark Wasser from NPS

AN `AINA KOA PONO PUBLIC MEETING in Pahala has been requested by incoming District 3 state House of Representatives member Richard Onishi. In a letter to the state Public Utilities Commission, dated Nov. 26, Onishi, who will represent Punalu`u through Puna when the legislators take office in January, said, “I appreciate that public hearings on this docket were held in Hilo and Kailua-Kona. However, the facility will be built and operated in Pahala and Pahala residents, all of whom will undoubtedly be directly impacted by the facility, have many questions and concerns to express to you and the other commissioners, as well as the Consumer Advocate and HELCO. Please afford them the much deserved opportunity to do so. Please do not proceed on this application without first hearing what they have to say.
      “On behalf of the Pahala community, your favorable consideration of this request is appreciated.”

A SEPARATE PUBLIC MEETING is planned for next Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pahala Community Center by Hawaiian Electric Co. regarding long-term planning for energy production. The Pahala meeting follows meetings in Hilo on Tuesday at `Imiloa Astronomy Center and Wednesday at Waikoloa Elementary School. A Public Utility Commission-nominated group of advisors to HECO will be on hand to listen to citizens. Documents regarding the utility’s long-term planning are available at irpie.com.

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC CO.’S GENERATING UNITS are only 30 percent efficient,” UH doctoral student Iman Nasseri told Sophie Cocke, of Civil Beat. “If the electric utilities switched out their steam-powered generating units to more efficient gas turbines, efficiency could double, reducing the amount of oil needed to produce electricity by about half.”
      Research by Nasseri and Sherilyn Wee says that, of the roughly 15 million barrels of oil for electricity use that the state imports annually, only five million barrels are converted to electricity, and 10 million barrels are wasted.

Ray Starling

      Cocke reports that the state’s energy efficiency standards don’t focus on the operations of the electric utility companies. Instead, they only apply to reducing the amount of electricity residents consume and ignore the efficiencies that can be gained throughout the generation, transmission and distribution process.
      Ray Starling, head of Hawai`i Energy, the state’s energy efficiency program, told Cocke that, when state policymakers discussed including the utilities’ production facilities, HECO fought it. “In the (regulatory process), the utility basically took a position that they already do the stuff they need to be doing to be efficient and that the efficiency of the utility should not be something that is part of the (energy efficiency) mandate,”" he said.
      HECO spokesman Darren Pai responded that “we are continually improving the efficiency of existing generating units and the transmission and distribution systems. This helps customers by reducing the fuel needed to meet their energy needs — and thereby the costs to them.”

Jeff Mikulina

      Jeff Mikulina, Blue Planet Foundation executive director, told Cocke that, when it comes to energy efficiency policies, the full cycle of electricity production and delivery needs to be taken into account. “We have to look at the entire system from the fuel source all the way to the end use — every efficiency throughout the entire system,” he said. “We have some of the most inefficient, outdated plants possible. We have power plants that date back to the 1940s.”

      For more, see civilbeat.com.

 
TODAY IS THE DEADLINE TO SUBMIT TESTIMONY on the proposed 20-year contract for `Aina Koa Pono to sell diesel, which would be manufactured at a refinery off Wood Valley Road above Pahala, to Hawai`i Electric Light Co. for use in Kona. The contract, according to Mayor Billy Kenoi, is for the biodiesel to be sold for some $200 a barrel. The cost of a barrel of oil – the type being used at the Kona power plant – was under $90 today. `Aina Koa Pono contends that the cost will rise in the future above the $200 and, in the end, consumers will save money with the proposed fixed rates. Opponents contend that geothermal and other alternative energies will be less expensive and that electric company customers should not be burdened with the $200 per barrel cost that could make electric bills higher. See more at www.puc.hawaii.gov/dockets and click on documents, where pro and con testimony as well as the proposal are available for reading.
      The proposal, if approved, would allow electric bills to go up on both O`ahu and the Big Island, and testimony is coming from both places.

RODRIGO ROMO, of Hilo, who is vice president of engineering for Zeta Corp., writes opposition to both the `Aina Koa Pono biofuel project and a separate HELCO rate hike. “In today’s day and age it is inconceivable that while we are living in one of the most privileged locations on the planet with regards to renewable energy resources availability, we still depend on a single utility company that holds a true monopoly on the power generation and that continues to ignore what would be the most efficient path towards energy independence. 

