Schatz Denounced by NASA Scientist, Another Embarrassment for Global Warming Activists
Hawaii Highest Closing Costs in Nation
VA Mortgages Denied for Catchment Homes, State DoH Refuses to Act
Governor Releases $12.9 Million for National Guard, Civil Defense and Health Facilities
UPDATE: Contract Dispute Knocks Hawaii News Now off DISH Network
State Procurement Office Announces eProcurement System Update
Wikileaks: Japan refused Obama Hiroshima Apology
This Day in History: Truman Announces Hiroshima Bombing
Hawaii Green Energy Mandates Depend on Keeping Electricity Expensive
REW: The city of Lancaster, California now mandates requiring solar PV on all new residential construction. Soon after their announcement, the city of Sebastopol mandated that solar be installed on new residential and commercial buildings, as well as on major additions and renovations.
It’s too early to tell whether these city mandates will be successfully implemented and accepted by the electorate, but these are small cities compared to the entire state of California.
If you want to talk about a larger scale, look no further than Hawaii, which by law requires all new home construction and renovations include installing solar hot water systems. While Hawaii's mandate has created a solar thermal boom in the state, there are also reports of new home developers to avoid the mandate through a loophole that allows tankless natural gas water heaters be substituted under a variance.
That being said, according to the Hawaii Solar Energy Association (HSEA), Hawaii now has the highest per capita solar hot water use in the nation, with over 90,000 solar hot water systems currently installed. That's a hugely successful program.
Given that success, will solar water heating mandates work for California too? I would love to say yes, but it’s far from clear. Hawaii depends on imported oil and gas for most of its utility energy, so it’s not surprising that solar energy savings would be embraced by residents, despite the upfront costs and lack of incentives beyond the 30% ITC.
But California is not an island and natural gas is plentiful and cheap right now. If the state allows fracking, natural gas will be even more plentiful. Consequently, Hawaii’s embrace of solar thermal is based on expensive oil economics. While Californians are progressive and environmentally proactive, seemingly expensive solar mandates may upset homeowners who are just recovering from the recession.
read ... Greens Need Electricity to be Expensive
Alm Departure: Time for Green Energy Scammers to Evolve
Fidell: On Bishop Street there's only one Robbie, and he's leaving his job as executive vice president of Hawaiian Electric Co. on Aug. 31. This is huge.
Crisscrossing downtown in his unmistakable shirts and blend of executive localness, Robbie Alm has been the irrefutable face of the clean-energy initiative from its inception, and that is no small thing....
Robbie spoke at Clean Energy Day in July. Perhaps we should have seen things coming when he said the Clean Energy Agreement had run its course and will also have to evolve.
A spate of PUC activity preceded Robbie's announcement, including an adverse ruling against Maui Electric on May 31; the filing of the Integrated Resource Plan on June 28; and the PUC orders of July 11 that sidetracked Big Wind and the undersea cable pending further studies.
Robbie had worked hard on Big Wind and the cable. These orders, and the lack of action by the 2013 Legislature, were not exactly what he had hoped for. Did they affect his decision to leave?
(Kinda like AlGore selling out to Big Foreign Oil. Time to leave this scam and start looking for the next one....)
read ... Time to Evolve
Many Roadblocks to LNG and Lower Electric Bills
HB: Your company withdrew its application to the Public Utilities Commission to begin shipping LNG to Hawaii in containers. What’s your current plan for bringing LNG to Hawaii?
We withdrew our LNG application because we had naphtha feedstock supply issues that needed to be dealt with for our core business. I believe we need to take care of our existing customers first, so it did not make sense to have too many things in front of the commission with competing priorities; pulling the LNG application at that time made sense. We’re still focused on our plans internally and we plan to be back talking to the commission shortly.
There are two parts to our LNG plan. LNG for existing customers – this is containerized LNG – and bringing that in as a way to diversify our existing fuel supplies and also as an emergency backup.
There’s really nothing holding us back when it comes to containerized LNG, except we want to make sure we’re doing it in the right regulatory regime. In terms of feasibility, we could have done it probably a month ago. LNG is just gas in a liquefied form in those 20-foot ISO containers that we would bring over on Matson ships. We’ve already purchased a portable regasifier. The LNG would come from the West Coast, which takes advantage of the lower U.S. prices of LNG.
What about the second part, the broader LNG plan?
That component is more complex and will require a lot more collaboration and a lot of funding to make it happen. But it would mean more LNG for electrical power generation; Hawaii Gas would be the logical player, given that we are Hawaii’s only regulated gas utility. It makes a lot of sense for us to provide the infrastructure for LNG.
