Ka`u News Briefs August 10, 2011

John Carroll (left) and Michael Thieman, of `Aina Koa Pono, work with Lance Santo (center) from Hawai`i Agricultural Research Center to plant and grow sugar cane and bana grass to see which plants will do best on the proposed biofuels farm between Wood Valley and Pahala and Na`alehu.  Photo by Michael Neal

FORTY TEST PLOTS have been planted for the proposed `Aina Koa Pono biofuels farm planned for lands between Wood Valley and Pahala and Na`alehu. Lance Santo, Agricultural Field Coordinator for Hawai`i Agricultural Research Center, has worked with sugar cane and other grasses since Hawaiian Sugar Planters days and is heading up research on appropriate biofuels crops. He said the test crops will be fertilized. They will also be irrigated if necessary.

    Santo said high biomass-producing crops need fertilizer since they remove so many nutrients from the ground. John Carroll and Michael Thieman, of `Aina Koa Pono, said they will bring additional types of cane and bana crosses to test, and are hoping for varieties that don’t require much fertilizer. They said they hope to have a biofuel farm without irrigation.
     Regarding concerns that the grasses could be invasive, Santo said that bana grasses and canes are not sterile, but noted they are hard to reproduce without actually planting them one stick at a time. Santo said that sugar cane and bana probably grow best around 900 feet in elevation where there is a lot of sun, but also rain. Among canes and bana grasses being tested are two growing wild in Ka`u.
     The Olson Trust crew prepared the ground and planting and will care for the canes and bana grass until harvest. Santo said that HARC is funding its part of the research. “This needs to be done,” not only for proposed biofuel farms here in Ka`u but for proposed biofuel efforts elsewhere around the state, he said.

Robbie Alm

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC COMPANY’S executive vice president Robbie Alm has submitted testimony to the Public Utilities Commission supporting his company’s proposed contract with `Aina Koa Pono to create a biofuel farm and build a refinery near Pahala, raising electric rates to help pay for it. 

     Alm wrote: “Our state is 90 percent dependent on imported fossil fuels for all our energy needs. This is no longer sustainable. It threatens our energy and economic security and our environment.” Alm said the contract between HECO and `Aina Koa Pono would “supply a significant quantity of biofuels for a period of 20 years – starting with 14 million gallons per year in 2014 and increasing to 16 million gallons per year in 2015.” Alm emphasized local use of biofuel to power Hawaiian Electric’s own power plant and for transportation fuel.
     Regarding proposed rate hikes, Alm contended that charging higher rates makes sense because locally produced biofuels would reduce the risk imposed on having to import oil and would produce jobs within the state. In the long term, he claimed, oil prices will continue to climb, making the higher cost of biofuels now worth it.

STEPHEN P. REIMERS, a Navy captain in the U.S. Pacific Fleet, called HECO’s rate hike “a travesty.” Reimers said that HECO should be producing fuel to lower electric bills, not increase them. He cites a study by the University of Hawai`i that found the cost of making biodiesel more energy-intensive than energy produced. He also questioned `Aina Koa Pono’s ability to produce 16 million gallons of fuel, saying the company does not yet have the necessary financing. He also questioned the company’s claims that biodiesel fuel reduces greenhouse emissions, benefits agriculture and economic interests, and reduces dependency on foreign oil. “There is absolutely no proof of any of that being possible,” said the Navy captain.
     Reimers also objected to O`ahu residents paying more when the biofuel will be used on the Big Island. He also questioned HECO’s current high electric rates on the Big Island: “Do I have to remind you that the Big Island has more renewable energy on it than anywhere else in Hawai`i, yet the customers in the Big Island are paying more per kilowatt hour than anyone else? How can this be? And HECO/HELCO wants to raise the rates even more?” he asked.

