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Displaying 11 through 20 of 54 records found.
READERS JUST DON'T LIKE PALM OIL
(Editor's note: the following letter was written in response to Hawaiian Electric Company official Peter Rosegg's Nov. 15, 2007 letter, which was written in response to Rob Parsons' Nov. 1, 2007 story "The Answer, My Friend.")
Cross-examination of experts separates the wheat from the chaff, the truth from the false, the credible from the speculative. Why is Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) so in favor of public relations people writing letters in support of biofuels, but so afraid of cross-examination?
The Wall Street Journal notes that Indonesia now ranks third in the world in greenhouse gas emissions, due to deforestation, in order to produce palm oil. The HECO-Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) report states: "palm oil cultivation has also been responsible for widespread clearing of primary tropical forests, draining of peat soils, catastrophic fires in Southeast Asia, and a number of other negative social and environmental impacts... vegetable oils are substitutable with each other."
The world reality is that all palm oil produced is being consumed. If a company insists on buying "sustainable" palm oil, then whoever was buying that now must shift to the bad stuff. The total picture does not change.
Life of the Land sponsored Dr Tadeus Patzek, a world-class biofuel expert, at a Public Utilities Commission Evidentiary Hearing in December 2006. HECO sponsored no biofuel witnesses and refused to cross-examine ours. The Public Utilities Commission ruled in favor of biofuels. Now HECO has submitted a biofuels contract to the PUC with 89 redactions. We filed to intervene. HECO opposes our intervention on the grounds that we a party in the last docket. Maui Electric Company opposed our intervention in their planning docket on the grounds that we wanted to discuss biofuels and climate change.
Peter Rosegg touts Imperium Renewables' commitment to use local feedstock. At the Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting on Nov. 16, Imperium committed to a "commercially reasonable best effort" to use 10 percent local feedstock in years 10-35 of a 35-year contract. Imperium stressed that it had to be a goal, since anything else would interfere with their ability to raise funds to pay for this proposed plant.
| Henry Curtis, Executive Director, Life of the Land
November 29, 2007
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POWERFUL CORRECTION
In Rob Parsons' article titled "Public (F)utility" (Nov. 15, 2007) there is an incorrect fact. When discussing net-metering programs for Solar PV systems it is stated that, "the program is only available to provide energy credits to those producing five kw or less." This should actually read 50 kw, quite a significant difference!
Rob Parsons responds: Mahalo to the Hawaii PV Coalition for catching a mistake in my article. The correct threshold figure for net-metering energy credits should have read 50kw. The incorrect figure came from my notes of the presentation by Public Utilities Commissioner John Cole, who spoke without the benefit of an accompanying Powerpoint. Several Energy Expo presentations have been added to the County website, and may be found at: www.mauicounty.gov/mayor/economic/pdf/EnergyExpo_Proceedings.
| Katie Wilson, Operations Director, Hawaii PV Coalition
November 29, 2007
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JUST TALKING SHIT
Thanks for your story about the water quality testing done at Honokowai Channel ("Change the Channel!" Nov. 15, 2007). However, I wasn't as moved as you were to brand the inconclusive results as "chilling" for several reasons.
1) Many potential pathogens for livestock as well as humans can be found in manure of both livestock and poultry. Ag land plus rain equals pathogens in the runoff.
2) The presence of fecal coliforms does not necessarily indicate the presence of feces. The EPA, being a typical federal bureaucracy is slow to update it's information resources so please Reference the following: ("Closing the Door on the Fecal Coliform Assay," Microbe, April 2006).
As indicators of fecal contamination, coliform assays are inadequate and unwarranted for several reasons. Coliform bacteria represent only about half of the genera in the family Enterobacteriaceae, and some of the overt pathogens in this family, e.g., salmonellae, are not coliforms. As is true for the entire family, some coliforms grow primarily on green plants and in other environmental niches.
I do believe that avoiding the beach after a steady rain is a smart choice. Aside from all of the potential human and animal feces point sources, runoff may also contain chemical fertilizer and pathogens like Listeria which occur naturally in the soil.
| Darrel R. Smith, Kihei
November 29, 2007
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LIKES COUNTY LAWS
This recent Maui Time article ("End the Crackdown," Nov. 8, 2007) is another story documenting the plight of landowners who've decided to convert portions of their property into vacation rentals in ignorance (willfully or not) of the county's zoning laws. I have little sympathy. The restriction against unregulated TVR's, Maui County Code Section 19.37.010, has been on the books for more than 25 years. It clearly states that TVRs outside Maui's hotel districts—those tourist centers in Ka'anapali and Wailea—are not permitted without county approval. This restriction on the use of property is the county's way of ensuring that Maui's tourist industry is limited to one area and does not encroach upon the residential and agricultural parts of the island. Without this restriction, as we've seen from the county's refusal to enforce it, the entire island becomes a place for tourists, leaving local residents and their businesses with no place to go.
The county's authority, like all governments, comes from its citizens. The ordinances and rules promulgated by the County Council and enforced by the county's executive head, the mayor, are for the public good. Places like Haiku and Paia have become more and more like tourist centers and less and less like residential and agricultural towns they once were. Not only that, but it's becoming difficult for working people—especially those who are not fortunate enough to be considered members of the middle and professional classes—to find affordable homes to buy or rent. And in spite of this, the TVR owners continue to profit by opening places where residents should be living, instead of tourists vacationing.
By asking the County to turn a blind eye, the TVRs are asking for an uneven application of our zoning laws. Perhaps they would not object to other landowners from running unregulated industries out of their homes. How about a tannery in a Paia garage? A bar in someone's Haiku backyard?