Long term, do you see Hawaii Gas supplying LNG to Hawaiian Electric’s utilities?
That would be nice. We’ve been speaking to HECO as well as other electricity suppliers. HECO just came out with a draft action plan and LNG was a part of it. It would be ideal for us to work with HECO in that capacity.
What are the roadblocks to bringing LNG to Hawaii?
The big thing is that LNG is going to be something very transformative to Hawaii, so it’s going to take time. You don’t know what you don’t know. It’s going to take a lot of funding, too. I think we’re very blessed to have Macquarie as a parent company. They believe in what we’re trying to do to lower the cost of energy and are willing to put the capital to work to make this project happen. But a project like this takes a lot of collaboration with a lot of parties, so we need to get the community behind us. We need to be working with all stakeholders.
read ... Many Roadblocks to Lower Electric Bills
Council pushes GMO Bill 2491 to September to ask attorney general’s opinion
KGI: After a full day of work Monday, the Kauai County Council unanimously deferred to September a controversial proposal to demand disclosure of pesticide use and genetically modified crops, and to create buffer zones for large agricultural operations.
The council’s Economic Development Committee deferred Bill 2491 to Sept. 9 to wait for an opinion from the attorney general. But Committee Chair Gary Hooser wasn’t set on leaning on it. Past opinions from attorney generals have been reversed, he said.
“There comes a time when we need to step forward and represent the people in the community,” Hooser said. (He knows he is doomed.)
Councilman Tim Bynum, who introduced the bill with Hooser, said in the long run, opinions from attorney generals and county attorneys “are all opinions” — the responsibility lies with the council. (He also knows he is doomed.)
read ... Louie, Save Us from the Luddite Mob, Signed Kauai Council
Anderson wants more oversight of Board of Water Supply
KITV: Anderson believes it's time for that to change... He says he's gets a lot of complaints about the BWS, which has motivated him to introduce a resolution proposing that the BWS submits its annual operating and capital budgets to the city council for approval.
A constant problem is many rate payers are not aware of what they are charged for ---Anderson says the billing charge goes to fixing water meters and other miscellaneous upkeeps that residents want to know about. But the most frequent complaint--- has to do with the 10 percent rate hikes expected every year over the next three years.
First reading of the resolution will be at the full council meeting this Wednesday.
read ... Councilman Ikaika Anderson wants more oversight of Board of Water Supply
What Should the Public Know About Sandwich Isles? PUC Won't Say
CB: Sandwich Isles has again applied to the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission for certification that is has been using ratepayers money appropriately and should continue to receive FCC subsidies. The PUC is currently reviewing the company’s application.
But the PUC won't allow the public to review critical information that goes into decisions it makes. Civil Beat asked to see documents that could shed light on how the company does business. Even records that are open in FCC files are being withheld by the PUC, at the request of Sandwich Isles.
The PUC also won’t talk about Sandwich Isles and why it’s allowed the company to get away with excessive expenses and other problems the FCC has highlighted.
LINK: Sandwich Isles Responses to Consumer Advocate
read ... What Should the Public Know About Sandwich Isles? PUC Won't Say.
Former UH president Dobelle's travel audited in Massachusetts
SA: The Massachusetts Inspector General and the Board of Trustees of Westfield State University are auditing the travel spending of former University of Hawaii President Evan S. Dobelle.
Faculty members at Westfield State University are raising questions about Dobelle, who has been president of Westfield State since 2007.
"My concerns are that the president may have been spending money from the foundation and the university inappropriately," Buzz Hoagland, president of the faculty union, told The Republican newspaper in Massachusetts.
Dobelle agreed to a settlement to leave UH in 2004 after the UH Board of Regents questioned his travel expenses and other spending from his expense account at the UH Foundation.
read ... No Surprise Here
Schatz, Hanabusa Both Voted to Kill Hawaii Hurricane Hunter Flights
CB: Hanabusa, of course, voted for the Budget Control Act as part of the debt ceiling debate. The act created a super committee to come up with a deficit reduction deal, with the understanding that if there was no deal the automatic sequestration cuts would take effect. No deal was struck, triggering the cuts.
Schatz, it can be argued, also voted for sequestration under a similar situation. As Hanabusa did to prevent the U.S. from defaulting on its loans, Schatz voted for the continuing budget resolution earlier this year to avoid a government shutdown. The temporary budget didn’t create sequestration, but kept it in place. Hanabusa voted against the budget compromise for that reason.
