Remove ImagesMaui County
The Maui 10
Who’s the county’s most powerful player?
September 06, 2007
| RANK | PREVIOUS | COMPANY |
| 1 | 2 | Dowling Co. |
| 2 | 1 | Monsanto Hawai`i |
| 3 | 3 | Tesoro Hawai`i |
| 4 | 4 | Alexander & Baldwin |
| 5 | 5 | Maui Land & Pineapple Co. |
| 6 | 6 | Weinberg Foundation |
| 7 | 7 | Wailuku Water |
| 8 | 10 | Maui Electric Co. |
| 9 | 8 | Goodfellow Brothers |
| 10 | 9 | Hawaiian Telcom |
ALL GREENWASHED UP
Developer Everett Dowling is no stranger to "green-washing"—a
favorite tactic employed by big, powerful corporations who want to hype
environmental credentials, real or otherwise. Now we're not saying that
Dowling's commitment to energy-efficient light bulbs and "green"
building techniques is fake, but we are saying that there might be
better ways to support the environment—especially the sensitive,
historic Makena coastline—than by building ultra-luxurious,
energy-efficient condos. Of course, others disagree. On Aug. 29,
Dowling received an award at Hawaii Home+Remodeling's inaugural "Who's
Keeping Hawaii Green" thing on Oahu. It's a prestigious award, I guess,
but it pales before the big wet one Maui Weekly columnist Subashini
Ganesan planted on Dowling in that paper's July 26 issue: "This
multi-dimensional personality [Dowling] is a great example of a local
businessman who is working to balance environmental responsibility and
profitability," she wrote. "The growth of Everett Dowling's green
initiatives may very well determine the balance and prosperity of the
Maui community and natural environment."
NO FUEL LIKE AN OLD FUEL
And MECO rises two notches this week for somehow managing to keep
out of the news until now (sorry) that their big $61 million Waena
biodiesel refinery partner BlueEarth Biofuels, LLC hired former Maui
County Councilman Dain Kane as their "Maui Director" (I think that
means "lobbyist). Anyway, they'd have risen higher if only they'd made
a big deal about bringing Kane on board back when they first hired him.
MTW