Ka`u News Briefs Jan. 30, 2013

Ka Lae Quilters and Red Hat Ladies of Ka`u begin their month of fundraising activities for Ka`u Hospital
 Emergency Room on Friday with a craft and bake sale at the hospital. Their annual spaghetti dinner is
 scheduled for Feb. 23. Photo by Julia Neal

STATE SENATOR JOSH GREEN, whose district extends through West Ka`u, chairs the Senate Health Committee and has introduced a slew of measures to the 2013 Hawai`i Legislature, from bills to control firearms to reducing taxes for low-income people and establishing a tax on sweetened beverages. Many were co-introduced with East Ka`u Sen. Russell Ruderman.

      SB 932 would prohibit any person who is a danger to self or danger to others from possessing, having custody or control of, receiving, purchasing, or attempting to receive or purchase firearms or other dangerous or deadly weapons. It would create a reporting system for persons who seriously threaten a readily identifiable person or persons to a mental health professional. It would require the Department of Public Safety to create a database and list of persons prohibited from possessing, having custody or control of, receiving, purchasing, or attempting to receive or purchase firearms and other dangerous or deadly weapons, which would be accessible to law enforcement, mental health professionals and sellers of firearms. It would require the Department of Public Safety to make a list of persons whose license for firearms or other dangerous or deadly weapons has been revoked.

      SB 69 would appropriate $100,000 to the county police departments to initiate a gun buy-back program. 

      SB 98 would reduce the tax liability for low-income people by creating a tax credit that would reduce a person’s income tax to zero when federal adjusted gross income falls below federal poverty guidelines. It would reduce a person’s income tax liability by 50 percent when federal adjusted gross income falls between 100 and 125 percent of federal poverty guidelines.
     SB 201would authorize the director of Business, Economic Development & and Tourism to allow the sale of motor vehicle gasoline that does not contain ethanol unless sufficient quantities of locally produced ethanol or biofuel crops have been produced and are available to meet the requirements under existing law.
     SB 481 would establish the Instructional Office of Hawaiian Studies for the purpose of providing instruction to public school students on Hawaiian history, culture, arts, and language.
      SB 610 would direct the state Department of Education to name the next completed public high school the Daniel Ken Inouye High School.

Sen. Josh Green

     SB 616 would prohibit smoking at public bus stops, parks, beaches and in vehicles when a minor is present in the vehicle. 

     SB 1999 would establish a two-year Hawai`i colorectal cancer screening pilot program using the Hawai`i comprehensive breast and cervical cancer control program as a model.
      SB 343 would require the state director of Health to participate in the national oral health surveillance system. It would permit dental hygienists to apply preventive sealants in a school-based dental sealant program. It would require the state Department of Health to establish and administer a school-based dental sealant program in a high-need demonstration school and report to the Legislature about the department’s efforts to prioritize prevention of tooth decay. It would appropriate funds to the program, including plans to implement the program on a statewide level.
     SB 638 would require all cellular telephones, including refurbished and remanufactured cellular telephones, sold or leased by a retailer in the state to bear a label that warns consumers of the potential dangers of electromagnetic radiation emitted by cellular phones.
     SB 59 would increase the monthly board rate distributed by the department of human services for foster care services for children.
     SB 639 would reclassify pseudoephedrine as a schedule V drug that would only be dispensed with a prescription. It would exempt cold products that contain other active ingredients, with certain conditions. Requires pharmacies to maintain pseudoephedrine-related records for five years. Pseudoephedrine is a crucial chemical in the making of METH or ICE.

     SB 640 would prohibit manufacture, sale, or distribution of child-care products and toys for young children that contain bisphenol-A or phthalates beginning Jan. 1, 2014. It would require manufacturers to choose safe alternatives. It would prohibit use of packages and packaging containing lead, cadmium, mercury, and hexavalent chromium beginning Jan. 1, 2014. It would prohibit Hawai`i Health Systems Corp. from purchasing and using vinyl intravenous solution bags and vinyl tubing beginning Jan. 1, 2014.
     SB 643 would mandate that all public school teachers receive cardiopulmonary resuscitation training and certification.
     SB 646 would establish a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, syrup and powder with the revenues generated to be deposited into the community health centers special fund and the trauma system special fund.
      SB 647 would adopt the California Environmental Protection Agency emission standards for low-emission vehicle standards beginning Jan. 1, 2015.
      SB 1238 would establish the maternal mortality review committee to conduct comprehensive reviews of maternal deaths in Hawai`i, which would include collecting, analyzing, and disseminating maternal mortality information. It would require the committee to hold meetings and submit an annual report with findings and recommendations to the Legislature.
      The bills are available online at capitol.hawaii.gov/memberpage.aspx?member=green.

