by Henry Curtis, Life of the Land

Life of the Land has filed Motions to Intervene in the proposed HECO-Aina Koa Pono Biofuel Supply Application #2 before the Hawaii PUC and the Gas Company's LNG Application before the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC).

The Aina Koa Pono proposal is a very expensive way of increasing the use of renewable energy. Alternatives make more sense. In its first application with the PUC, HECO proposed that O`ahu ratepayers pay $250 million over 20 years to subsidize the use of biofuels on the Big Island. The PUC rejected that application. In the current Application HECO has reduced the amount of the subsidy, but HECO has continued to assert that the exact amount of O`ahu taxation should be kept secret from those being taxed.

Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) can play a meaningful role in Hawai`i's future, but must not impede Hawai`i's rapid transition to indigenous renewable energy resources

Energy policy is too important to be left to those with vested interests in short-term profit margins. We must all be engaged in energy policy at the local level where we can shape policy to suit local needs.

We have far greater control of our future when we rely on local power. We have less control when large monopolies control energy policy.

Therefore Hawai`i should develop a far more distributed and dispersed energy system and should promote the use of on-site generation.

---30---

PDF: LOL Motion re: AKP

PDF: LOL Motion re: LNG