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| Ka`u resident Dick Hershberger continues his portrayal of Hawaiian Volcano Observatory founder Thomas Jaggar in 2016. Photo from KDEN |
Hawai`i County Council holds its first meetings of the New Year this week at Council Chambers in Hilo. Ka`u residents can participate via videoconferencing at Na`alehu State Office Building. Meetings are also streamed live at hawaiicounty.gov. Click on Council Meetings.
Committees meet tomorrow: Public Safety & Mass Transit, 9 a.m.; Planning, 9:30 a.m.; Public Works/Parks & Recreation, 11:15 a.m.; Government Relations & Economic Development, 1:30 p.m.; and Finance, 2:15 p.m.
The full Council meeting on Wednesday begins at 9 a.m.
Agendas are also available at hawaiicounty.gov.
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| A rockfall this morning enlarged the vent at Halema`uma`u. Photo from USGS |
HALEMA`UMA`U OVERLOOK CRATER at the summit of Kilauea is getting larger. Hawaiian Volcano Observatory reported that a slice of the north wall of the Overlook crater collapsed into the lava lake at 3:18 a.m. this morning, triggering a small explosive event. The surface of the lava lake rose and was around 100 feet below the floor of Halema`uma`u Crater this morning.
See hvo.wr.usgs.gov.
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FOR-PROFIT UTILITY VS. NONPROFIT CO-OP is the topic of an examination of Hawai`i Island’s energy future in Civil Beat.
Eric Pape reported findings by Hawai`i Island Electric Cooperative’s financial advisor Bill Collet, who facilitated Kaua`i’s utility’s change from a private company to a co-op. According to Pape, Collet calculated that, in a four-year period, the co-op could save customers $113 million. The savings could rise another $121 million if the island’s electric system is modernized.
Collet said the amount a co-op could save Hawai`i Island customers is nearly twice what NextEra Energy promises for Honolulu, Maui and Hawai`i Counties combined. NextEra proposes to buy Hawaiian Electric Companies for $4.3 billion.
Collet said that, with a nonprofit utility model, access to low-cost borrowing is more available, and money doesn’t need to go to income taxes and shareholders. Because of co-ops’ borrowing power, there is a six percent cost-of-capital difference over shareholder-owned companies like Hawaiian Electric Co. or NextEra Energy, he said.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
FOR-PROFIT UTILITY VS. NONPROFIT CO-OP is the topic of an examination of Hawai`i Island’s energy future in Civil Beat.
Eric Pape reported findings by Hawai`i Island Electric Cooperative’s financial advisor Bill Collet, who facilitated Kaua`i’s utility’s change from a private company to a co-op. According to Pape, Collet calculated that, in a four-year period, the co-op could save customers $113 million. The savings could rise another $121 million if the island’s electric system is modernized.
Collet said the amount a co-op could save Hawai`i Island customers is nearly twice what NextEra Energy promises for Honolulu, Maui and Hawai`i Counties combined. NextEra proposes to buy Hawaiian Electric Companies for $4.3 billion.
Collet said that, with a nonprofit utility model, access to low-cost borrowing is more available, and money doesn’t need to go to income taxes and shareholders. Because of co-ops’ borrowing power, there is a six percent cost-of-capital difference over shareholder-owned companies like Hawaiian Electric Co. or NextEra Energy, he said.
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| Hawai`i Island Energy Co-op is interested in purchasing HELCO. |
Pape reported that NextEra said customers could save $60 million over the same four-year period and hopes to produce hundreds of millions of dollars in additional savings.
“NextEra executives readily acknowledge that an increase in oil prices risks erasing any savings they produce for customers as long as Hawai`i remains hooked on fuel oil to generate a large amount of electricity,” Pape said.