Consumer Advocate Jeffrey Ono

THE CONSUMER ADVOCATE for the state of Hawai`i has issued new questions for `Aina Koa Pono and the utility companies planning to build a refinery in Ka`u to manufacture diesel for the Kona power plant. Consumer Advocate Jeffrey Ono asks for the identity of people responsible for preparing responses to the questions asked about the AKP process and financial plan, and the identity of any witness who would be responsible during any evidentiary hearing. He also asks for specific reasons for withholding any “privileged” information about the AKP project. AKP and the utility companies have withheld the price of the fuel in the proposed 20-year fixed price per gallon contract that would raise electric bills on O`ahu and the Big Island. 

      The Consumer Advocate asks for the hui to “state all claimed privileges and objections to disclosure; state all facts and reasons supporting each claimed privilege and objection; state under what conditions the Company is willing to permit disclosure to the Consumer Advocate (i.e. protective agreement, review at business offices, etc.), and if the Company claims that a written document or electronic file is not discoverable…identify each document or electric file…date, author(s) and addressee(s).”
      The Consumer Advocate also asks whether any additional infrastructure will be necessary to burn biodiesel supplied by AKP. He asks about the source of all inputs used in Hawai`i Electric Co.’s calculations and how they compare with inputs in HECO’s Integrated Resource Planning. Ono also requests an updated projected sales forecast and discussion on how it compares to the forecast in HECO’s integrated Resource Planning. He also asks for discussion on whether HECO has performed any analysis on the quantity and unit cost of firm resources (geothermal, use of oil and biofuel) assumed to be needed to complement intermittent resources (wind, solar and hydro).”
      The Consumer Advocate’s information request and other documents on the case are available at puc.hawaii.gov. Docket number is 2012-0185.

      Deadline for the utilities and AKP to respond is Feb. 15.

The Directory 2013 is now available
throughout Ka`u.

MANAGEMENT OF KAWA and the more than 700 acres acquired by the county for a park and natural resources protection will be the subject of a meeting this evening at 5 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. Representatives of Hawai`i County have been meeting with the families with connections to the coastal area that is Ka`u’s favorite surfing beach as well as a shoreline fishing, hiking and picnicking area. The meeting is co-sponsored by the state Department of Land & Natural Resources.

THE DIRECTORY, the annual publication of The Ka`u Chamber of Commerce, is now available at many business and other public locations around Ka`u. The guide to Ka`u with business, community organization and governmental listings also features photos and stories of Ka`u. It can be found at CU Hawai`i Federal Credit Union offices in Pahala and Na`alehu, Bank of Hawai`i in Pahala and other locales across the district. Funds raised from advertising in The Directory are used for scholarships for Ka`u students. 

RED HAT LADIES OF KA`U and Ka Lae Quilters hold a Bake and Craft Sale at Ka`u Hospital on Friday at 10 a.m. Proceeds support improvements to the hospital’s emergency room. Contributions are welcome. Another sale is set for next Friday and Saturday at 8 a.m. at Punalu`u. Call Barbara Beatty at 929-9072.

Tom Peek Photo from VAC

TOM PEEK HELPS WRITERS GET their stories, poems, essays and ideas out of their heads and onto the page at a workshop Saturday from 9 a.m. – 5 p.m. at Volcano Art Center’s Ni`aulani Campus in Volcano Village. Open to all levels and genres; no writing experience is necessary. Fee is $85 or $76.50 for VAC members. Call 967-8222.

 
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

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

Ka`u News Briefs Jan. 29, 2013

A public meeting on the future of Kawa takes place tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center.
Photo by Julia Neal

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC CO. will abandon its proposed 4.2 percent ($19.8 million) rate hike for 2013, according to a statement issued yesterday by Gov. Neil Abercrombie. It says the state and HECO reached a settlement “that will result in the withdrawal of a rate increase request for Hawai`i Island and a significant reduction in taxpayer dollars requested to cover project costs.”
      The settlement filed with the PUC on Jan. 28 outlines an agreement between the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Division of Consumer Advocacy and HECO, including subsidiaries Maui Electric Co., Ltd. and Hawai`i Electric Light Company, Inc.