      “South Puna sits on a rich geothermal zone that could provide enough power for the entire Big Island. South Kona and Kohala areas have enough sun radiation to produce a significant supplement to the grid, and South Point and Saddle Road areas provide some of the most reliable wind patterns for wind generation. Yet, here we are debating on whether we should lock in a $200/barrel deal with a biofuel company. Who in its right mind would opt for this option!?”
      Rodrigo presents a graph for the electricity cost at his home for two years. He said the cost went up 16.7 percent in two years. “Now they want an additional four percent increase? Under what justification?” Meanwhile, HELCO continues to report record profits year after year.”
      He also pointed to a lower increase in the price per barrel of crude oil. In Jan. 2010, it was $82. In Nov. 2012, “the price is $87.50, an increase of 6.7 percent. HELCO has increased their rates 2.5 times the net increase of the price of oil, and now they want another increase,” write Rodrigo.
      IRA ONO, OF VOLCANO, who owns a café and gallery in Volcano, wrote, “We do not think taxpayers should subsidize the $200.00 per barrel that A.K.P. and HELCO is proposing.”

HAWAI`I HAS THE SECOND-LEAST COMPETITIVE commercial health insurance market in the country, according to a report released this week by American Medical Association. 

      “Without competition, there may not be the impetus to get better innovation and efficiency,” AMA president Dr. Jeremy Lazarus told Erin Miller of West Hawai`i Today. “In general, when you have an insurer that has such a monopoly on the market, the physicians have to take it or leave it. There’s not a lot of room for negotiation.”
      Lazarus also sees less motivation for insurance providers to create a better system for delivering medical services, Miller reports.

Dr. Jeremy Lazarus

      Hawai`i Medical Service Association, the state’s largest health insurance provider, has 69 percent of the commercial health insurance market and 84 percent of the preferred provider organization market, Miller reports. Nationwide, 89 percent of market share areas have at least one provider claiming more than 30 percent of the insurance market, while nine percent of the market share areas have a provider claiming 70 percent or more of the market.
      But HMSA doesn’t think the limited number of insurance providers in the state is hurting residents at all, Miller reports HMSA vice president for Communication Elisa Yadao as saying.
      “While the study makes ominous predictions about a lack of competition, that is not the case in Hawai`i,” Yadao told Miller. “We often perform better in key health areas than states on the mainland. We have a very low rate of uninsured residents and scored No. 1 overall in the Gallup Healthways Well-Being Index again this year.”
      Miller said Yadao cited a 2011 study by The Commonwealth Fund and an Associated Press report that said Hawai`i has “among the lowest average family premiums in the nation.”

Ranger Talmadge Magno

“THE BEST AND CLOSEST PLACE TO OBSERVE a volcanic eruption within Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park at present is from Jaggar Museum overlook and other vantage points at the summit of Kilauea that provide views of Halema`uma`u Crater,” said chief ranger Talmadge Magno. The park discourages hikers from going to the end of Chain of Craters Road to access the narrow streams of lava that reached the ocean last week. 

      The ocean entry is several hundred yards outside of the park’s easternmost boundary, over private land closer to Kalapana. The trek is an extremely arduous and grueling hike over hardened lava at least 10 miles round trip.
      “We don’t want people to be disappointed, and we especially don’t want people to get hurt,” Magno said. “While the historic flows covering the end of Chain of Craters Road are well worth a visit during the day, hiking all the way out to the ocean entry from the park side and leaving the park to cross private party isnt something we recommend.
      The park has increased staffing at Jaggar Museum to assist the many visitors drawn to Halema`uma`u. For more information, visit www.nps.gov/havo. For webcams and daily Kilauea status updates, visit http://hvo.wr.usgs.gov/activity/kilaueastatus.php. For information on observing lava from Kalapana, call the county hotline at 961-8093.

Students who were honored for showing the month of October's featured trait of responsibility are, left to right, bottom row: Diane Libunao, Dylan Davis, Daehlee Figueroa and Melo Keohuloa; top row: Sarah Kailiawa, Jennifer Abalos and Cherisse Calumpit. Missing is Rebecca Escobar-Kailiawa. Photo by Carla Andrade

ONE STUDENT FROM EACH GRADE will be honored with a luncheon today at Pahala Elementary School Cafeteria. Students were chosen for exemplifying the character trait of cooperation during the month of November.

`O Ka`u Kakou joins with other community groups to clean up Punalu`u
Pond tomorrow.

`O KA`U KAKOU invites everyone to help clean up Punalu`u pond tomorrow from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. Free lunch, local music, games and shave ice follow the cleanup. Sign up with Wayne Kawachi at 937-4773.

DIGITAL MOUNTAIN FILM FESTIVAL takes place tomorrow at 6 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The public can view 11 films by students from Ka`u and Puna at youtube.com/user/digital-mountain2012 and vote for their favorite by sending an email to kupono_mcdaniel@nps.gov. The winner receives a MacBook Air, and additional prizes are awarded to the top film, chosen by judges, in categories 7th - 9th grade and 10th - 12th grade.