Schatz’s comments came in an unusual setting — on the Weather Channel. He made the comment in the context of sequestration cuts to NOAA. According to recent press reports, the cuts could ground "Hurricane Hunter" flights....
read ... Sequestration
Democrat Party Boss drops complaints against 9 Democratic legislators, Focuses on Gabbard, Har
SA: The complaints before the Democratic Party of Hawaii allege that the lawmakers violated the party's platform in favor of equal rights by backing the bills.
Convicted thief, Michael 'Bitchbear' Golojuch, Jr., who has now supplanted Dan Inouye as Boss the chairman of the Democratic Party of Hawaii's gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender caucus, said he would advocate for sanctions against Sen. Mike Gabbard and Rep. Sharon Har when Oahu Democrats meet on Saturday to discuss the complaints.
PR: Withdrawn
read ... And this is supposed to be a Compromise
Hawaii Congressional Delegation Disunited in War of Press Releases
CB: Schatz, Hanabusa and Gabbard — are determined to advance their ambitions. As seen in the Schatz-Hanabusa fight, it could get ugly; revelations have surfaced to embarrass both camps, with accusations that the leaks came from the opposing campaigns....
That trail is evident in streams of press releases from each delegate's office, sometimes in subtle ways.
On Friday, for example, Hanabusa announced that she would be part of a congressional delegation traveling to Israel this month. Perhaps her staff did not know, but Hanabusa made no mention that Gabbard would be part of the same delegation.
Then there was Schatz, whose staff said in a July 31 press release "Senator Brian Schatz met with President Obama and Senate Democrats." The release includes a photo of Schatz and fellow Punahou grad Obama (reproduced here) walking along what appears to be a White House corridor.
In fact, Obama met that same day with many senators and a lot of House Democrats, too, but the Schatz press release gives the appearance that the day was mostly about Barry and Brian.
Just six days earlier, a Schatz press release announced that "the Senate Appropriations Committee approved $16.7 million in federal funding for the East-West Center." In fact, as Civil Beat's Kery Murakami reported, Hirono and Schatz both requested the funding. But there was no mention of Hirono in Schatz's press release.
The deliverance of federal dollars to Hawaii was perhaps Inouye's greatest gift to the islands, and maybe Schatz wanted to demonstrate the same ability. But it stood in sharp contrast to how Inouye often used to announce the arrival of new funds: jointly.
HR: Former Resident Threats to Decapitate Hawaii Congresswoman
read ... No Unity
Hee Operative Behind Complaint Against Judicial Nominee
HR: Honolulu attorney James Wright submitted testimony just hours before Friday’s hearing, criticizing Ashford for his ethics and actions involving one of Wright’s clients six years prior.
Wright shared critique only with Senate Judiciary and Labor Committee Chair Clayton Hee, and never showed up at either the Friday confirmation hearing, or the follow up hearing on Monday, so other senators on the committee to question his story.
Wright donated a substantial amount of money to Hee in previous campaign years.
Wright also is the attorney for Princess Abigail Kinoiki Kekaulike III Kawānanakoa, a political ally and generous campaign donor of Hee.
read ... Typical Hee Trick
Move to Oust State Procurement Director?
CB: Fujioka, 56, was appointed to his first four-year term in October 2001 by Gov. Ben Cayetano, a Democrat. Fujioka was retained for two more consecutive terms under Gov. Linda Lingle, a Republican. His third term ends this Oct. 16, and he has asked for another four years.
It's not clear whether the procurement board wants him to stay.
In the June 20 draft copy of procurement board minutes, Hirano and Seki made a motion to have the board seek more applicants for the administrator job, It appears to have been discussed behind closed doors in executive session, as is common with personnel matters.
The board's decision to look for more job applicants prompted Fujioka to ask why the board wanted to extend the search, given that he believed it already had four "qualified" applicants, including Fujioka. Hirano responded that a new solicitation "would be able to recruit at a higher salary and any new qualified applicants would be added to the existing list," according to the minutes.
read ... Oust?
Legislators Question Freitas' UH-West Oahu Land Deals
SA: Last month, Rep. Isaac Choy, chairman of the House Higher Education committee, held a meeting with UH officials responsible for running the new West Oahu facility. The meeting turned out to be the opening steps in the sort of audit that Choy does in his other job as a CPA. Accounts of the meeting did not include anyone saying that legislators now feel better about UH.
There are serious concerns about the West Oahu budget, which legislators say does not reflect enough money coming in to pay for planned and needed construction.
There are worries about how the university bureaucracy or West Oahu administrators will handle the rest of the development of the West Oahu campus. And there are questions about paying off debt incurred by UH during construction.