      “With high oil prices driving up electricity and other costs throughout our economy, we have to take action to help Hawai`i’s families and businesses who are struggling to make ends meet,” Abercrombie said. “While this settlement will help in the short-term, we remain committed to pursuing long-term solutions toward clean energy alternatives.”
        HECO and subsidiaries will also reduce by $40 million the amount being sought for improvements to two major projects –the 110-megawatt biofuel generating station at Campbell Industrial Park on O`ahu and a new customer information system.
       In addition, HECO will also delay filing a 2014 rate case that was originally scheduled to be filed this year under the current regulatory framework for reviewing its rates.
       Consumer Advocate Jeffrey Ono said, “This settlement will benefit consumers and help reduce the ever-increasing cost of electricity.”
      The statement made no mention of a separate electric bill increase proposal by the utilities involving the proposal to build a refinery in Pahala to make biofuel.

COUNTY OF HAWAI`I IS DRILLING DOWN on `Aina Koa Pono specifics. The county is further questioning `Aina Koa Pono’s plan to produce diesel in Ka`u for a power plant in Kona. In a new round of information requests that were filed with the Public Utilities Commission, released yesterday, county Corporate Counsel Lincoln Ashida and County Attorneys William Brilhante, Jr. and Laureen Martin ask for presentations AKP makes to potential financiers. The county attorneys also make a statement about the plan to raise electric bills to pay for AKP: 

      “Having long-term contracts at high prices is attractive in any industry, but when electricity prices in Hawai`i are already the highest in the nation and eroding other industry-sector profits, there may be a net-negative effect to the economy from such contracts. Please explain the rationale behind raising electricity prices to support a single new industry sector that may decrease the profitability of other sectors.”

Hawai`i County asks for energy balance evaluations of the
AKP project, including delivery of biofuel to its final
destination. Photo from Mansfield Oil Co.

      The county also asks for Hawai`i Electric Light Co., Hawaiian Electric Co. and AKP to provide “energy balance evaluations for this project’s comprehensive process: beginning with agricultural inputs (manufacture, transportation to the islands) to agricultural production, harvest and processing of biomass intermediate steps and final production formulation, and delivery of biodiesel to its final destination.” The final destination is Keahole Power Plant and possibly other locations where the diesel would be used for transportation fuel.
      The county asks for details on how the proposed new microwave depolymerization process works, from engineering schematics to confirmation “of techno-economics and mass/energy balances.” The county asks for data from “demonstrated pilot operations (presumably from the North Carolina TekGar/SBS demonstration facility), including documentation of the number and duration of runs on which data are derived.”
      The county writes that if data are based on “feedstocks different than those anticipated to be used by AKP, then please include a description of how the composition of each type of feedstock compares, and what data are available on AKP’s anticipated feedstock.”
      The county also asks for descriptions “of how issues such as potential catalyst poisoning/regeneration might be handled (if relevant).”

Hawai`i County asks for more information on the
Micro Dee process.

      The county asks: “Does the MicroDee process directly produce biodiesel following the microwave depolymerization step or is the product pyrolysis oil that requires further upgrading to biodiesel? If the latter, then what is the composition of the pyrolysis oil (and variability in this composition based on the proposed feedstock or multiple anticipated feedstocks), what facilities will be required to upgrade the pyrolysis oil, will these facilities be on-site (and if not, where will upgrading be performed), and what will be the source of hydrogen to obtain the final biodiesel product?”
      The county attorneys ask: “Could this product be called green diesel or simply renewable diesel?”
      “Have any additional transportation costs and raw material (especially hydrogen) costs been incorporated in the analysis?”
      The county asks AKP and the utilities to present the “predicted final overall economics.”
      “When electricity is finally made by the proposed process, is the net energy balance positive or negative, and is the total amount of petroleum input per kilowatt-hour more or less than if the electricity had been made by using the petroleum directly, or if the biomass were simply burned?”
      “Is there a potential that this project will potentially increase the islands’ reliance on imported petroleum?”

Hawai`i County asks for more information on feedstock AKP would use
as biomass to refine biofuel.