HARPIST/PERCUSSIONIST KRISTIN ARIA SHAW and harpist/keyboardist Irminsul perform in a holiday concert entitled Anela Strings, Music of a Higher Place tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Volcano Art Centers Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. Admission is $16 for the general public and $14 for VAC members. Call 967-8222 for more information.

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.

Ka`u News Briefs Nov. 29, 2012

KAMILO BEACH on the Ka`u Coast made NBC Nightly News last night with a story on the possibility of Japan tsunami debris arriving this winter with a huge impact. Anchorman Brian Williams leads off the report saying: “The tsunami in Japan was almost two years ago, and yet wait until you see the pictures of what we found on the beach in Hawai`i, the amount of debris washing ashore, and there’s more coming right behind it.”

      NBC reporter Miguel Almaguer came here for the network and filmed Hawai`i Wildlife Fund workers and volunteers at Kamilo, calling the situation: “On the southern tip of Hawai`i’s Big Island, disaster in paradise.”
      Says Lamson, “We’re pulling a minimum of 2,000 pounds, if not more, off the beach.”
      NBC notes that “Megan Lamson leads the overwhelming cleanup effort at Kamilo. This is what many are calling the world’s dirtiest beach. An estimated 20 tons of garbage washes ashore here every year.”
      Says Lamson, “We are the hub and an accumulation point for loads of marine debris that are washing up from all over the map.”
      NBC reports that “now more and more debris is arriving with Japanese markings, the leading edge of what many fear is an oncoming wave, a ten-mile stretch of buoys, bottles and fishing nets. Even a refrigerator has washed ashore.
     “This section of Kamilo Beach used to be covered in beautiful sand, but now it’s pieces of broken plastic in some cases three to four inches deep that have redefined the very look of this coastline."

      Says Lamson: “You keep digging, and you just keep finding more.”

      NBC reports the impacts on wildlife: “Necropsies on albatross show seabirds are digesting plastic at an alarming rate.”

      Oceanographer David Hyrenback says, “Every bird we open has plastic, 100 percent.” The NBC report continues, “It’s showing up in our fish, too.”
      Biologist Michelle Hester says, “The species that we love to eat like salmon and tuna are eating the fish we are finding plastic in. It’s in our human food web.”
      Reports NBC, “All that plastic is propelled by the great Pacific Garbage patch, a swirling current that has funneled trash toward Kamilo Beach for decades.”
      Carey Morishige, of the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration, states that “arrival of the lower floating items, the things that are more at the surface of the ocean and hanging below the surface, (are) coming potentially this fall and winter.”
      Almaguer concludes that the debris predictions are “clear signs of trouble in paradise.” See http://video.msnbc.msn.com/nightly-news/50002124#50002132.
      Hawai`i Wildlife Fund leads volunteer groups to Kamilo and other Ka`u Coast beaches throughout the year. The next beach cleanup is Saturday, Jan. 12. To volunteer, contact Lamson at 769-7629 or kahakai.cleanups@gmail.com.

THE ELECTRIC COMPANY’S IMPACT on local communities will be part of the discussion at a public meeting next Thursday from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. at Pahala Community Center. A Public Utility Commission-nominated group of advisors to Hawaiian Electric Co. will be on hand to listen to citizens. The Pahala meeting is one of three to be held on this island this month by HECO’s Integrated Resource Planning Advisory Group. 

      Also called the Aloha Advisory Group, some of the 15 members from this island are expected to come to Pahala to listen to the public. HECO and Hawai`i Electric Light Co. plan to present information on development of an Action Plan to govern how HECO will meet energy objectives and customer energy needs consistent with state energy policies and goals. The group is asking for perspectives, concerns and ideas from the community.

Rep. Bob Herkes is a member of
HECO's Aloha Advisory Group.

      The Aloha Group reviews HECO planning and its relationship to the community. Renewable energy is one of the main topics of HECO’s Integrated Resource Plan. In IRP documents filed with the PUC, HECO states: “Renewable generation must not ‘substantially compromise’ the reliable operation of the host island’s distribution and transmission grid” and that “renewable generation must not ‘markedly increase’ curtailment or ‘meaningfully displace’ other renewable generation.”
      Renewable energy for Ka`u currently includes windmills along South Point Road that generate enough electricity for all the houses in the district. In addition, a hydroelectric plant is being constructed in Wood Valley by Olson Trust that could power up many homes in Pahala, if it were to go on the grid. Another proposal is the `Aina Koa Pono plan to build a refinery off Wood Valley Road and process trees, shrubs and crops to make biodiesel to be trucked for electric generation in Kona.
       A notice from Hawai`i Electric Light Co. says the planning by the utility is for the next 20 years, with a report to be submitted to the PUC by June 28, 2013.
      At the website www.irpie.com, documents regarding the long-term planning by the utility company are available. They include: Blazing a Bold Frontier: High oil prices and policies supporting clean energy resources; Stuck in the Middle: Moderate but growing oil prices with uncertain public policy regarding clean energy resource and infrastructure implementation; No Burning Desire: Lower oil prices with waning policy support for clean energy; and Moved by Passion: Moderate but growing oil prices with aggressive clean energy policies.
      After gathering testimony, the utility plans to update the public and hold another round of meetings in the spring of 2013.

