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| Kapua Bay before the tsunami. |
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| Honomalino Bay before the tsunami. |
Rep. Bob Herkes said his district was hard hit, and he is helping with recovery at Kealakekua, where a home washed away and six others were severely damaged. With damage to beach parks, Ali`i Drive walkways and roadways, hotels, shops and restaurants, “We are really going to hurt, economically,” he told residents at a talk story at Ocean View Community Center yesterday.
VOLUNTEERS AT PUNALU`U, organized by `O Ka`u Kakou, have been cleaning up the floating plants that were sucked out onto the beach from the pond by the waves of the tsunami. OKK member Fred Ramsdell said that the tsunami changed the look of the beach. “I almost couldn’t tell where I was,” he said. He noted that some roots of palm trees were exposed. Sand was moved mauka to makai, covering up some of the pools and rocky areas. Rocks and reef are now exposed where they were covered before the tsunami. A few fish were found on the rocks and in the sand.
`Aina Koa Pono has invested $4 to $6 million in the project, according to Chiogiogi. “If the PUC decides not to approve the project, it’s going to be devastating for (the investors),” he told PBN.
The PUC decision stated that the PUC is not allowed to charge people on other islands for the cost of producing electricity that would only be used, initially, on the Big Island. There was some suggestion that the Legislature might look at passing a law that would allow cost sharing across the state.
`Aina Koa Pono plans to build an eight-acre refinery, four-tenths of a mile off Wood Valley Road on Meyer Camp Road. It proposes to truck the liquid fuel in tanker trucks to the power plant near the Keahole Airport and is looking also toward producing transportation fuel.
VOLUNTEERS AT PUNALU`U, organized by `O Ka`u Kakou, have been cleaning up the floating plants that were sucked out onto the beach from the pond by the waves of the tsunami. OKK member Fred Ramsdell said that the tsunami changed the look of the beach. “I almost couldn’t tell where I was,” he said. He noted that some roots of palm trees were exposed. Sand was moved mauka to makai, covering up some of the pools and rocky areas. Rocks and reef are now exposed where they were covered before the tsunami. A few fish were found on the rocks and in the sand.
`AINA KOA PONO has financing lined up for its proposed biofuels project in Ka`u, and “it’s ready to go,” the hui’s president Melvin Chiogioji told Pacific Business News. However, the Public Utilities Commission’s rejection of a proposal to allow Maui, Hawai`i and O`ahu customers share the cost of the development of the biofuels plant could delay or derail the plan, he said. He told PBN, “The fact of the matter to me is that this contract is very important in terms of the biofuel industry in Hawai`i, not just for ourselves,” said Chiogioji. “If the climate is not good for putting together biofuel plants, people could perceive that it is too difficult to do business here,” he said.
`Aina Koa Pono has invested $4 to $6 million in the project, according to Chiogiogi. “If the PUC decides not to approve the project, it’s going to be devastating for (the investors),” he told PBN.The PUC decision stated that the PUC is not allowed to charge people on other islands for the cost of producing electricity that would only be used, initially, on the Big Island. There was some suggestion that the Legislature might look at passing a law that would allow cost sharing across the state.
`Aina Koa Pono plans to build an eight-acre refinery, four-tenths of a mile off Wood Valley Road on Meyer Camp Road. It proposes to truck the liquid fuel in tanker trucks to the power plant near the Keahole Airport and is looking also toward producing transportation fuel.
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| Rep. Bob Herkes |
THE DEPARTMENT OF WATER SUPPLY has fallen short in applying for federal Rural Development grants and other opportunities that could help improve water services on the island, Rep. Bob Herkes told citizens at an Ocean View community meeting yesterday. He said there is a 32-mile stretch on the south side of the island with no potable water. There is undeveloped water in many other places on the island, he noted. Herkes said the water department’s chief engineer has said his job is to maintain the existing system and not to expand it. As a result, said Herkes, he is introducing a resolution at the Legislature on Tuesday, calling for the county to expand water facilities and to seek federal, state and county financial resources. He also asks that the county replace the members of the Water Board and the Department of Water Supply if they are deemed unwilling to expand the water facilities.
ELECTRIC COMPANY WORKERS have ratified their contract with Hawaiian Electric Company and are expected to start work on Monday. The International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260 represents more than half the employees of electric companies in Hawai`i, Maui and Honolulu counties.
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| Bluegrass musicians are performing at St Jude's in Ocean View today at 9:30 a.m. |
BLUEGRASS MEETS PILI GRASS today at St. Jude’s Episcopal Church in Ocean View at 9:30 a.m., with a potluck lunch to follow at Kahuku Park. Hawaiian musician Keoki Kahumoku brought the mandolin, guitar, bass, fiddle and banjo players to the Big Island for a tour and workshops yesterday at Pahala Plantation House, where about 80 people came to a free concert.
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| The Spring Wind Quintet plays today at Kilauea Military Camp Theater. |
THE SPRING WIND QUINTET performs today at Kilauea Military Camp Theater at 4 p.m. The five members of the Honolulu Symphony are recognized as one the country’s leading woodwind quintets and a major force in the development of chamber music in Hawai`i. They will perform original compositions by George Onslow and Jon Magnussen. Call 967-8222 for tickets.