Ka`u News Briefs July 18, 2011

Richard Ha has been a banana and tomato farmer and now chairs
a group wanting to take over Hawaiian Electric to go geothermal.

THE EFFORT TO BUY HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC INDUSTRIES and make geothermal the main provider of energy for the Islands has attracted new board members, according to a story in the Honolulu Star Advertiser. Chaired by Big Island farmer Richard Ha, the board of Ku`oko`a now includes former deputy director of the U.S. Department of Energy T.J. Glauthier and former C.I.A. director James Woolsey. Also on board are Rob Robinson, a venture capitalist and professor of entrepreneurship and e-business at the University of Hawai`i, and Rick Blangiardi, general manager of Hawai`i News Now. The chief strategy marketer is Alan Tang, who owns Olomana Marketing. The organizer of the hui is entrepreneur Roald Marth. Its president is Ted Peck, the state’s former energy administrator, who directed Hawai`i’s Clean Energy Initiative. 

     The goal of the group is to derive most of the electricity in Hawai`i from geothermal produced on this island and Maui. Undersea cables would transmit energy to the other islands. The geothermal could also help produce hydrogen fuel to run transportation. Wind, waves, hydro and solar could also be part of the mix. There could be some biofuel, but the goal would be to retire the oil burning power plants now operated by Hawaiian Electric over the next ten years. 

     Marth claims that electric rates could be cut to 20 cents per kilowatt-hour statewide. Presently the rate is about 30 cents on O`ahu and around 40 cents on neighbor islands. Marth said the cost of purchasing Hawaiian Electric and retooling it to 100 percent renewable energy could cost $35 billion over 10 years. 

     According to the Advertiser story, Marth said Ku`oko`a has been belittled as a plan by a motivational speaker, a tomato farmer and a bureaucrat. “We’re not just the tomato farmer and the bureaucrat and the motivational speaker trying to buy an electric utility,” Marth said. “That’s not what we’re about. We’re a bunch of really, really smart, determined people with a little bit of money who are trying to build a new industry in Hawai`i.”

IN KA`U, `AINA KOA PONO is proposing a biofuel plant between Pahala and Wood Valley, and its contract with Hawaiian Electric is coming up for public hearings on Tuesday, Aug. 2 in Hilo at 9 a.m. at the State Building and in Kona at 4 p.m. at West Hawai`i Civic Center. See the proposal and comments from the public and state officials by googling Hawai`i PUC docket and clicking on the documents in the `Aina Koa Pono file.

KA`U STUDENTS can go to class online through an accredited public charter school operated by Kua O Ka La. The school made presentations in Na`alehu and Pahala last week. The school is considered a hybrid as classes will be online, but teachers will meet with students in their communities and also at a central location where students can study. The school is much more affordable than many other online schools, and the education earns Hawai`i Department of Education credits toward completing a high school education. Pua Mendonca, who visited Ka`u on behalf of the new online school, said that the school could be particularly beneficial for students “who want to soar” beyond what is offered in the public school classroom and students who have special challenges and need individualized programs to improve their skills. 

     To sign up, students must have access to high speed Internet, though the school will provide the computers. There will be daily opportunities for academic mentoring and support for classes, cultural and community electives, dual credit for college and high school available for juniors and seniors and the opportunity to earn high school credits through test mastery. For more information call 965-5098.

THE NEW STATEWIDE CHARTER SCHOOL TASK FORCE meets for the first time this Wednesday in Honolulu at the Capitol. A bill signed into law by Gov. Neil Abercrombie last week requires the task force to develop the framework of accountability between the charter school system and the state Department of Education. The group also will create oversight, recommend funding levels and work on connecting the governing of charter schools with the DOE. The task force will provide its recommendations to the 2012 Hawai`i Legislature. 

Brittany Smart

COUNCIL MEMBER BRITTANY SMART met with the Big Island Press Club last week requesting help to draft language addressing social media and the Sunshine Law. She said she is a strong supporter of the Sunshine Law and firmly believes that transparency is essential to well run governments. At the same time, she said, the laws were written before social media became a strong communication vehicle. Since members of the press “are an important government watchdog,” Smart said she is seeking their help. “Incorporation of social media tools within the Sunshine Law environment is the goal, not circumvention. Transparency must be retained.” 

     Under the Sunshine Law, one council person could write views on a proposed bill online, but if other council persons joined in an online discussion, the Sunshine Law possibly could be broken. The Sunshine Law prohibits more than three council persons from discussing how they would vote on a measure before the council.

ONE JOURNEY, THE LOCAL WINNERS of the statewide Brown Bags to Stardom competition, perform live at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium tomorrow at 7 p.m. Their CDs will be available for purchase and autographs. This After Dark in the Park program is free. A $2 donation is requested, and park entrance fees apply.

KAREN HAGEN SHARES THE ART OF CERAMICS at Volcano Art Center Gallery in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park on Wednesday from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. Call 967-7565 for more information.

