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| Richard Ha (l) has long promoted food self-sufficiency, along with Chef Alan Wong, and is now promoting energy self-sufficiency with geothermal. |
RUSSELL KOKUBUN’S 10-member working group to study geothermal energy’s potential to help wean Hawai`i from petroleum is distributing it findings to the Legislature, which opens today in Honolulu. Kokubun established the working group when he was senator from this district. He is now head of the state Department of Agriculture.
Farmer and businessman Richard Ha is a member who works on both food self-sufficiency and energy self-sufficiency. He said the report provides lawmakers with an evaluation of using hot water reservoirs, created by heat from the volcanoes, to provide local and renewable energy for electricity and transportation. Already, Puna Geothermal Venture, which has been online for nearly two decades, is helping to meet the Big Island’s electrical needs.
Said Ha: “There is an urgency to developing new energy resources because Hawai`i, like most of the world, is overwhelmingly dependent upon depleting supplies of fossil fuels. The consensus among credible resource scientists and many economists is that petroleum prices will rise to unprecedented levels in a few years.”
He noted that the Big Island alone pays a billion dollars a year for petroleum.
Other members of the geothermal working group are: Nelson Ho, who is the legislative assistant to county council member Brittany Smart and president of the local chapter of the Sierra Club; OHA trustee Bob Lindsey, who is also a property owner in Ka`u; Hawai`i Electric Light Co. president Jay Ignacio, who recently gave a presentation on biofuels in Pahala; Wallace Ishibashi, Jr., of the Big Island Labor Alliance; energy expert Barry Mizuno; Public Utilities Commission chair Carlito Caliboso; former state energy administrator Ted Peck; Keaukaha Community Association president Patrick Kahawaiola`a; and community volunteer Jacqui Hoover, from West Hawai`i.
COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBER Brittany Smart is on O`ahu today for the opening of the state Legislature and said she will be lobbying for the release of $1.5 million in funding to help plan a new emergency shelter and gym facility for Pahala. She recently met with former council member Guy Enriques, who initiated the project, and Ka`u High School principal Sharon Beck.
THIS COMING SUNDAY will mark the Volcano Project’s 100th week hosting an information table at Volcano Farmers Market. Anne Lee and David Donald, co-founders of The Volcano Project, said they are expecting to learn soon whether they have won the contract for the concession at Volcano House for its hotel, restaurant and retail services. They say they would create 91 permanent jobs and education in the hospitality industry to more than 60 students each year. The lease would be for 14 years. Volcano House has been closed for National Park renovations and for selecting the new concessioner.
KA`U RESIDENTS ARE INVITED to meet with representatives of the Hawai`i Police Department at Pahala Community Center from noon to 2 p.m. today. Scheduled to be on hand is the police department’s command staff as well as Deputy Chief Paul Ferreira, Area II Assitant Chief Henry Tavares, Area II Maj. Randy Apela, Ka`u Capt. Andres Burian and Ka`u Community Police Officer Dane Shibuya. Residents are also invited to call 939-2520 or email Officer Burian at aburian@co.hi.us.
UNDER THE DIRECTION of Meleana Ulrich-Manuel, the dancers of Hula Halau Ke `Olu o Mauna Loa perform tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.
Farmer and businessman Richard Ha is a member who works on both food self-sufficiency and energy self-sufficiency. He said the report provides lawmakers with an evaluation of using hot water reservoirs, created by heat from the volcanoes, to provide local and renewable energy for electricity and transportation. Already, Puna Geothermal Venture, which has been online for nearly two decades, is helping to meet the Big Island’s electrical needs.
Said Ha: “There is an urgency to developing new energy resources because Hawai`i, like most of the world, is overwhelmingly dependent upon depleting supplies of fossil fuels. The consensus among credible resource scientists and many economists is that petroleum prices will rise to unprecedented levels in a few years.”
He noted that the Big Island alone pays a billion dollars a year for petroleum.
Other members of the geothermal working group are: Nelson Ho, who is the legislative assistant to county council member Brittany Smart and president of the local chapter of the Sierra Club; OHA trustee Bob Lindsey, who is also a property owner in Ka`u; Hawai`i Electric Light Co. president Jay Ignacio, who recently gave a presentation on biofuels in Pahala; Wallace Ishibashi, Jr., of the Big Island Labor Alliance; energy expert Barry Mizuno; Public Utilities Commission chair Carlito Caliboso; former state energy administrator Ted Peck; Keaukaha Community Association president Patrick Kahawaiola`a; and community volunteer Jacqui Hoover, from West Hawai`i.
COUNTY COUNCIL MEMBER Brittany Smart is on O`ahu today for the opening of the state Legislature and said she will be lobbying for the release of $1.5 million in funding to help plan a new emergency shelter and gym facility for Pahala. She recently met with former council member Guy Enriques, who initiated the project, and Ka`u High School principal Sharon Beck.
THIS COMING SUNDAY will mark the Volcano Project’s 100th week hosting an information table at Volcano Farmers Market. Anne Lee and David Donald, co-founders of The Volcano Project, said they are expecting to learn soon whether they have won the contract for the concession at Volcano House for its hotel, restaurant and retail services. They say they would create 91 permanent jobs and education in the hospitality industry to more than 60 students each year. The lease would be for 14 years. Volcano House has been closed for National Park renovations and for selecting the new concessioner.
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| Karmen Scheffler, of the McGhee family in Na`alehu, recently introduced her family, baby Sebastian and husband Heinz, to Michelle and Barack Obama at Kaneohe Marine Base,where Scheffler is serving his country. |
PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA recently met a Ka`u native during his vacation in Hawai`i. Karmen Scheffler grew up in Na`alehu, and her mother Ellenor McGhee said that Ka`u should be proud of this young woman who is now 22. After school in Na`alehu, she boarded at Lahainaluna High School on Maui, then had a full scholarship to the University of Hawai`i at Manoa where she received two degrees, one in Political Science and the other in Anthropology. She has an infant son Sebastian and is married to Heinz Scheffler, a marine at Kaneohe, where they met Michelle and Barack Obama.
KA`U RESIDENTS ARE INVITED to meet with representatives of the Hawai`i Police Department at Pahala Community Center from noon to 2 p.m. today. Scheduled to be on hand is the police department’s command staff as well as Deputy Chief Paul Ferreira, Area II Assitant Chief Henry Tavares, Area II Maj. Randy Apela, Ka`u Capt. Andres Burian and Ka`u Community Police Officer Dane Shibuya. Residents are also invited to call 939-2520 or email Officer Burian at aburian@co.hi.us.
UNDER THE DIRECTION of Meleana Ulrich-Manuel, the dancers of Hula Halau Ke `Olu o Mauna Loa perform tonight at 6:30 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.