Ethics complaint: HCDA Falsifies Kakaako Workforce Housing Affordability Formulas
Wind Farms: If you thought your bill was going to drop, you're Disappointed
Some Employer Requirements of Obamacare
The hidden story of the third Thanksgiving: 1623--giving thanks for freedom
Souki: GMOs to Be Focus of Coming Legislative Session
Borreca: The GMO debate has now joined the Hawaii culture wars to the extent that the veteran Speaker of the House Joe Souki calls it "the next battle, a real tension."
The Hawaii island and the Kauai county councils have passed ordinances to regulate GMO crops and restrict the use of large-scale pesticide spraying. Next week, Hawaii island Mayor Billy Kenoi will decide if he will sign the Hawaii County bill.
For state lawmakers, the concern is that the counties, which have power because they were created in the state Constitution, would be taking on roles and responsibilities usually taken by state and federal government.
"This is going to be the next battle," said Souki.
Already he sees his 51-member House divided on the issues.
On one hand, Souki sees the worrying about pesticides and GMO labeling as a state task.
"This is not a county function. They don't have the resources, and we have the resources with the University of Hawaii and Health Department," Souki said in an interview last week. "Certainly the counties would be infringing on the role of the state in this."
The Legislature has a choice to make next year. The big agricultural firms are threatening to sue Kauai County to stop enforcement of a pesticide and GMO regulation law they view as unfair.
The Legislature can either move into the area of stronger regulation or wait for guidance from the court cases....
"Within this body, there is going to be a clash," Souki said. "There are the more seasoned legislators and moderate legislators who really don't want to see it (GMO labeling); they are not following the counties and they don't appreciate what the counties are doing — so there is this tension between the younger more progressive, and the more senior and more moderate ones."
Some have been waiting for Gov. Neil Abercrombie to clearly tell the counties that the state's own powers preempt the counties', but so far his statements have been more delphic than definitive....
Meanwhile, Souki is massaging the tension in his House, noting that "labeling is not that too bad a thing," but questioning whether "we want to write legislation to supersede the counties."
read ... GMOs spark power struggle between state and counties
Schatz, Hirono: Alaska-Hawaii Partnership Less Important than Serving Eco Religion
SA: For years, Hawaii's two U.S. senators — Daniel Inouye and Daniel Akaka — sided with Alaska and the Inupiat, part of a political alliance between the two states in Washington, D.C., that spanned a generation. But with Inouye dead and Akaka retired, the dynamics have changed.
U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz and U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, who replaced Inouye and Akaka last January, strongly oppose oil and natural gas drilling in the Arctic Refuge. U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa, who is challenging Schatz in the Democratic primary for U.S. Senate, favors limited drilling so the Inupiat might have the opportunity to economically benefit from their land.
The policy difference between Schatz and Hanabusa might appear to be an arcane one in the context of their primary, but it hints at how the Democrats weigh the environment, clean energy, native rights, states' rights and a partnership between Alaska and Hawaii in Congress that has proved mutually rewarding.
"Simply put, it's time for us to move forward with a clean energy economy, not to be more aggressive with drilling for oil, (in the US, but hey, drilling in the Mid-East is good!)" Schatz said in a telephone interview from Washington (comments edited to enhance honesty).
(In other words, Hawaii doesn't need Alaska's votes, Hawaii just needs more green energy scammers.)
Reality: Crichton: Environmentalism is a religion
read ... Alaska oil separates Hanabusa and Schatz
As HECO Hikes Rates to Feed Green Energy Scammers, Major Landowners Opt out of Electric Grid
SA: "When electricity is 40 cents a kilowatt hour like you have in Hawaii, a microgrid makes sense," Marnay said.
That was the impetus for officials at Parker Ranch on Hawaii island to hire a team of consultants to determine whether the 130,000-acre ranch could meet its energy needs with a microgrid fueled by renewable sources and have enough power left over to supply the neighboring town of Waimea....
Pumped-storage projects usually feature two reservoirs at different elevations. During times of low electricity demand, such as late at night and into the early morning, wind power is used to pump water to the upper reservoir. When power is needed during high-demand periods, the water in the upper reservoir is released through turbines that generate electricity.
Energy storage systems are a key component of any microgrid, smoothing the output of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar, and providing backup power.
Many mainland microgrids take care of energy storage using batteries, which can be expensive. Pumped storage, by comparison, is relatively inexpensive.
Pulama Lanai, the entity formed to operate Lanai for Ellison, has cited pumped storage as one of the technologies it will consider as part of its plan to modernize the island's electrical grid. Lanai's power system currently consists of a 10.4-megawatt diesel-fired power plant operated by Maui Electric Co. and a 1.5-megawatt privately owned solar facility. The high price of diesel is the main reason electricity on Lanai cost 44.2 cents a kilowatt hour in October, more than three times the national average.
Ellison hired UC San Diego's Byron Washom in May to be the architect for Lanai's energy transformation. The UC San Diego microgrid overseen by Washom enables the school to save about $850,000 a month on its electric bill because it is able to generate 92 percent of its own power.
The microgrid manages the campus's 42-megawatt demand load using a mix of resources that includes two 13.5-megawatt gas-fired turbines, a 2.8-megawatt fuel cell powered by methane from a waste water treatment plant, 1.5 megawatts of solar and a 3-megawatt steam turbine. The facility stores energy using batteries, capacitors and thermal storage.
read ... Who needs HECO?