      The county also asks AKP and the utility companies to identify the specific feedstocks that AKP proposes to grow on the land between Pahala and Na`alehu. “Assuming it is a grass, has this grass previously been cultivated as a commercial crop on the island? If not, have trial plots been grown at all? If so, then please describe the size, location, soil characteristics, altitude, ground slope, and actual rainfall at these plots.
      “If there is no prior commercial experience with this grass, please describe the program to introduce this grass and to determine its optimal agronomics – including anticipated amounts of fertilizer, potential disease and insect pressure and how this will be managed, response to differing soils/altitudes/slopes/rainfall amounts.”
      The county notes that “multi-year projects have been undertaken on the mainland to subsidize farmers as they gain experience with a new crop – switchgrass – including a recently complete four year project … which, by the way, has left farmers at a loss whether to continue growing switchgrass.”
      The county attorneys ask: “Has the AKP/MircroDee process been tested on that particular biomass/feedstock (as different kinds of biomass can give very different results)?”
      The county asks for comparative anticipated biomass yields per acre with actual experience in Hawai`i. “Convert these actual yields into estimates of how many cultivated acres will be required, and how many total acres this implies – along with required infrastructure (roads), supply yards, storage.”
      The county notes that if “AKP proposes making 16 million gallons (of diesel from feedstock grown) on 12,000 acres, the AKP numbers imply production rates of 1,333 gallons per acre (per year). It’s obvious this is much higher than other sources, about three times more productive than palm oil…. Please explain such productivity.” The county points to the AKP website saying that the Big Island facility would generate approximately 3,500 gallons of biofuel per acre - seven times more productive than biodiesel from palm oil. The county asks the utilities and AKP to describe how the projection of 3,500 gallons per acre is derived.

      The county asks from where AKP’s projected 900 dry tons of feedstock that would be needed per day of feedstock would come. “How many cubic yards of harvested material is this equal to or simply how many wet tons of feedstock do you have to produce to make a dry ton of biomass? (A dry ton is often confusing as you cannot grow dry biomass, and you have to grow, harvest, transport and handle a lot of wet material in order to end up with a ton of dry biomass),” the county attorneys write. 

      Should AKP plan to purchase feedstock from farmers, the county asks, “please provide the projected amount that growers will be paid per dry ton of feedstock.” The county attorneys ask, “How does this compare with possible alternative fuels (i.e. – opportunity cost)?”
      “Will AKP enter into a 20-year contract with growers? How will AKP handle situations where there is crop failure, inadequate yield and/or if growers decide to produce other crops?”
      The community group Life of the Land and other government agencies are also asking more questions of AKP and the utilities. See www.puc.hawaii.gov and click on documents under `Aina Koa Pono.
      The utility companies and AKP have until Friday, Feb. 15 to answer the county’s questions.

Sen. Roz Baker

THE STATE SENATE Committees on Commerce and Consumer Protection and Energy and Environment held an informational briefing this morning in the state Capitol auditorium to receive information on factors that impact electric rates, the rate-making process and to identify potential solutions to reduce the adverse impacts of increasingly high electric rates on consumers statewide.
       “As electrical rates continue to climb, it is important for us to look for ways that could reduce rates and help lessen the burden of high utility costs on our constituents,” said Sen. Roz Baker, chair of the Senate Committee on Commerce and Consumer Protection.
       A statement said the committee is interested in information about efforts to create an integrated electrical grid using available renewable energy and firm power to benefit consumers with lower rates and reach our green energy goals efficiently and cost-effectively.

Tonight's After Dark in the Park focuses on volcano
monitoring equipment. Photo from USGS/HVO

       “We want to hear the strategies the PUC and the utilities plan to use to incorporate more renewable energy onto the grid,” said Sen. Mike Gabbard, chair of the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment. Invited to participate were Public Utilities Commission Chair Mina Morita, Consumer Advocate Jeff Ono,
      Hawaiian Electric Co. vice president Robbie Alm; Hawai`i Electric Light Co. president Jay Ignacio and the heads of the Kaua`i and Maui electric utilities.

VOLCANO AWARENESS MONTH continues at After Dark in the Park this evening when Hawaiian Volcano Observatory’s chief technical support specialist Kevan Kamibayashi explains the installation and operation of HVO’s various monitoring sensors and how their signals are sent back to the observatory from remote locations. The free program at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park begins at 7 p.m. $2 donations support park programs, and park entrance fees apply.

Ka`ohu Monfort demonstrates la`au lapa`au.
Photo from NPS

LA`AU LAPA`AU IS THE TOPIC tomorrow from 10 a.m. to 12 p.m. on Kilauea Visitor Center’s lanai in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Ka`ohu Monfort shares her knowledge of how Hawai`i’s native plants, including noni, kukui and olena can heal and nourish. The program is free, and park entrance fees apply. 

