At First, Takai Voted For the Pension Tax 'Every Time'
1,500 Farmers, Ranchers Organize to Save Maui from Farming Ban
MN: A group of some 1,500 farmers, ranchers, residents and others has formed to support genetically modified organism operations in Maui County, and rival the anti-GMO group SHAKA Movement.
The Citizens Against the Maui County Farming Ban was formed in response to SHAKA's support of an initiative that would suspend all genetically engineered operations and practices in the county until growers can prove their activities are safe.
The initiative is set to appear on the Nov. 4 general election ballot.
read ... 1,500 Farmers
Kauai Tries to Pick up the Pieces after Anti-GMO Hurricane Blows itself out
KE: As we move forward, it’s important to not let extremists from either side control the conversation and widen the rhetorical divide. There is a vast middle ground (where I believe that the majority of Kaua’i citizens are) that believes that some type of pesticide regulation is needed and acknowledges the related fact that small scale local agriculture is in a precipitous decline.
read ... Musings: What Next?
Refiners seek Jones Act workarounds as crude export debate heats up
R: ...If oil exports pick up pace while the Jones Act is left in place, U.S. crudes discount to Brent will likely narrow from its $8 average through 2014, while domestic refiners' shipping costs will remain high, putting them at a disadvantage to foreign competitors.
"For heaven's sake, if we're going to take the crude and export it all around the world, please let us export it to the U.S. East Coast," PBF Energy Inc. Executive Chairman Tom O'Malley said on a first quarter earnings call.
"We cannot do that if you can export crude oil to Europe at a cost of $2 a barrel and we have to use a Jones Act ship which cost us $6 or $7 a barrel."
Refiners aren't just moaning about the Jones Act's costs. They have increasingly sought ways around the pricey ships, whose day rates have nearly doubled to more than $100,000 over the past five years as shale oil production has boomed.
Of the six-dozen-strong coastal fleet of Jones Act tankers and barges, between 25 and 35 percent now carry crude oil between production hubs in Texas and refineries in the Northeast or further east along the Gulf Coast; before 2013, the bulk of the fleet ferried refined products to Florida.
Transport costs run from $2 per barrel for the short trip between the western Gulf Coast and refining centers such as Port Arthur and Beaumont in Texas, or as much as $6 or $7 a barrel from Texas to the Northeast.
Even before rates rose due to tight supply, Jones Act ships were expensive. U.S. flag vessels cost about $21,000 per day to operate, or three times as much as a comparable foreign-flag ship....
read ... Jones Act
Honolulu Ranks #10 in List of Hardest-working Cities
BI: To compile the ranking, SpareFoot analyzed the number of hours worked (plus commuting time) per person, the percent of the population that worked between 40 and 52 weeks a year (minus the percent of the population that did not work), the average total hours worked per week, the percentage of families where all parents worked, the number of residents that hold multiple jobs, and the number of people who work part-time for economic reasons, in each of the 100 largest U.S. metropolitan areas.
Read ... #10
Emancipated farmworkers till Kunia land
SA: Nonprofits help Thai trafficking victims resettle, and they are farming plots in Kunia with success
read ... Farmers now
Don't change new abuse law
SA: It's also important to consider this law as a linchpin of the current overhaul of Hawaii's juvenile justice system, which rightly aims to incarcerate fewer youthful offenders. Disrupting a generational cycle of violence is critical to the success of this overhaul, as is recognizing the lifetime harm inflicted upon children who grow up seeing and hearing their parents batter, and be battered.
read ... Abuse Law
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