Who is Gabbard's Guru?
Lalamilo: Big Island Wind Farm Wants Permit to Kill Bats, Petrels
Nobody Backs Hanabusa Claim That Protesters Agreed to Approve Telescope in Exchange for Hawaiian Language School at UH Hilo
SA: U.S. Rep. Colleen Hanabusa said state lawmakers believed they had a “deal” with unnamed community members in 2010 that would clear the way for the Thirty Meter Telescope if the Legislature agreed to fund construction of the College of Hawaiian Language at the University of Hawaii at Hilo.
During her last year as president of the state Senate, Hanabusa said, University of Hawaii officials told lawmakers they needed to appropriate money to build the College of Hawaiian Language at UH-Hilo because funding that project was “part of the deal for TMT.”
Hanabusa later elaborated through a staff member that then-University of Hawaii President M.R.C. Greenwood told her about the agreement.
Ka Haka Ula O Keelikolani College of Hawaiian Language cost $21 million, and opened at UH-Hilo in early 2014….
Gov. David Ige, who was also in the state Senate at the time, said he was never consulted about the agreement Hanabusa described.
“Obviously, if there was a deal, it was not expressed in any way that could be legally enforced,” Ige said. If Hanabusa approved such an agreement, “she failed to execute it in a way that could live beyond her presidency. I have not seen any documentation of that.”
Dan Meisenzahl, spokesman for the university, said he was unable to identify any member of the current UH administration who acknowledges being part of an agreement that linked construction of a building for the college with the TMT. Greenwood did not respond last week to an emailed request for comment.
Larry Kimura, associate professor of Hawaiian language and Hawaiian studies at the College of Hawaiian Language, said he never heard of any agreement that linked construction of a building for the Hawaiian language college to TMT.
“Not at all, not at all,” Kimura said. “This is all news to me, I never heard of this. That was not my understanding, and I don’t think it was the understanding of my colleagues.”
Kimura has also been involved in issues on Mauna Kea, and served as co-chairman of the UH Committee for a new Mauna Kea Management Master Plan from 1998 to 2000.
Kimura said he believes former Gov. Linda Lingle was the true champion of the Hawaiian language college construction project. Lingle toured the UH-Hilo campus and inspected the four sites where the growing college held its classes when it was scattered across the campus, he said.
Kealoha Pisciotta, one of the leaders of the protesters who oppose TMT, said she heard nothing about the agreement Hanabusa described….
“I feel that when we funded that, that we did what was expected of us by whomever the community was that they were speaking to,” said Hanabusa, who is running for governor in 2018. She said she is unclear on who participated in the negotiations that linked the two projects.
“I didn’t make that deal,” she said. “That was what we were told by the UH at the time. So, whoever the UH made the deal with.”
Hanabusa New Campaign Slogan: “Whoever”
Reality: www.TheRealHanabusa.com
SA: The perception is most state and local politicians hope to sidestep the controversy. State Rep. Andria Tupola, who is running for governor as a Republican, said that if Ige truly supports TMT, he should have taken steps to properly manage the mountain that were suggested by the Hawaii State Auditor…. When pressed on whether she thinks the TMT should proceed, Tupola said that “with the way that the comprehensive report is written, and with the suggestions of the auditor regarding mismanagement, no.”
read … Story from Hanabusa
636 Cases of Mumps Statewide—Anti-Vaxxers to Blame?
WHT: The Department of Health confirmed six more cases of mumps in Hawaii County in the past week as the outbreak of the virus continues across the state.
The agency’s latest tally, updated Thursday, brings the number of confirmed cases in 2017 to 72 in Hawaii county and 636 statewide.
“This does not compare to previous years at all,” said state epidemiologist Dr. Sarah Park.
The Department of Health’s disease summary, which tracks cases of a slate of diseases over a span of 10 years, shows just two cases of mumps in Hawaii County from 2007-16. The more recent of those cases, in 2015, indicated the virus was confirmed in a non-resident. Prior to that, the summary doesn’t distinguish between residents and non-residents.
Statewide, cases of the virus have remained in the single digits over the last decade. From 2007-16, last year was the only year to count 10 cases. Every other year had five or fewer….