West Oahu consists of more than 500 acres of land given by Campbell Estate for developing the school. UH has already sold off two parcels of the land and is in the process of planning what to do with the rest. Legislators are nervous about UH's ability or need to get into the land-planning business.
Will UH lease or sell land? Will UH apply for rezoning? Will new staff be hired to do this? Is there a plan and an expected outcome?
Background: Senate Accountability for Everybody Except Rockne Freitas
read ... Legislators eager to know future of UH-West Oahu
UH Wastes More Money Paying Dismissed Offensive Coordinator
SA: The University of Hawaii Rainbow Warriors football offensive coordinator Aaron Price is neither resigning nor being fired, but he will continue to collect on his one-year contract worth $118,000 that runs through March.
Head Coach Norm Chow so far has refused to provide details about Price's … what do you call it, departure? Whatever.
Chow did say he would be taking over the role of offensive coordinator, and that Price's departure, or whatever you call it, will not affect "one single thing" about the Rainbow Warriors football team. Which sort of raises the question: Then why did Chow hire Price in the first place?
Whatever the details, it's all just very strange, and another example, apparently, of UH officials thinking they can throw taxpayers' money around like they have plenty to spare.
read ... Plenty to Spare
DoE Cancels Bus Service for Charter Schools Statewide
HTH: About 70 showed up Sunday afternoon at Hawaii Academy of Arts and Sciences to discuss the state Department of Education’s decision on Friday to discontinue bus service for students of the Pahoa public charter school.
HAAS Principal Steve Hirakami said that he was informed of the decision — which affects 60 students, 10 of them special-needs students — on Friday afternoon by email. The school year starts today....
Hirakami said that the decision applies to all charter schools that aren’t “conversion schools” -- standard public schools that elected to become charter schools. He added that some charter schools have their own buses, but HAAS students ride the same Roberts Hawaii contract buses that service Pahoa High and Intermediate School, and pay $2.50 per student per ride, double what regular public school students pay.
“They told us it was an economic decision, but I fail to see how it’s an economic decision,” Hirakami said. “They have room on the buses and they’re going to lose money. They’re going to let 50 seats go vacant while our kids pay double the price? Most of the kids at Pahoa don’t have to pay because of the socioeconomic area. So for the DOE, it’s a lose-lose situation. They’re totally subsidizing student transportation, where in this case, there’s a way for them to recover some of their costs back. So I scratch my head when I hear economic decision.”
read ... DoE Bus Service Reform
DoE Reality: No Space, No Teachers, No AC
CB: I just walked into my new classroom for the first time this year. It is a 27 foot-by-27 foot room, with no air-conditioning and no computers. I will have 38 seniors in British Literature, 38 juniors in one Expository Writing class, and 37 in another.
In addition to that, we have 853 freshmen coming into our school this year — so many that our school has to put them into upper grade level elective classes because we don’t have anywhere else to fit them within their grade level.
And we are three math teachers short for the year. Our school can’t even find qualified teachers to instruct the nearly 300 kids who will go through those three classes. The best we can hope for is a responsible adult who can manage classroom behavior.
read ... Hawaii Teacher: If Students and Teachers Feel Heat, Others Should Too
Jet Packs: Hawaii's Hyper-Regulatory Government Makes WSJ
WSJ: Devices Delight Thrill Seekers at Some U.S. Beaches, But Concerns About Environmental and Safety Threats Prompt a Review in Hawaii
read ... How Hawaii Gets to be Worst Business Environment in Nation
Hawaii Space Exploration: UH Students Reach for the Sky
HM: Early next year, a rocket called the Super-Strypi will shoot into space, the first object ever thrust there from a Hawaiian launch pad. It’s significant, not just because a successful launch would advance Hawaii in the race to become the nation’s most called-upon and financed aerospace industry. (Florida and Texas are hosts to NASA, and New Mexico is developing a fledgling space-tourism industry.) The launch is also important because eight UH faculty members and 20 UH students are working frantically right now to build the launch facility, the satellite payload and the technology to monitor the satellite as it circles the planet in low-Earth orbit. It will be the first time the state has sent anything into space, and Hawaii students will have played a huge part in getting it there.
The project is sponsored by the Department of Defense’s Operationally Responsive Space Office, or ORS, which is the DoD’s answer to ever-fluctuating national security issues. ORS is an intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance concept born in 2007 to adapt space capabilities in rapid fashion. Say a war fighter needs to set up a communications station in the jagged Arma Mountains of Afghanistan. ORS develops technologies that would help him communicate without the need to set up an antenna and risk giving himself away.
read ... Space
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