HAWAI`I COUNTY AND THE STATE Department of Land & Natural Resources hold a public meeting on the future of Kawa tomorrow at 5 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. County representatives have been meeting with local families to help plan the management of the more than 700 coastal acres recently acquired by the county through state and federal funding to protect estuaries and through county property taxes.

SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.

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

Ka`u News Briefs Jan. 28, 2013

Merle Becker and a donkey greeted USA Today writer and photographer Laura Bly to Aikane Plantation Coffee Co.
Photo by Laura Bly for USA Today. See www.usatoday.com

KA`U COFFEE INSPIRED A FULL PAGE STORY over the weekend in USA Today, the largest circulating newspaper in the country. USA Today claims to have more than 3.2 million readers.
      Reporting from Pahala, writer Laura Bly begins at Ka`u Coffee Mill, quoting a visiting Texas health food store owner Shelly Oerlemans saying she will “travel far and wide for a great cup of coffee. Her latest destination: the Ka'u (say "KAH-ooh") Coffee Mill, surrounded by rows of coffee and macadamia nut trees on the windswept slopes of the Big Island's Mauna Loa volcano.”
          Bly writes that “The brews dispensed here — which starry-eyed connoisseurs describe as ‘chocolate, cherry and coconut, accompanied by floral notes of orchid and citrus’ — are generating nearly as much buzz as their more famous cousins from the Kona coffee region, a two-hour drive to the northwest. And with price tags commanding $20 to $100 a pound, they're part of a percolating business that's luring Hawaiian vacationers way off the standard Mai Tai circuit.”
       The story quotes Ka`u Coffee Mill’s Brenda Iokepa Moses saying, "Most of our farmers are in a beautiful situation: They're selling out as soon as they produce their coffee." The story reports that Ka`u Coffee Mill “welcomes as many as 100 visitors a day to a tasting showroom that opened last March.”
       Bly reports that “This year marks the 200th anniversary of coffee cultivation in Hawai`i, and bright red "cherries" (dead ringers for cranberries) are grown and processed on each of the state's five major islands.

Flyn' Hawaiian Coffee van made 3.2 million circulation USA Today over the
 weekend with a photo by writer and photographer Laura Bly.
See www.usatoday.com

       “But the heart of Hawai`i's $31 million-a-year coffee industry is on the Big Island, where a combination of rich volcanic soil and ideal climate — sunny mornings and misty afternoons, with wet summers and cool, dry winters — has translated to ideal growing conditions," the USA Today story reports.
       In a section titled “Roots clear back to 'papa,'” USA Today describes another Ka`u Coffee farm.  She writes about a pair of donkeys, Madeline and Jasmine, who "constitute the official greeting party at `Aikane Plantation Coffee Company, one of about 50 small farms that are transforming the economic landscape in the Big Island's sparsely populated Ka'u region.
       “Though Ka'u's coffee industry took off when the area's sugar cane plantations folded nearly two decades ago, its roots go back much further — in Aikane Plantation's case, to co-owner Merle Becker's great-grandfather 'Papa' J.C. Searle. Today, Merle and her husband Phil combine cattle ranching with coffee growing from the same trees 'Papa' planted in 1894.
       “Visitors who manage to find the place — tucked off an old sugar cane road that connects the small towns of Na`alehu and Pahala — are welcomed with award-winning java, a taste of chocolate-covered macadamia nuts or peaberries (single, rare coffee beans prized for their taste) and a free tour of their 150-acre spread.
       Bly writes: “From picking to pulping, the business of coffee is clearly tough work — but one infused with passion."
      The story also mentions the Ka'u Coffee Festival, this coming April 27-May 5 and Kalaekilohana Bed & Breakfast Inn as one of the places to stay when visiting Ka`u Coffee country. The online photos include a shot of famous Ka`u Coffee farmer Lorie Obra and both online and print editions show the Flyn’ Hawaiian Coffee van in Na`alehu. See more at www.usatoday.com.

Lorie Obra at her award-winnning Ka`u Coffee farm is included in the
online USA Today photos by Laura Bly.