MICHAEL ASATO wrote testimony to the PUC saying he opposes a clause in the contract that could give `Aina Koa Pono and the electric company the ability “to pass on AKP's cost overruns ‘without limitations’ to its ratepayers.”
     He also suggested that a smaller test plant refinery be operated before final approval is considered and pointed to Sun Microsystems’ co-founder Vinod Khosia, a venture capitalist who made a big investment in a Range Fuels biofuels project on the mainland. When the project failed, Khosia blamed problems with making pellets from biomass, not the new Range Fuel technology to make energy.
    Asato testified that given that Range Fuels was a recipient of a federal Department of Energy loan guarantee, “one lesson is that before the PUC grants HECO's requests, “AKP should build a pilot/demonstration plant to validate its ‘routine’ pellet making system for its planned feedstock.”

The hawksbill turtle recently retrieved from Punalu`u
Pond was found dead in the ocean last week.

TURTLE 63, the hawksbill recently retrieved from Punalu`u Pond by University of Hawai`i marine science students, was found dead last week in the ocean at Punalu`u. A lifeguard found her. She was pulled onto the beach and taken to U.H. Hilo, where she was frozen, to be shipped to Honolulu where a veterinarian will conduct a necropsy. It is unusual for scientists to recover a hawksbill turtle who has so recently passed away. She will be used for anatomic and genetic studies. Lauren Kurpita, of the Hawksbill Turtle Project, which studies and protects the animals along the Ka`u coast, said, “It is really sad she died, but something good in the way of better understanding this endangered species could come from this. She said that turtle expert George Balasz had earlier described Turtle 63 as “morbidly obese.” 

FRIENDS OF HAWAI`I VOLCANOES NATIONAL PARK was recently awarded a $5,000 grant by the National Environmental Education Foundation. Twenty-two of 300 nonprofit Friends groups, which assist parks and other lands by fundraising and community service projects, were awarded grants this year. The $5,000 will go a “Friendraising Website Development” project. According to Volcano Friends’ General Manager Julie Mitchell, the project will help increase the number of volunteers, members, program participants, board members, and donors. To get involved with Friends of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park, call 985-7373 or visit www.fhvnp.org.

Police and fire investigators are looking for clues to three fires near Punalu`u this week.  Photo by Julia Neal

POLICE ARE SEEKING THE PUBLIC'S HELP in providing information about three suspicious brush fires in the Punalu`u area in the past week. The police say the fires on Aug. 3, 7 and 8 along Highway 11 appear to have been set intentionally. 

     Anyone with information about the fires or any suspicious persons in the area is asked to call the police non-emergency line at 935-3311. Those who want to remain anonymous can call Crime Stoppers at 961-8300 and may be eligible for a reward of up to $1,000.

A SIGN WAVING EVENT to raise awareness of suicide prevention is being planned for Ka`u in early September. Charmaine Alameda, of the Hawai`i Family Guidance Center, is asking interested residents to call her at 933-0607.

KTA SUPERSTORES will be accepting donations to Habitat for Humanity throughout August. Shoppers may select a green fundraising coupon for $1 or $5 donation at the checkout register. “This is the second year that KTA has selected our organization,” says the organization’s West Hawai`i Community Relations director Margo Takata, “and it is through this type of community support that we are able to raise funds for our builds, and also build awareness about Habitat for Humanity on the Big Island.” Habitat for Humanity West Hawai`i recently helped a family with home ownership in Ocean View. For more information, contact Tanaka at Habitat for Humanity West Hawai`i at 331-8010, or contact Michele Robles at Hale Aloha O Hilo, Habitat East Hawai`i at 640-2407. 

THE HAWAIIAN CIVIC CLUB OF KA`U will host a Labor Day Plate Lunch Fundraiser on Monday, September 5 in the parking lot of Ocean View Market, from 10 a.m. to 3p.m. For $10 per plate, buyers will have a choice of steak or laulau with rice, corn, dessert, and a drink. Each steak will be an eight-ounce sirloin, and the laulau is specially made by Aloha Cafe with fish, pork, and sweet potato. All profits will go to support the needs of the Hawaiian Civic Club of Ka`u. Call Arlene Araki at 989-5141 to buy tickets or for more information. 

MEMBERS OF THE KA`U COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT PLAN Steering Committee will host an informational table at the Ocean View swap meet this Saturday. The swap meet is held at Pohue Plaza from 7 a.m. to noon.

Ka`u News Briefs August 9, 2011

The third brushfire in a week broke out near Punalu`u yesterday and was quickly put out by firefighters.
Photo by Michael Neal

A 45-DAY COMMENT PERIOD is clicking away regarding the Draft Environmental Impact Statement issued for 16,457 acres at the Nani Kahuku `Aina development makai of Hwy 11 between South Point and Ocean View. The state Office of Environmental Quality Control published the EIS on its website yesterday. See Environmental Notice at hawaii.gov/health/environmental/oeqc/index.html.

     To build its golf course, hotels, condominiums, commercial centers and resort homes, the developers would need a change in land use classification from the state Land Use Commission as well as zoning changes from the county. The resort and residential area would take up about 1,600 acres in the makai section of the property.
     Much of the resort development along the coast would be on what is now Conservation land and includes the Pohue Bay endangered turtle nesting area, which the developers promise to preserve.
     The developers first introduced a much larger resort with an airport but reduced the size and eliminated the airport. They also promise Hawaiian cultural educational centers and a veterans’ center.

A THIRD BRUSHFIRE in a week tore through grassland near Punalu`u yesterday. Witnesses spotted a small fire on the makai side of Highway 11 on the turn-in road to Punalu`u. One witness who called 911 was told that fire emergency services were aware of the fire, but were busy containing a larger fire on mauka side of Highway 11 that burned 10 acres the day before. Hawai`i and Pahala firefighters arrived within 20 minutes of the call and began containing the fire. A much larger fire burned 85 acres near Punalu`u last week.

PHYSICIST AND ENERGY ANALYST Ulrich Bonne, who lives on the Big Island, is asking the Public Utilities Commission, `Aina Koa Pono and Hawaiian Electric to work together on further analyzing the best options for alternative energies to help get Hawai`i off fossil fuel. Bonne said he and his colleagues would like to help the parties “explore, qualify and quantify available options.” Bonne testified at a public hearing last week in Kona regarding the `Aina Koa Pono and Hawaiian Electric contract that would lead to higher rates for customers on O`ahu and the Big Island to support construction of a refinery and biofuel farm here. 

     Bonne said that “Hawai`i island is blessed with sustainable and renewable energy resources: Biomass, wind, solar-PV and geothermal.” Regarding growing crops to harvest and transport to a refinery to make liquid fuel, which would again be transported from Pahala to Kona to burn in a power plant, Bonne said this way of making electricity could use up a lot of energy. The scientist said he suspects that “engaging in a substantial effort and energy loss of 30-60 percent to make fuel to then convert it to electricity with another 60-70 percent loss is a losing proposition when direct and much more efficient ‘biomass-to electricity’ or ‘geothermal-to-electricity’ conversions are available for stationary power plants.”
     Bonne also testified that bio- and geo-fuels should only be used as road, air and marine transportation fuels, where direct conversion of biomass to engine power is much less available or practical. He said that for transportation fuels, “extra wind and geo electricity, presently curtailed and not needed by the grid,” could be used to make C02 from air and H2 from water to create synthetic fuels such as gasoline, aviation fuel, diesel and ammonia.
     He also asked AKP to disclose the nature of the emissions for which they have applied for an EPA permit for 250 tons/year (760 ppm of biomass weight). He asked whether the permit is 250 tons for each pollutant or for total noxious emissions. 

A SUPPORTER OF THE REFINERY and biofuels farm is William Kucharski, director of Renewable Energy Pacific for AECOM, the firm selected by `Aina Koa Pono to engineer its refinery here. 

     In his testimony to the PUC, he defended the proposed use of the giant microwave reactors planned for the refinery. Kucharski said microwaves have been in industrial use for 50 years, and the heat used to make products in other industrial applications is the same heat produced by microwave depolymerization that would turn trees, brush and crops into biofuel. He also said that AECOM visited TekGar microwave facilities in North Carolina and discovered no leakages.
     The second point he covered was safety of storage tanks for 1.25 million gallons of fuel that `Aina Koa Pono would keep on hand just off Wood Valley Road along Meyer Camp Road. “The tank foundations,” he says, “will be designed in accordance with U.S. standards for design of diesel storage facilities both in the field of engineering and the insurance industry.” Kucharski addressed the threat of earthquakes to the tanks by citing a 2006 study of the Journal of Loss Prevention in the Process Industries that states that between 1960 and 2003 worldwide there seven natural disaster-related storage tank failures. Of these seven, three were in the U.S. and were not due to earthquakes but due to hurricanes.
     The site selected for the refinery is near the Wood Valley epicenter of one of the top ten most severe earthquakes in U.S. history, other testifiers pointed out.
     Kucharski addressed the greenhouse gas impact of the refinery by citing an analysis by AECOM and Eichleay Engineers. He said the model “was developed by the U.S. Department of Energy called the GREET Model” which “indicated a reduction in greenhouse gasses in comparison to a fossil fueled plant by a factor of 12 times.” He also noted that the closed loop nature of the plant allowed it to produce “very little emissions.”
     In his last point, Kucharski said that AECOM tested the viability of the microwave depolymerization technology for six months and determined that “the technology is viable, mechanically sound, will meet or exceed OSHA standards for microwave personnel protection and will at a minimum produce the output projected.” He finished his testimony by stating that AECOM and TekGar will issue a performance guarantee for the project and its stakeholders.

DEAN NAGASAKO, of Pahala, testified at the Hilo hearing, saying, “a`ole to the biochemical plant proposed for Pahala. First of all, it's too close to Pahala. Secondly, the individual electric customers are having to flip the bill. Simply said, this is a project where it is no can do,” testified Nagasako.

LEE MCINTOSH, of Discovery Harbour, wrote testimony in opposition, saying: “I oppose any ventures that will increase our electric rates. We are already paying four times the national average, which is unacceptable. The purpose of the PUC is to find a balance in protecting rate payers and the utility companies, not giving the electric utilities a free pass to do as they please.”
     Said McIntosh, “The success of this venture is based solely on the flawed assumption that the price of oil will continue to rise, eventually making alternative energy projects such as this viable. If that prediction fails, then rate payers are stuck with the cost of funding an unnecessary and expensive venture.”

Volcano Golf Course hosts a fundraiser
for the Boys and Girls Club Saturday.

REGISTRATION is being taken all this week for a major fundraiser for the Boys & Girls Club of the Big Island. The Fifth Annual Tee-Off for Kids Tournament will be held this Saturday, Aug. 13th at Volcano Golf Course. Registration begins at 7:30 a.m. with a shotgun start at 8:30 a.m. Donations are $150 for one player and $300 for a team of two. Send donations and registration forms to Bill Walter, BGCBI c/o W. H. Shipman, LTD, 16-523 Kea`au-Pahoa Road, Kea`au, HI 96749 or fax form to 961-3558. If you have any questions call Mona Eskaran at 935-7015. 

GOV. NEIL ABERCROMBIE, Superintendent Kathryn Matayoshi and Education Board Chairman Don Horner have rejected the Hawai`i State Teacher’s Association’s request for arbitration. A joint statement yesterday regarding the pay and benefit cuts the state imposed on the union last month discouraged the union’s supposed “negotiations via the media”, referring to the union’s interpretation of a recent YouTube video of the governor telling the union’s Big Island president Wayne Joseph that the governor was ready to mediate with assistance from a third party. Earlier, the union filed a prohibited practice complaint to the Hawai`i Labor Relations Board after the administration imposed the pay cuts, claiming the state violated collective bargaining rights.

MICHELLE WALL-O’CONNOR shares the art of Lomilomi on the lanai of Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park tomorrow from 10 a.m. to noon. 

Ka`u News Briefs August 8, 2011

Rep. Bob Herkes, at right, may see his constituency change if reapportionment plans that cut Ka`u in half go forward.
Photo by Julia Neal

STATE REPRESENTATIVE BOB HERKES said Sunday that he is definitely running for re-election, but for which House district? He is not sure. Herkes lives in Ka`u, in the Volcano golf course subdivision and has represented Ka`u from Ocean View to Volcano for many years. However, a proposed reapportionment scheme threatens to cut the Ka`u district in half, and Herkes’ residence would be located in a district aligned more with Puna. 