Shaprio: Tom Brower Cuckoo
Shapro: Waikiki Rep. Tom Brower walked his district with a sledgehammer to smash shopping carts used by homeless people, saying it's a wake-up call. And he had the perfect voice to sound the alarm: "Cuckoo."
» Brower said vigilante action wouldn't be needed if more was done to get crazies off the streets. After a flood of bad publicity, he set an example and started with himself.
read ... Crazy on Street
Jones Act Unions Back Schatz
PR: The American Maritime Officers Union, the International Organization of Masters, Mates & Pilots, the Marine Engineers' Beneficial Association, and Seafarers International Union have backed the appointed senator, who is facing U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa in the primary.
read ... Jones Act
New York, Honolulu firms hired to design Inouye center
SA: The internationally renowned architectural firm Pei Cobb Freed & Partners of New York City has been selected along with Honolulu-based Clifford Planning & Architecture to design the Daniel K. Inouye library at the University of Hawaii....
The UH administration had planned to ask the regents to approve expedited plans for a proposed $27.5 million facility, including $15 million in state general obligation bonds and $10 million in federal funds.
The regents instead approved requesting $5 million in state bond financing.
The planned project generated criticism not only for the speed with which UH was pursuing it but also for the hefty price tag. (Translation: It was being built the Inouye way. A fitting final tribute.)
At $27 million, it would have been the priciest new building on a per-square-foot basis that UH has pursued in years.
Nov 21, 2013: Mitsunaga's Abercrombie Releases $83.9M for UH Maintenance Projects
read ... Kobayashi to get a lot less
185,000 get emergency food
SA: The charity’s website also rounds up some Hawaii statistics that are relatively current, figures gathered for the Hunger in America 2010 report. Here are some of the major points:
» Roughly 183,500 different people in Hawaii, over 14 percent of the population, receive emergency food assistance through the Hawaii Foodbank network. This is an increase of 39 percent over the findings from Hunger in America 2006, which was based on data collected in 2005.
» Among those receiving emergency food are 55,050 children and more than 11,000 seniors.
SA: Foodbank Serves 300 people a Day
read ... 185,000
How Kaimuki principal turning things around
SA: For the first time in five years, Kaimuki hasn't seen its enrollment dip.
In the classroom, the principal is leading an effort to reconfigure the high school into so-called smaller learning communities — a concept where large schools are organized into smaller units to personalize learning and improve academic achievement.
Beginning this year, the school's 170 ninth-graders make up a freshman academy — essentially a school within a school with an assistant principal, counselor and teachers assigned to the freshman class.
"If I stayed with the traditional high school model, these kids would suffer," Araki said. "We've made it so that the kids are known to the teachers. When the kids know somebody cares about them, it makes a big difference."
The effort seems to be working: The number of freshmen having to repeat ninth grade is on the decline.
Kaimuki's freshman failure rate was around 34 percent the year before Araki got to Kaimuki. It dropped to 17 percent in 2011-12, and to 11 percent last year.
"So far this year, no freshman is in jeopardy of failing," he said.
Kaimuki will expand the concept each year by adding academies for each grade level. By 2016-17, the school hopes to establish academies at all grade levels.
For the upper grades, academies will be geared toward vocational training to help guide coursework. For example, Araki said next year Kaimuki plans to add an academy focused on STEM
read ... Turn Around
10 finalists picked in “Letter to My Parents” contest in Hawaii
GN: The 10 finalists in the first “Letter to My Parents Contest” sponsored by the Filipino Community Center, Sariling Gawa and Reiyukai America will read their letters during FilCom Sunday’s “Pasasalamat” on Sunday, Nov. 24....
The project is meant to celebrate the role of the family as the basic foundation of society, since it is family unity that helps people grow as both individuals and as members of society. In a more individualistic society where the role of the family is changing, the goal of this contest is to encourage the youth to acknowledge the role of their parents and/or guardians in their lives.
The 10 finalists are individuals aged between 16 and 21 residing in the State of Hawaii, or those born during the years 1992 to 1997. Some finalists chose one or a combination of Philippine languages and provided an English translation.
read ... Global Nation
Castle Foundation Phase Two
SA: After the sale, Kaneohe Ranch will still exist. The company is retaining a portfolio of commercial real estate on the mainland roughly valued at $160 million, according to the Bankoh report disclosed in the lawsuit.
Kaneohe Ranch also is retaining a few Kailua properties: its headquarters at Castle Junction, Kapaa Quarry, some leased-fee parcels under homes and the land under the Koolau Farmers store on Kailua Road.
For the Harold K.L. Castle Foundation, sale proceeds boost its endowment value by about $30 million to $200 million, thus enhancing its power to award grants benefiting education, marine ecosystems and other causes largely for Windward Oahu communities.
The foundation, described as the largest private foundation in Hawaii, awards about $6 million a year in grants. Since it was created, grant awards have totaled about $180 million.
D'Olier said that while an era for Kailua under Castle influence is ending, he prefers to view it as a new era for the legacy of Harold Castle. "Here comes Harold Castle phase two."
read ... Phase Two
QUICK HITS: