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| A house near the original planned site for an energy farm processing plant in Pahala. The processing plant site may be changed to place it away from homes, a church and preschool. |
THE SITING OF A NEW ENERGY FARM processing plant in Pahala is not yet fixed, according to Edmund C. Olson, who is working with `Aina Koa Pono to bring the venture to lands between Pahala and Na`alehu. `Aina Koa Pono has been considering placing the 300-foot by 150-foot processing plant at the ML Macadamia truck and equipment shed in Pahala, which is steps from homes and next to the Methodist Church and preschool. Olson said other locations being considered include land on the Kona side of the old cane haul road, keeping the processing plant farther from other human activities, but still near power, water and the main road coming down from the farmland. The alternative site would keep it away from schools, churches and homes and give it room for expansion away from town, should the venture become very successful. The processing plant could turn plant material, from eucalyptus and Christmas berry to grasses and sweet sorghum, into a biofuel that would be trucked to the Hawaiian Electric Company power plant in Kona. Should the venture be successful it could make fuel for other power plants on this island and throughout the state.
HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC signed a contract on Thursday with `Aina Koa Pono to purchase the biofuel. `Aina Koa Pono officials said the venture would initially create 300 construction jobs to build the processing plant and lead to 100 permanent farm and factory jobs in Pahala. The process would be able to use eucalyptus trees that could be harvested above Pahala and elsewhere. On the old sugar lands, the company would also plant crops that could be used to make biofuels. `Aina Koa Pono plans to generate 14 million gallons of biofuel per year in 2014 and 15 million in 2015. The contract with the electric company is good for 20 years.
CONGRESSWOMAN MAZIE HIRONO has weighed in on the new venture. She said, “I am pleased that `Aina Koa Pono’s new Ka`u Energy Farm – in the Ka`u District of Hawai`i Island – will be located in the Second Congressional District of Hawai`i. Hawai`i’s geographic isolation, year-round growing season and rich landscape make it an ideal place to be a leader in renewable energy, making it possible to reduce our state’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.
“As an avid supporter of increasing Hawai`i’s energy self-sufficiency through the development of commercial bioenergy operations, I am excited that `Aina Koa Pono is taking visionary steps in leading the way to making this goal a reality for our islands,” said the congresswoman.
HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC signed a contract on Thursday with `Aina Koa Pono to purchase the biofuel. `Aina Koa Pono officials said the venture would initially create 300 construction jobs to build the processing plant and lead to 100 permanent farm and factory jobs in Pahala. The process would be able to use eucalyptus trees that could be harvested above Pahala and elsewhere. On the old sugar lands, the company would also plant crops that could be used to make biofuels. `Aina Koa Pono plans to generate 14 million gallons of biofuel per year in 2014 and 15 million in 2015. The contract with the electric company is good for 20 years.
CONGRESSWOMAN MAZIE HIRONO has weighed in on the new venture. She said, “I am pleased that `Aina Koa Pono’s new Ka`u Energy Farm – in the Ka`u District of Hawai`i Island – will be located in the Second Congressional District of Hawai`i. Hawai`i’s geographic isolation, year-round growing season and rich landscape make it an ideal place to be a leader in renewable energy, making it possible to reduce our state’s dependence on imported fossil fuels.
“As an avid supporter of increasing Hawai`i’s energy self-sufficiency through the development of commercial bioenergy operations, I am excited that `Aina Koa Pono is taking visionary steps in leading the way to making this goal a reality for our islands,” said the congresswoman.
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| KAHU Radio station manager Wendell Ka`ehu`ae`a places ti leaves on fencing around one of the communication towers being considered for broadcasting the station. |
THE COUNTY PLANNING COMMISSION voted 6-0 on Thursday to allow Crown Castle GT Co. LLC to replace a 111-foot wooden tower with a new steel pole to allow more communications antennas in Ka`u. One of the antennas is expected to help improve the range of KAHU Community Radio, with its music, news and public information shows. Currently KAHU, based in Pahala, reaches the town, ranches and farms above the village, and listeners from Pahala to Punalu`u and Na`alehu. Windward Planning Commissioner Rell Woodward encouraged Crown Castle to include the radio station on its tower for Civil Defense purposes and to exercise good will in the community.
The tower would expand the radio station reach toward Ocean View and Volcano. It is also expected to much improve wireless communications in Ka`u. The tower is on land managed by Chris Manfredi of Ka`u Farm and Ranch.
DROUGHT CONDITIONS remain in Ka`u though the district has been downgraded from exceptional drought to severe drought conditions. Several rainfall events in December contributed to easing of the drought. December was the first time since last March that Ka`u farmers and ranchers were relieved of the most exceptional drought situation, according to the National Weather Service. Forecasters are predicting above-level precipitation through spring.
VOG: How Dangerous is It? This is the subject of an Insights PBS television show featuring Kapapala rancher Lani Cran, Rep. Bob Herkes, Jeff Sutton of the U.S. Geological Survey’s Hawaiian Volcano Observatory and Dr. Elizabeth Tam, who is conducting research on vog and lung health for the U.H. Medical School. The panel discusses the harm that has come to livestock and the financial challenges of running a ranch during periods of heavy vog. It also sorts out assumptions about how bad vog is for health, compared to smoking in the home and living with automobile smog. This television show was live on Thursday but can now be seen online at pbshawaii.org.
A WALK IN THE PARK will be sponsored tomorrow by Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. It is free to Friends members and begins at the visitor center. The leader for the 2-hour, 3-mile hike is Nick Shema. It begins at 1 p.m. Call 967-8648.