The Department of Health says anyone who thinks they have mumps should stay at home to keep from spreading the disease until they’re cleared to return to work or school.
Park said other issues, such as waning immunity, in which a person’s immunity might not be as strong as when he or she first got the vaccine, as well as people who were either improperly vaccinated or not vaccinated at all could also be contributing to the virus’ spread, though to what extent is difficult to say.
To try and address the issue of waning immunity and other issues, the Department of Health is recommending all adolescents and adults born in 1957 or later get an additional MMR vaccine dose now.
Vaccination, specifically the MMR — mumps, measles, rubella — vaccine, remains the best way to prevent the mumps.
In pre-vaccine times, mumps was the No.1 cause of viral meningitis, viral encephalitis and other complications, which health officials aren’t seeing in great rates even as the tally of cases comes over 600 statewide. That’s good news that the vaccine works….
read … 636 Cases of Mumps Statewide
Hawaii Politicians Raise Money from Marijuana Industry—Recreational Legalization Next
CB: …The Kauai conference-goers numbered 500, according to Rogers, and many of them had flown in from states and nations with progressive marijuana legislation. Attendance at a midday panel on foreign cannabis law, however, was notably sparse, a sign that the event was viewed by some marijuana entrepreneurs as an opportunity to justify a Hawaii vacation as a business expense write-off.
Those who did make it to the first day of panels were welcomed Saturday by U.S. Rep. Tulsi Gabbard, who appeared in a pre-recorded video played on twin projectors.
“Our outdated policies are having devastating effects on individuals and communities all across the country,” said Gabbard, who spoke for five minutes. “They’ve turned everyday Americans into criminals, torn apart families and wasted huge amounts of taxpayer dollars to arrest, prosecute and incarcerate people for nonviolent marijuana charges.”
A proponent of federal marijuana decriminalization, Gabbard said she wants to make it easier for cannabis companies to work within the banking system. She also voiced support for measures that could jumpstart the industrial hemp industry, such as erasing hemp’s controlled substance classification….
In his keynote address, state Sen. Will Espero called conference-goers pioneers, evoking American greats like John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Thomas Edison.
A Q&A session capped each forum, and Espero, who hosted a $250-per-head fundraiser in a hotel suite, was questioned by a New Yorker about Hawaii’s stance on adult recreational use of marijuana….
read … 500 Campaign Contributors
Big Island Dairy to process its own milk, bypassing Meadow Gold
SA: Hawaii consumers can soon expect to see a new brand of local milk, and for the first time in a long time it will be direct from a major dairy.
The state’s largest milk producer, Big Island Dairy, is about ready to start processing and packaging its own milk in a new $10 million facility on its farm in Ookala between Hilo and Waimea.
Big Island Dairy plans to distribute the milk statewide under its own name in January, and also expand with butter, cheeses and creams.
read … Competition
HECO Priorities: Everything Except Lower Rates
IM: The EUCI Hawaii Power Summit was held last week in Waikiki. Several representatives of Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) spoke, including Jim Alberts, HECO Senior Vice President for Customer Service, and Todd Kanja, HECO General Manager for System Planning.
Both Alberts and Kanja presented a power point slide which included climate change.
“Our renewable energy planning principles. Our power supply plan emphasizes near-term actions and accelerates the pace toward 100 percent renewable energy. (1) Renewable energy is the first option. (2) The energy transformation must include everyone. (3) Today’s decisions must not crowd out tomorrow’s breakthroughs. (4) The power grid needs to be modernized. (5) The lights have to stay on. (6) Our plans must address climate change. (7) There’s no perfect choice.”
Lynn McGuire and Bob Fraser spoke on behalf of Environmental Resources Management (ERM). They believe that a bridge fuel is needed to provide renewable baseload power, and that biofuels can fill that gap.
McGuire noted that ERM worked with HECO on the Hu Honua biomass project, which started in 2008 and is still mired in legal issues. McGuire wondered what was taking so long.
Fraser stated that of course, biofuels are not net zero with regard to greenhouse gas emissions, but that biofuel had lower greenhouse gas emissions than other baseload energy choices.
Reality: U.S. energy-related CO2 emissions fell 1.7% in 2016 (Thanks to fracking, bot biofools.)
read … Climate Change Surfaced at Waikiki Energy Summit
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