Ka`u News Briefs July 17, 2011

Leilehua Yuen and Manu Josiah practice cultural traditions at Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park. Sen. Dan Akaka calls Hawai`i's national parks "showcases of our state's rich natural resources and cultural fabric." Photo by Kenji Kuroshima

SEN. DAN AKAKA has been honored with a Friend of the National Parks Award from the National Parks Conservation Association for his contribution to protecting and enhancing parks. There are two National Parks in Ka`u. More than half of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park is in Ka`u, and the other Park, the Ala Kahakai National Trail. stretches along the entire coast of Ka`u.
     The award recognizes members with pro-park voting records during the 111th Congress.

Sen. Dan Akaka

     “Our national parks are irreplaceable treasures that serve our communities,” Akaka said. They “help us connect to our lands and our history and pass on the legacy of our past to our keiki. Hawai`i’s eight national park units are showpieces of our state’s rich natural resources and cultural fabric. With our care, they will continue to educate generations to come,” said Akaka.
     National Parks Conservation Association President Tom Kiernan said, “America’s national parks are living classrooms that teach us valuable lessons about our shared heritage, and Senator Akaka’s support is essential to the protection and preservation of our national treasures.”
     The Friend of the National Parks Award was established in 1999 to track and publicize congressional members’ votes on significant park issues. For the 111th Congress, NPCA examined six key Senate votes. Akaka voted pro-park on all six votes. More information on the NPCA award is available at www.npca.org/park_policy/friend-award.html.

THE NATIVE HAWAIIAN ROLL COMMISSION will be established by state government through nominations being accepted through Aug. 5. Gov. Neil Abercrombie will select a member from each county plus an at-large member to serve on the commission.
     “This is an important step for the future of Native Hawaiian self-determination and the ability for Native Hawaiians to decide their own future,” said Abercrombie. “This Commission will put together the roll of qualified and interested Native Hawaiians who want to help determine the course of Hawai`i’s indigenous people.”
     Nominees must be at least 18 years of age. They must be a descendant of the aboriginal peoples who, prior to 1778, occupied and exercised sovereignty in the Hawaiian islands, or one of the persons or a direct descendent of a person who became eligible in 1921 for Hawaiian Homes Commission Act programs. The nominee must “have maintained a significant cultural, social or civic connection to the Native Hawaiian Community and wish to participate in the organization of the Native Hawaiian governing entity. Hawaiian organizations with the purpose of “the betterment of the conditions of the Native Hawaiian people” that have at least a ten-year history can make nominations. The qualifications and the application are online at http://hawaii.gov/gov. Click on Boards and Commission.

Certifying coffee for export would be more efficient
with inspector jobs restored.

DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CHAIR RUSSELL KOKUBUN is hoping that the reinstatement of some agricultural inspectors at ports and airports is the beginning of restoring a team that not only helps to keep out invasive plants and animals but also can inspect ag crops being exported. The first round of reinstating inspector jobs focuses on keeping out the invasive species.
     Gov. Neil Abercrombie said that restoring ag inspector jobs is a “key element of the New Day Plan and its promise of protect the environment, grow more of our own food and restore a strong economy in Hawai`i.” The governor recently signed into law Act 202 for construction of biosecurity inspection facilities at harbors and airports. Kokubun said that “restoring agricultural inspection positions and the construction of new biosecurity inspection facilities will greatly improve our ability to protect our environment from irreparable harm of outside threats.”
     The layoffs in the ag department not only reduced inspectors looking for invasive species but inspectors certifying Hawai`i agricultural products for export. The Ka`u Farm Bureau and coffee farmers are lobbying to also have those inspector jobs restored.

Ka`u Farm Bureau president Chris Manfredi
is seeking federal funding to control the
coffee berry borer.

KA`U FARM BUREAU PRESIDENT Chris Manfredi was in Washington, D.C. last week and met with Sen. Daniel Akaka and staff, as well as Rep. Mazie Hirono’s legislative director Anne Stewart. He said he began a dialogue with American Farm Bureau Congressional Relations staff, who accompanied him to Hirono’s office. Manfredi said he stressed the importance for funding to control the coffee berry borer. “Funding is a long shot, but feedback is requested regarding the effectiveness of crop insurance,” Manfredi said.
     Also discussed was the idea of re-valuing the coffee crop using green bean values. Coffee is currently valued and subsequently ranked by the USDA at parchment value. There is significant interest on behalf of the Hawai`i Congressional delegation to assist with this initiative, said Manfredi.

ONE JOURNEY, THE LOCAL WINNERS of the statewide Brown Bags to Stardom competition, perform live at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium this Tuesday at 7 p.m. Their CDs will be available for purchase and autographs. This After Dark in the Park program is free. A $2 donation is requested, and park entrance fees apply.

Ka`u News Briefs July 16, 2011

One Journey, seen here performing at Ka`u High School after winning the Brown Bags to Stardom competition,
appears in concert Tuesday at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium.