HAWAI`I ISLAND “CLEARLY HAS THE ABILITY TO SATISFY current diesel fuel transportation requirements with locally produced biofuels,” states the county’s Energy Sustainability Program Five-Year Roadmap. However, “replacing current gasoline and jet fuel consumption represents a much bigger challenge. Fortunately, there is advanced research ongoing in Hawai`i to develop new sources of renewable biofuels. The U.S. Department of Defense supports biofuel research and development and has shown an interest in large-scale biofuels projects in Hawai`i.” 

      The report says “the promise of a reinvigorated agricultural industry that simultaneously reduces energy dependence makes support and development of a biofuels industry a goal of many business, community, and political leaders.” It also describes much of Hawai`i Island as not suitable for growing biofuels, “so competition for high quality, irrigated land could become an issue. The county should continue to help local communities discuss and decide how to achieve energy goals without harming other important interests, such as ranching, farming, and recreation,” the report states.
      The roadmap mentions the `Aina Koa Pono project with regards to transportation fuel. “The proposed `Aina Koa Pono biofuel production facility would sell 16 million gallons of biodiesel directly to Hawai`i Electric Light Company for use in their diesel generators, leaving eight million gallons available for other uses, according to company estimates,” it says. While biodiesel is commonly found on the mainland and even in Hawai`i, “biogasoline and bio-jet fuel production processes are still being tested and refined, and await scale-up to a commercial level.
      During his campaign for re-election as mayor of Hawai`i County, Billy Kenoi stated opposition to `Aina Koa Pono’s proposed contract to sell biodiesel to HELCO for electricity generation. “We’re not interested in more renewable energy. We’re interested in cheaper renewable energy. Unless it has lower rates, we will not support it,” he told West Hawai`i Today reporter Colin M. Stewart.
      The contract would allow HELCO to raise electric rates to households on the Big Island and O`ahu by $1 per month for every 600 kilowatt-hours used.

Brenda Ford and other County Council
members are sworn in Monday, Dec. 3.

      Deadline for public comments on the proposed contract is tomorrow. Public Utilities Commission is accepting comments at hawaii.puc@hawaii.gov.
      The county’s Energy Sustainability Program Five-Year Roadmap is available at hawaiienergyplan.com. Public comments are accepted at energy@hawaiienergyplan.com or 887-6411 through Dec. 5.

THE PUBLIC IS INVITED TO WITNESS the swearing in of Mayor Billy Kenoi and Hawai`i County Council members, including Ka`u's new District 6 council member Brenda Fordat noon Monday in the Afook-Chinen Civic Auditorium in Hilo. The ceremony begins with music by the Hawai`i County Band. Then, Third Circuit Judge Greg Nakamura administers the oath of office. Two Council meetings also take place on Monday in Council chambers. 

      A Sine Die Council meeting precedes the ceremony at 9 a.m., when Council members receive thanks from the county for their years of service.
      Another Council meeting follows the ceremony at 3 p.m., with appointments of Council members to various committees, Stewart Maeda as County Clerk and Maile David as deputy County Clerk.
The public can view the meetings as they are broadcast live at Ocean View Community Center.

What Volcano Means to Me is part of Digital Mountain Film Festival.

WHAT VOLCANO MEANS TO ME is one of 11 films by students from Ka`u and Puna to be presented during Digital Mountain Film Festival Saturday at 6 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. The public can view the films at youtube.com/user/digital-mountain2012 and vote for their favorite by sending an email to kupono_mcdaniel@nps.gov. The winner receives a MacBook Air, and additional prizes are awarded to the top film, chosen by judges, in categories 7th - 9th grade and 10th - 12th grade.

VOLCANO ART CENTER PRESENTS Anela Strings, Music of a Higher Place, Saturday at 7 p.m. at its Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. This holiday concert features performances by harpist/percussionist Kristin Aria Shaw and harpist/keyboardist Irminsul. Admission is $16 for the general public and $14 for VAC members. Call 967-8222 for more information. 

VISIT OUR SPONSORS AT WWW.PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND WWW.KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN FOR THE HOLIDAYS, SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

ALSO SEE KAUCALENDAR.COM AND FACEBOOK.COM/KAUCALENDAR.