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HELCO president Jay Ignacio tells Pahala residents that the electric company can help to wean itself from foreign oil by making a synthetic fuel plant in Pahala. |
ABOUT SIXTY COMMUNITY MEMBERS gathered at the Old Pahala Clubhouse last night for a presentation on a proposed synthetic fuels processing plant being planned for Pahala by a hui called `Aina Koa Pono. Engineers and investors, as well as the president of Hawai`i Electric Light Company, Jay Ignacio, explained their plan for Pahala to help wean HECO off foreign oil, in exchange for jobs, economic development and community benefits. The hui promised 300 union construction jobs to build the $320 million manufacturing plant and energy farm, with 100 permanent jobs from agricultural equipment operators to factory and office workers.
To begin, the fuels made from biomass would be manufactured in Pahala and trucked in liquid fuel tanks to the Keahole power plant in Kona. Pahala could also become the manufacturing site for fuels to burn in the Hilo power plant and to manufacture a variety of fuels from diesel for trucks to jet fuel. Fuels manufactured in Pahala could also be shipped off island.
The plan is to initially harvest eucalyptus trees and Christmas berry as well as crops that would be grown on 13,000 acres between Pahala and Na`alehu. The feedstock would be trucked on the old cane haul roads to Pahala where it would be vaporized by a giant microwave and turned into various kinds of liquid fuels in an 80-foot-tall distillation cone. One of the first sources of fuel could be the large stand of eucalyptus trees above the town.
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| Engineer Alexander Causey |
Engineer Alexander Causey said that the initial operating capacity would provide for a truck every 20 minutes coming into the plant with wood and other feedstock down the cane haul road behind Ilima Street. Six liquid fuel trucks a day would head down the Maile Street lane of Norfolk pine trees to Hwy 11 and out to Kona.
There would be 1.28 million gallons of fuel stored in giant fuel tanks on the grounds of the manufacturing site, like the fuel tanks you see at Hilo Harbor, he said.
Two homeowners living adjacent to the hui’s preferred manufacturing site – the macadamia truck shed just below Ilima Street – said the site was too close to their homes and the preschool.
Homeowner and family therapist Sara Witt said she worried about the safety of the microwave plant and the noise of the trucks going by behind her house.
`Aina Koa Pono representatives said that the microwave unit and its shield would be changed each year.
Former County Council member Guy Enriques asked about community benefits and said that the landscape was radically changed at South Point when new windmills went up without providing any reduction in electric bills or other benefits to the Ka`u community.
Building contractor Bob Taylor said that the Electric Company was turning away a lot of the wind energy being produced at South Point. “Why invest in alternative energy if the electric company doesn’t use all that it can use?” he asked.
Rancher Al Galimba questioned the availability of enough feedstock for the manufacturing of the fuels. “We have a drought and nothing will grow, then where will you get your feedstock?” he asked.
The engineer pointed out that sugar was grown for many generations in Ka`u without irrigation and that his hui is looking into growing plants that require much less water than sugar cane.
He also said that water was available from a giant reservoir above town that was built by the old plantation.
County planner Ron Whitmore asked about the use of fertilizer and pesticides – the downstream effect. Causey said that they plan to run cattle to the fields for fertilizer and hope to limit chemicals on the land. Whitmore asked about the test plots of various plants that could be used for biofuels to see how they hold up in the vog. The hui said that they plan to conduct tests by growing various plants to see which ones do best here.
Causey said they plan to grow perennials that would be mowed and bailed – like hay, rather than shoveled out of the ground like the sugar cane was harvested by plantations in the past. He said the grasses they could grow would not create seeds that would become invasive but would be grown from rhizomes.
Sophia Hanoa asked if an Environmental Impact Statement is being written for the project, and Causey said he didn’t think that one would be required. She also asked if there is any place in the world where such a manufacturing plant is operating so that community members could assess it. She was told that there is a test plant next to University of Denmark but that it is being moved and not currently operating.
Two homeowners living adjacent to the hui’s preferred manufacturing site – the macadamia truck shed just below Ilima Street – said the site was too close to their homes and the preschool.
Homeowner and family therapist Sara Witt said she worried about the safety of the microwave plant and the noise of the trucks going by behind her house.
`Aina Koa Pono representatives said that the microwave unit and its shield would be changed each year.
Former County Council member Guy Enriques asked about community benefits and said that the landscape was radically changed at South Point when new windmills went up without providing any reduction in electric bills or other benefits to the Ka`u community.
Building contractor Bob Taylor said that the Electric Company was turning away a lot of the wind energy being produced at South Point. “Why invest in alternative energy if the electric company doesn’t use all that it can use?” he asked.
Rancher Al Galimba questioned the availability of enough feedstock for the manufacturing of the fuels. “We have a drought and nothing will grow, then where will you get your feedstock?” he asked.
The engineer pointed out that sugar was grown for many generations in Ka`u without irrigation and that his hui is looking into growing plants that require much less water than sugar cane.
He also said that water was available from a giant reservoir above town that was built by the old plantation.
County planner Ron Whitmore asked about the use of fertilizer and pesticides – the downstream effect. Causey said that they plan to run cattle to the fields for fertilizer and hope to limit chemicals on the land. Whitmore asked about the test plots of various plants that could be used for biofuels to see how they hold up in the vog. The hui said that they plan to conduct tests by growing various plants to see which ones do best here.
Causey said they plan to grow perennials that would be mowed and bailed – like hay, rather than shoveled out of the ground like the sugar cane was harvested by plantations in the past. He said the grasses they could grow would not create seeds that would become invasive but would be grown from rhizomes.
Sophia Hanoa asked if an Environmental Impact Statement is being written for the project, and Causey said he didn’t think that one would be required. She also asked if there is any place in the world where such a manufacturing plant is operating so that community members could assess it. She was told that there is a test plant next to University of Denmark but that it is being moved and not currently operating.
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| A house on Ilima Street near the initial site planned for a synthetic fuels manufacturing plant in Pahala. An alternate site is proposed next to Pahala rubbish transfer station. |
The hui said that an alternate location, near the Pahala transfer station, is being considered as it is farther from homes and schools. The engineer and investors said they will be coming to Pahala at least once a month. They and County Council member Brittany Smart said another community meeting will be planned soon.
AS PART OF VOLCANO AWARENESS month, an interpreter from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park leads a hike to Pu`uloa this afternoon at 1 p.m. Participants meet at the Pu`uloa parking lot on Chain of Craters Road. This two-mile hike takes one-and-a-half hours, and park entrance fees apply.
VOLUNTEERS AND THOSE INTERESTED in becoming volunteers are invited to the monthly Red Cross meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at the HOVE Road Maintenance Corporation office in Ocean View. Call Hannah Uribes at 929-9953.
AS PART OF VOLCANO AWARENESS month, an interpreter from Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park leads a hike to Pu`uloa this afternoon at 1 p.m. Participants meet at the Pu`uloa parking lot on Chain of Craters Road. This two-mile hike takes one-and-a-half hours, and park entrance fees apply.
VOLUNTEERS AND THOSE INTERESTED in becoming volunteers are invited to the monthly Red Cross meeting tonight at 7 p.m. at the HOVE Road Maintenance Corporation office in Ocean View. Call Hannah Uribes at 929-9953.