`AINA KOA PONO’S PROPOSAL before the Public Utilities Commission has received another round of comments and questions from Life of the Land. The community group was given an intervener status on Friday, which means it can become more involved in the court-like proceedings on whether to approve the proposal that would allow a 20-year contract between Hawaiian Electric Light Co. and Hawai`i Electric Co. for a fixed-price purchase of biofuel from `Aina Koa Pono.
      AKP plans to cut trees, shrubs and grasses between Pahala and Na`alehu to make pellets to feed into a microwave refinery it plans to build just off Wood Valley Road. The clearing would be followed by an effort to establish a biofuel farm on land that includes thousands of acres of cattle pasture. The contract would mean higher electric bills on O`ahu and the Big Island. The plan is to truck the diesel to the power plant in Kona.
      Life of the Land questions a HECO and HELCO statement that the AKP proposal is reasonable and in the public interest. “How is that possible?” asks Life of the Land.

    The organization also points to the utilities’ statement in justifying `Aina Koa Pono’s plan: “It is probable that it will be easier to achieve higher levels of renewable energy generation on islands other than O`ahu.”
      Stated Life of the Land, “That statement is certainly in HECO’s interest but is it reasonable and in the public interest in light of the U.S. Department of Energy report that the recoverable ocean wave energy off O`ahu can supply ten times the electricity consumed statewide?” Life of the Land pointed to another statement that O`ahu can produce almost 1,000 MW of photovoltaic; and University of Hawai`i scientsts’ assertion that O`ahu can have several 100 MW OTEC facilities.

The pastures on and around Makanau table top mountain would become part of the `Aina Koa Pono biofuel farm, which would truck
diesel from its refinery off Wood Valley Road up Hwy 11 to the HELCO power plant. Photo by Julia Neal

      The brief filed by Life of the Land pointed to the acreage that biofuel farms would need to generate enough fuel for electricity. It said that using `Aina Koa Pono’s projection of how much biofuel could be produced per acre, over 65 percent of the agricultural land on O`ahu would be needed to supply that island’s energy needs.
       Life of the Land asked about the potential of other energy sources. “Does HECO/HELCO dispute the estimates of the potential renewable energy available on O`ahu for photovoltaic?”
      “Does HECO/HELCO dispute the estimates of the potential renewable energy available on O`ahu for wave?”
      “Does HECO/HELCO dispute the estimates of the potential renewable energy available on O`ahu for OTEC?” Life of the Land asked HECO/HELCO to “Please provide all documentation that O`ahu lacks sufficient renewable energy resources to provide all of its renewable energy needs.”
      HECO/HELCO responded: “The Companies have no documentation that, with certainty, either supports or refutes that ‘O`ahu lacks sufficient renewable energy resources to provide all of its renewable energy needs.”
      Regarding the 20-year, fixed-price contract that AKP and the utilities desire, Life of the Land pointed to a statement by the utilities that they “had discussions with AKP regarding the possibility of shortening the term of the 20-year AKP Biodiesel Supply Contract. However, AKP’s financiers indicated that the project could not be financed for a term shorter than 20 years.”

A sovereignty flag flies over Kawa when Abel
Simeona Lui visits. Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

Life of the Land asked for a “list of all financers HECO/HELCO met with re AKP. Please provide all documentation that HECO reviewed as part of its due diligence analysis regarding this statement and asked “Is this response based on your discussion with AKP financers?”

   Regarding the biofuel farm that AKP plans to develop, after cutting trees, shrubs and grasses to process in its refineries, Life of the Land asked, “Is the existing acreage bare or vegetated? What soil additives will be needed? What pesticides and in what quantities will be used? What fertilizers and in what quantities will be used? Haw any crop testing involved genetically-engineered crops?”  See more on the PUC discussion at www.puc.hawaii.gov, under the `Aina Koa Pono docket.

AFTER DARK IN THE PARK on Tuesday will feature Hawaiian Volcano Observatory chief technical support specialist Kevan Kamibayashi who will explain installation and operation of monitoring sensors. He will describe the way signals are sent to the observatory from remote locales. The presentation will be in Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park at 7 p.m. Two-dollar donations appreciated and park entrance fees apply.

THE FUTURE OF KAWA is the subject of a public meeting to be held by Hawai`i County and the state Department of Land & Natural Resources this Wednesday at 5 p.m. at Na`alehu Community Center. County representatives have been meeting with local families to help plan the management of the more than 700 coastal acres recently acquired by the county through state and federal funding to protect estuaries and through county property taxes. 

   Kawa is the main surfing beach for Ka`u and a place for shore fishing and hiking. It has been the subject of a land dispute in which Abel Simeona Lui claimed ownership through his family lineage and Native Hawaiian sovereignty rights over the property where he lived for some 20 years, but lost his claims in court. He said he will attend the meeting and his flag can be seen flying over the property when he visits Kawa.