After years of allowing these TVRs to operate unlawfully, the county has decided to take action. It's about time. I have watched hardware stores and diners (Kihata's in Paia, Kitada's in Makawao and Haiku Mart in Haiku) turn to posh boutiques, galleries and pricey eateries in a very short period of time. I've seen kids from Maui with no decent job prospects look to Oahu or the mainland for a better life. TVRs may not be entirely to blame, but they're certainly not helping.
| Anonymous
November 21, 2007
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LIKES TO VOTE
Thanks for the article (Coconut Wireless, Nov. 8, 2007). I'm going to keep a list of the Hawai'i government elected officials [who approved the Superferry environmental review exemption]. When the voting time gets around, my list—and I am sure there will be others—will make the rounds of Kauai.
| Jane Taylor, Kapa`a
November 21, 2007
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BRANDED!
In the Nov. 15 issue, Anthony Pignataro gave a long list of very large businesses, including many large corporations listed on major stock exchanges, that HMSHost, Corp. supposedly owns (Coconut Wireless). If true, this would make HMSHost the largest corporation in the world.
I have searched the net and find no evidence that HMSHost owns any of the companies listed, much less all of them. It may own stock in some of them, but so do millions of other people and companies. Where did AP get this wild claim?
Anthony Pignataro responds: Brands, Kurt—HMSHost, Corp. owns hundreds of food and retail BRANDS, and that's what I reported. You can check it out for yourself at www.hmshost.com.
| Kurt Butler, Wailuku
November 21, 2007
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WHAT A FUEL
At Hawaiian Electric Company, we share Rob Parsons' enthusiasm for renewable energy expressed recently in Maui Time Weekly ("The Answer, My Friend," Nov. 1, 2007). We must tap Hawai'i's renewable resources to reduce our dependence on imported fossil fuel, limit our global warming impact and protect our lives and economy from the vulnerability of dependence on so much foreign oil.
And when it comes to fuel for the planned biofuel processing plant to be built on Maui by BlueEarth Biofuels and a Hawaiian Electric subsidiary, we share Rob's concern—despite his claim to the contrary—that some palm oil is grown elsewhere in the world with negative impacts on rainforest ecosystems, indigenous cultures and carbon emissions.
That is why Hawaiian Electric worked with the highly respected Natural Resources Defense Council to develop a policy that requires any biodiesel or feedstocks used by a Hawaiian Electric company must meet strict and audited standards to be sure it is grown sustainably and with fair labor practices.
You can judge for yourself. The "Environmental Policy for the Hawaiian Electric Company's Procurement of Biodiesel from Palm Oil and Locally-Grown Feedstocks, Prepared by Hawaiian Electric Company and NRDC" can be viewed at www.nrdc.org/energy or www.hawaiisenergyfuture.com.
We also hope a good part of the biodiesel feedstock is eventually grown in Hawai'i, greening our landscape, creating agriculture jobs and keeping more energy dollars at home.
Purchase contracts to encourage local farmers to start planting biofuel crops are in the works and Hawaiian Electric's contracts with BlueEarth on Maui and Imperium Renewables on Oahu require that local feedstocks get preference over imports.
Editor's note: Check out Rob Parson's response in the Rob Report column "Public (F)utility", November 15, 2007.
| Peter Rosegg, Hawaiian Electric Company, Honolulu
November 16, 2007
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HATES TRADITIONAL ENERGY
I am writing in response to the letter written on the subject of wind turbines along the ridge above Ma'alaea ("Doesn't Care for Winds of Change," Nov. 8, 2007). I disagree that the wind turbines take away from the "soul of Maui." How can one say that it is all right to continue the development on the hillside of Haleakala, but it is not all right to produce more environmentally friendly forms of energy? The development could harm the fragile island ecosystems, but it seems that Ms. Tycer is more concerned about the wellbeing of her timeshare than the life of the island and all of the species on it.
I just moved to the island about a month ago, and the turbines were one of the first things I noticed. I noticed them not for their "visual assault," but for their beauty in reaching to achieve clean, renewable energy. People should get used to the sight of wind turbines, since they are likely to keep showing up in more and more places as the world strives to clean up its act. I congratulate Maui for striving to save the island from the pollution caused by traditional energy sources.
| Heidi Sauerland, Kihei
November 16, 2007
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APOLOGY
In our Nov. 8, 2007 issue, we ran a small ad on page 10 for the Maui County Department of Water Supply. We should not have done this—not because it's the Maui County Department of Water Supply, but because it contains a picture of a Gold Dust Gecko, one of the more insidious invasive species currently plaguing the island. While it's true the county originally provided us with the picture of the awful gecko, it's also true that they recognized their error and told us to never, ever, under any circumstances, run the ad. Which we promised never to do, until we screwed up last week and ran the ad. It was an accident, and we're sorry.
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November 16, 2007
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LOVES DEAD SURFBOARDS
I love it! Great spoof on all the "save something" groups, including one that I am involved with ("Paying our Respects," Nov. 8, 2007). It is a pain to carry the pieces up the cliff from the graveyard, especially when you have lost something you are emotionally attached to.
The graveyard is actually under the jurisdiction of the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), but the surfers could be a little more eco-friendly and retrieve and pack out the pieces. I guess it is time to "load up a boat," but I really appreciate Maui Time's attempt to "lighten up" the West Maui community. I would really like my life back! Lets go surfing!
| Les Potts, Napili
November 16, 2007
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