CHARLENE ON GREEN, with its environmental television, radio and online reporting and opinion, has been the most vocal in publicly questioning the `Aina Koa Pono plan to build a refinery between Pahala and Wood Valley and a biofuel farm between Pahala and Na`alehu. The CharleneOnGreen.org website recently called for the contract between the Electric Company and `Aina Koa Pono to be cancelled. It called its microwave technology – to install giant microwave reactors to vaporize biomass into gasses to make fuel - “disproven.” It claimed that the “timeline for HELCO and `Aina Koa Pono does not include growing any plants for the biofuel station,” even thought the application to the PUC is for the approval of locally grown feedstock. 

     `Aina Koa Pono disagrees and says that microwave technology has long been used in the pharmaceutical industry and that it plans test plots of plants to see what will best grow in Ka`u. Charlene on Green is also the name of a television show on KHON every Saturday and Sunday at 3 p.m. and a radio show on O`ahu at KGU-AM 760. See charleneongreen.org.
     The county and state say that no Environmental Impact Statement is required to build the refinery on the ag land on Meyer Camp Road, just off Wood Valley Road.
     A public hearing on the contract between Hawaiian Electric and `Aina Koa Pono will be held on Tuesday, Aug. 2 in Hilo at 9 a.m. at the State Building and in Kona at 4 p.m. at West Hawai`i Civic Center. 

KE KAHUWAI PONO, the trustee who oversees the rightful sharing of water, is the name of the state Commission on Water Resource Management overseeing a plan to be presented in August for public testimony. To update the County of Hawai`i's Water Use and Development Plan, hearings will be at 6 p.m. - one on Wednesday, Aug. 3 at Konawaena High School cafeteria in Kealakekua and the other on Thursday, Aug. 4, at Waiakea High School cafeteria in Hilo. 

HAWAI`I, THE BIG ISLAND, will be new name of this place to be promoted by the Big Island Visitors Bureau and others campaigning for tourism who choose to depart from the last nickname - Hawai`i’s Big Island. That name - Hawai`i’s Big Island - didn’t stick and sometimes confused people, according to members of the Hawai`i Tourism Authority and Big Island Visitors Bureau. United Airlines started promoting the Big Island some 30 years ago in advertising its direct flights to Hilo. According to visitors bureau director George Applegate, as many as 40 percent of tourists thought Big Island meant O`ahu, with a big city and big population. When they got here, they found they were really out in the country. Using the term Hawai`i, the Big Island is more direct, first giving the true Hawaiian name of the island, then letting people know it is really big. 

THE WOMEN AND INFANT CHILDREN nutrition program, commonly known as WIC, has increased its income limits to take in more families. A single pregnant woman can make up to $2,611 a month, and a family of four can earn up to $3,964 a month. The federally funded program provides vouchers to purchase such items as fruits, vegetables, eggs, juice and cereal for children up to the age of five. You can have a job and still qualify for WIC. See hawaiiwic.com or call 888-820-6425. 

SEN. MALAMA SOLOMON is asking residents in the most remote parts of the state to stand up and be counted fairly during the current reapportionment process that will decide how many representatives they will have in their elected government. 

     She points to a 2011 Hawai`i State Reapportionment Commission decision that she says “robs Hawai`i County voters of fair and equitable representation by denying the addition of a 4th Senatorial Seat for the Island.” Solomon encourages everyone to call 877-854-6749. 
Email reapportionment@hawaii.gov or send mail to State Capitol, Reapportionment Project Office, 415 S. Beretania St. Room 445, Honolulu, HI 96813, urges Solomon.
     She explains that, given population growth over the past decade, if Hawai`i Island continues to have only three senators, each senator will represent 60,000 residents, where most other senators in the state will have only about 40,000 residents to represent. 

Malama Solomon wants more
representation for Hawai`i Island.

     “This clearly marginalizes Hawai`i County residents’ voice in all major decisions impacting their lives! How fair is that?” asks the senator. She objects to the inclusion by the 2011 Reapportionment Commission to include “nonresident military and dependents, nonresident students and incarcerated felons” in the population data used to determine districts.
     She said that most of the military personnel are “nonresidents.” They consider their “homes” to be elsewhere in the USA where they are emotionally rooted and where they have permanent residences and where – historically — they vote.
     Solomon says that a “fourth Senate Seat for Hawai`i Island, which also represents an additional vote for the neighbor islands as a group, can make a huge difference for neighbor islanders who are consistently left out by the Honolulu-centric manner that our state functions, both within and outside of government.”
     The Hawai`i County Committee of the Democratic Party of Hawai`i has formally requested that the Statewide Reapportionment Commission reconsider its earlier decision on this matter.
     The next meeting of the Reapportionment Commission in Honolulu is at 2 p.m. Tuesday, July 19, and there’s a place on the agenda to discuss “community input received.”
Solomon urges community members to send in testimony ahead of time.

A TALK ABOUT CONTAINER PLANTS AND HERBS is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. tomorrow during the Plant and Seed Exchange at Naohulelua Garden on Kamaoa Road from noon to 3 p.m. Garden tours will also be available.

ONE JOURNEY, THE LOCAL WINNERS of the statewide Brown Bags to Stardom competition, perform live at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium this Tuesday at 7 p.m. Their CDs will be available for purchase and autographs. This After Dark in the Park program is free. A $2 donation is requested, and park entrance fees apply.