The latest reapportionment map
changes the boundaries of Ka`u's
Representative district.

     Herkes said he hopes the reapportionment committee will move the proposed line to the actual district border between Ka`u and Puna, which would leave him running again to represent all of the people of Ka`u. 

     Some Ocean View residents are organizing opposition to the proposal in fear of losing Herkes as their representative. Among Herkes’ accomplishments for the area are creation of the South Kona Wilderness Area, a new medical mobile van for South Kona and Ka`u, and a new well for Ocean View. A reapportionment hearing will be held on Sept. 13 in Hilo and Sept. 14 in Kona. 

THE FRIENDS OF BOB HERKES election committee received $1,750 in campaign contributions so far this year, leaving the representative with $40,000 of cash on hand for election spending. Donations ranged from $250 to $500. Among the contributors were seed company Monsanto Hawai`i, First Hawaiian Bank, Hawai`i Citizen Rights, and Associa, a community association management company. 

Sen. Gil Kahele

SENATOR GIL KAHELE’S campaign committee has collected almost $20,000 in contributions so far this year, according to the Campaign Spending Commission’s website. The Commission reports the senator has $12,700 on hand for his re-election campaign and owes $4,350 in loans. The Friends of Gil Kahele committee received donations ranging from $150 to $2,000. 

     Among contributors were the Hawai`i Association of Realtors, CEO of Hawaiian Telcom Eric K. Yeaman, the United Public Workers Union, and president and CEO of Mele Associates Melvin H. Chiogioji. Chiogioji is also co-founder and president of `Aina Koa Pono, a biomass and biofuel developer that plans to construct a refinery between Pahala and Wood Valley and a farm between Pahala and Na`alehu.

John A. Burns School of Medicine
helps keep track of the number of
doctors in Hawai`i.

THE BIG ISLAND is 174 doctors short - the largest number of physician shortages in the state, according to a report in Pacific Business News based on the Hawai`i Physicians Workforce Assessment. Maui is short 107 doctors, Kaua`i 47 and Lanai and Moloka`i both are five doctors short. According to JABSOM data, O`ahu needs 331 more doctors. While O`ahu has the highest total shortage, it is the lowest per person in the state. Regarding specialties, more neurosurgeons, pediatric cardiologists, general surgeons and infectious disease specialists are needed statewide, the PBN report states. 

Russell Kokubun

RUSSELL KOKUBUN, chair of the state Board of Agriculture, is asking Safeway stores to be forthright with the Hawaiian coffees it sells on the mainland by listing how much of the coffee blend is actually from Hawai`i and how much of the blend is from some other country. While Safeway is only selling a Kona blend on the mainland, its practices could eventually affect Ka`u, where coffee name recognition is growing. Kokubun sent a letter to Safeway asking it to voluntarily comply with the law that is already in place in Hawai`i, requiring the blending percentages to be on the labels. Kona coffee farmers have called for a boycott of Safeway stores until the supermarket complies. 

Pasha says new rules will make interisland
shipping difficult.

A NEW STATE LAW HARMS INTERISLAND OCEAN TRANSPORT COMPETITION, says the head of Pasha Hawai`i Transport Lines. In a Pacific Business News report by Curtis Lum, George Pasha claims that the law “raises the bar so high for any kind of outside competition that competition will basically be eliminated. Not just Pasha, anybody in that particular trade” by restricting the Public Utilities Commission’s power to grant transport cargo licenses between the islands. This comes after the PUC issued the company an interim license that allows its ships to service Maui and Hilo but forego stopping at ports deemed unprofitable, such as Moloka`i, Lanai and Kawaihae on the Big Island. Critics, however, viewed it unfair that other companies like Young Brothers Ltd. were required to serve unprofitable destinations while Pasha did not. Pasha claims that its only vessel is too large to service the smaller ports.

MICHELLE WALL-O’CONNOR SHARES THE ART of Lomilomi on the lanai of Kilauea Visitor Center in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park on Wednesday from 10 a.m. to noon.