“While we can’t speak to what a co-op would mean for a specific community in Hawai`i, it appears that the analysis conducted by HIEC is incomplete and does not demonstrate that a co-op ownership model could deliver lower rates for Hawai`i Island customers than an investor-owned utility ownership model,” Rob Gould, NextEra Energy’s vice president of communications told Pape. “Generating clean, affordable and reliable energy in Hawai`i requires economies of scale, a deep bench of technical and managerial expertise and an extremely strong balance sheet that provides financial stability and an ability to invest in new technology.”
See civilbeat.com.
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THE NEW YEAR BRINGS A NEW MINIMUM WAGE to Hawai`i. Now $8.50, the wage increased 75 cents on its way to becoming $10.10 in 2018.
Hawai`i News Now reported that, according to an estimate by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a single adult would have to earn $14.66 an hour to afford basics in Honolulu, and a single adult with one child would have to earn $28.14.
See hawaiinewsnow.com.
KA`U COFFEE GROWERS MEET tomorrow from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Pahala Community Center.
See civilbeat.com.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
THE NEW YEAR BRINGS A NEW MINIMUM WAGE to Hawai`i. Now $8.50, the wage increased 75 cents on its way to becoming $10.10 in 2018.
Hawai`i News Now reported that, according to an estimate by Massachusetts Institute of Technology, a single adult would have to earn $14.66 an hour to afford basics in Honolulu, and a single adult with one child would have to earn $28.14.
See hawaiinewsnow.com.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
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| Clearing invasive plants provides space for native plants to grow. Photo from NPS |
KA`U RESIDENTS CAN HELP ensure the future of the Hawaiian rainforest at the summit of Kilauea volcano for the next 100 years by volunteering for Stewardship at the Summit programs in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park now through June.
Stewardship at the Summit begins at 9 a.m. and ends at noon. The dates through June are: Jan. 8, 15, 23 and 30; Feb. 5, 13, 20 and 24; March 2, 11, 19 and 26; April 1, 9, 15, 22 and 30; May 6, 14, 18 and 28; and June 3, 11, 17, and 22.
Volunteers help remove invasive, non-native plant species that prevent native plants from growing. Meet at KIlauea Visitor Center at 9 a.m. on any of the above dates. Wear sturdy hiking shoes and long pants. Bring a hat, raingear, day pack, snacks and water. Gloves and tools are provided. No advance registration is required, and there is no cost to participate. Park entrance fees apply.
To commemorate the park’s 100th anniversary in 2016, a special centennial After Dark in the Park program titled What Makes a Species Invasive? is scheduled Tuesday, April 26 at the Kilauea Visitor Center at 7 p.m. The event is free; park entrance fees apply.
“We encourage all who care about our public lands to lend a hand in making sure its natural and native beauty is around for future generations to enjoy,” said project leader and volunteer Paul Field. “It’s fun and fairly easy work. We have people who range in age from eight to over 80 helping out.”
Volunteers have dedicated more than 5,000 hours of their time, restoring more than 35 acres of native rainforest within the national park since 2012. Countless Himalayan ginger, faya, strawberry guava and other invasive, non-native plants that threaten the native understory near Kilauea’s summit have been removed. In their place, once-shaded `ama`u and hapu`u tree ferns have re-emerged, and pa`iniu, kawa`u and other important native plants are returning to the stewardship plots.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
Volunteers help remove invasive, non-native plant species that prevent native plants from growing. Meet at KIlauea Visitor Center at 9 a.m. on any of the above dates. Wear sturdy hiking shoes and long pants. Bring a hat, raingear, day pack, snacks and water. Gloves and tools are provided. No advance registration is required, and there is no cost to participate. Park entrance fees apply.
To commemorate the park’s 100th anniversary in 2016, a special centennial After Dark in the Park program titled What Makes a Species Invasive? is scheduled Tuesday, April 26 at the Kilauea Visitor Center at 7 p.m. The event is free; park entrance fees apply.
“We encourage all who care about our public lands to lend a hand in making sure its natural and native beauty is around for future generations to enjoy,” said project leader and volunteer Paul Field. “It’s fun and fairly easy work. We have people who range in age from eight to over 80 helping out.”
Volunteers have dedicated more than 5,000 hours of their time, restoring more than 35 acres of native rainforest within the national park since 2012. Countless Himalayan ginger, faya, strawberry guava and other invasive, non-native plants that threaten the native understory near Kilauea’s summit have been removed. In their place, once-shaded `ama`u and hapu`u tree ferns have re-emerged, and pa`iniu, kawa`u and other important native plants are returning to the stewardship plots.
Read comments, add your own, and like The Ka`u Calendar News Briefs on Facebook.
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| Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo perform at KMC Theater this month. Photo from Lazar Bear Productions |
AN UPCOMING CONCERT FEATURES guitar virtuosos Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo.
Vignola’s virtuosity has made him the guitarist of choice for many of the world’s top musicians, including Ringo Starr, Donald Fagen, Wynton Marsalis, Tommy Emmanuel and Mark O’ Connor
. Guitar legend Les Paul named Vignola to his Five Most Admired Guitarists List for the Wall Street Journal, and the New York Times deemed him “one of the brightest stars of the guitar.”
Growing up in New York City suburbs, Vignola studied guitar at the Cultural Arts Center of Long Island, worked as a sideman for artists like Leon Redbone and Madonna, and led his Hot Club of France tribute band in New York City in the late 1980s.
Still in his 20s, Raniolo has already performed alongside Tommy Emmanuel, Tony Trishka, Bucky Pizzarelli and David Grisman. Vignola and Raniolo have been touring together as a guitar duo for nearly four years and have played hundreds of shows together.
“Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo are amazing guitarists with extraordinary technical skills,” said Les Hershhorn, of Lazar Bear Productions, “but what you should also know is that their music is fun! Frank Vignola & Vinnie Raniolo have become one of the most popular and sought-after duo’s on the international music scene.”
Growing up in New York City suburbs, Vignola studied guitar at the Cultural Arts Center of Long Island, worked as a sideman for artists like Leon Redbone and Madonna, and led his Hot Club of France tribute band in New York City in the late 1980s.
Still in his 20s, Raniolo has already performed alongside Tommy Emmanuel, Tony Trishka, Bucky Pizzarelli and David Grisman. Vignola and Raniolo have been touring together as a guitar duo for nearly four years and have played hundreds of shows together.
“Frank Vignola and Vinny Raniolo are amazing guitarists with extraordinary technical skills,” said Les Hershhorn, of Lazar Bear Productions, “but what you should also know is that their music is fun! Frank Vignola & Vinnie Raniolo have become one of the most popular and sought-after duo’s on the international music scene.”
The concert takes place Sunday, Jan. 17 at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Military Camp Theater in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. See lazarbear.com for tickets and more information.
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| Tina Neal Photo from USGS/HVO |
AFTER DARK IN THE PARK presents a Volcano Awareness Month program tomorrow.
Tina Neal, Scientist-in-Charge of USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, describes the history of Kilauea’s current eruptions and provides in-depth accounts of volcanic activity during the past year.
The program begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs.
The program begins at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. $2 donations support park programs.
KA`U RESIDENTS CAN TAKE A WALK into Past tomorrow and every other Tuesday at 10 a.m., 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. Meet at Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park for a short walk to the Whitney Vault near Volcano House. Dick Hershberger brings Hawaiian Volcano Observatory founder Thomas Jaggar to life in this living history free program.
Park entrance fees apply. KA`U COFFEE GROWERS MEET tomorrow from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Pahala Community Center.
SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS AT PAHALAPLANTATIONCOTTAGES.COM AND KAUCOFFEEMILL.COM. KA`U COFFEE MILL IS OPEN SEVEN DAYS A WEEK.
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| See kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.swf and kaucalendar.com/Directory2015.pdf. |
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| See kaucalendar.com/KauCalendar_December2015.pdf. |
