12 Weeks on Mauna Kea: 6,237 Tickets, 60 Arrests
Sierra Club sues to block DoH Permit Approval for Red Hill Tanks
Astronomers Preparing to Leave Big Island as Perfectly Good Telescopes are Decommissioned
HNN: … Hawaii island’s business community says they’re spooked by what could be an economic warning sign.
Rhea Lee-Moku, president of Hawaii Island Chamber of Commerce, says someone in the astronomy industry recently pulled out of escrow for a home because of concerns about the future.
(The problem is Harry Kim.)
As the stalemate over the Thirty Meter Telescope at Mauna Kea drags on, she described the overall mood among businesses as “pretty somber.”
She added that others in the astronomy industry have stopped looking for permanent homes….
(Idea: Relocate TMT to Haleakala. The law is enforced on Maui.)
Officials with Maunakea Observatories also worry about the future of the astronomy industry in Hawaii. They say astronomy sustains 500 employees and 500 related jobs.
As part of the UH Board of Regents newly-approved stewardship resolution, five telescopes atop Mauna Kea will be removed….
Caltech Submillimeter Observatory and Hokukea are to be decommissioned by December 31, 2021 and three others by January 2026 ― even with no guarantee TMT will be built.
“These decommissionings are contingent on TMT coming to the mauna. This decouples the closure of additional working facilities from the arrival of TMT," said Jessica Dempsey, deputy director of the East Asian Observatory and James Clerk Maxwell Telescope.
“With TMT so uncertain, we could end up in the place where we lose five additional facilities.”…
Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, one of the leaders of the Kiai ― who call themselves protectors and not protesters at Mauna Kea ― believes TMT’s economic benefits are “grossly overstated.”
"That's chicken feed. I'm sorry. That's not going to provide the benefit (of mo’ money), the overall benefit to our community (OHA)" she said….
HNN: A top CEO’s prescription for Hawaii’s tourism-driven economy: It’s time to diversify (oh well)
Cataluna: Spending to keep the peace where it’s not needed
read … Hawaii Island businesses ‘somber’ over TMT stalemate at Mauna Kea
Sen Laura Thielen Will not Run for Reelection
HNN: … Thielen has represented Windward and East Oahu since 2013.
It's not clear what she'll do once her team finishes in November 2020. But in a flyer sent to constituents, she said she missed doing work for non-profits and businesses.
Her mother, State Rep. Cynthia Thielen, announced last month that she would not be seeking re-election….
CB: Sen. Laura Thielen Won’t Seek Re-Election To Hawaii Senate
(Question: CD2?)
read … State senator announces she will not be running for re-election
PUC to Hear Kahuku Windfarm Case Nov 22
IM: The Public Utilities Commission hearing on Life of the Land`s Motion for the proposed Na Pua Makani wind farm in Kahuku will be held on November 22, 2019.
The Public Utilities Commission will hold an Evidentiary Hearing on the proposed Maui Electric Company- Paeahu Solar power purchase agreement on December 4-5, 2019.
CB: Life of the Land’s challenge focuses on the PUC’s approval of the contract between the wind farm and HECO, which the PUC approved. It centers on the license to incidentally kill some of the endangered bats, an alleged project “site control” requirement, the price HECO will pay for power from the wind farm, and a failure by the PUC to analyze the project’s effects on greenhouse gas emissions….
read … Competing Hawai`i Energy and Climate Meetings
In Shift, Navy Says It's Weighing Double-Walled Red Hill Fuel Tanks
HPR: … The U.S. Navy is now considering double-wall tanks for its fuel storage in Red Hill and says it will relocate the facility if that upgrade can't be done.
Although that is welcome news for Honolulu officials, City Council members and the Board of Water Supply still have concerns.
On Wednesday, the council heard presentations from the Navy and Board of Water Supply on the proposed storage tank upgrades before adopting a resolution reiterating its stand for better improvements to the Navy’s Red Hill facility….
read … In Shift, Navy Says It's Weighing Double-Walled Red Hill Fuel Tanks
Sierra Club Sues To Stop Automatic Approval Of Red Hill Fuel Tanks
CB: … Department of Health permits are automatically approved if officials don’t take action on them within 180 days ….
The environmental group filed a lawsuit against the state Department of Health and requested a temporary restraining order on Thursday….
Removing the Nov. 19 deadline, which marks 180 days from the Navy’s completion of its permit application, will give the Sierra Club more time to challenge the permit for the tanks in a contested case hearing with the health department….
read … Sierra Club Sues To Stop Automatic Approval Of Red Hill Fuel Tanks
PIGs at the Trough: Scrum for Money at Competing Hawaii Energy and Climate Meetings
IM: … The Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) announced that their 2020 climate summit will be held on January 13-14, 2020 at the East-West Center adjacent to the University of Hawai`i, Mānoa campus.
“The 2020 conference aims to emphasize the communications aspect of climate change.”….
(Translating: More climate hysteria designed to distract you while they take money out of your pocket.)
The Hawai`i Climate Change Mitigation & Adaptation Commission meets three-to-four times per year, but its PIGs often meet in secret. The Commission will meet on April 15, July 15, and October 21, 2020.
The DLNR 2020 conference, Hā O Ke Kai, will feature David Wallace-Wells, who wrote an article, “The Uninhabitable Earth,” in 2017 and turned it into a full-length book of the same name in 2019.
(Attention Believers: I am still offering 10% of assessed value for your Hawaii oceanfront real estate. Cash money!)
Elizabeth Kolbert, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of the book "The Sixth Extinction" said in a book blurb that David Wallace-Wells argues that the impacts of climate change will be much graver than most people realize…
(Translation: Hold on to your wallet.)
The Honolulu Climate Change Commission has met 15 times in the past 21 months.
The Public Utilities Commission has three huge proceedings underway: Integrated Grid Planning, Performance-Based Regulation, and Microgrid Tariffs. There are three PUC Working Groups and at least nine HECO working groups associated with the three PUC dockets.
There are also major conferences, some public, some invitation-only.
(Insiders deciding how much of your money they can take.)
Increasingly, days go by without meetings followed by days with multiple groups meeting simultaneously.
In the space of two years, the Legislature created the Carbon Farming Task Force, the Legislature turned in into the Greenhouse Gas Sequestration Task Force, the Legislature defunded the task force, and now the defunded entity is meeting at the Hawai`i State Capitol Conference, Room 309, Thursday, November 14, 2019, from 1:30 -4:30 p.m.
There will be a discussion of the three Sequestration Permitted Interaction Groups (PIGs)…..
(Carbon taxes, higher fuel taxes, higher electric rates….)
ISR Sustainable Cities Seminar Series, November 12, 12:00pm - 1:00pm Mānoa Campus, iLab.
The UH Manoa Institute for Sustainability & Resilience (ISR) is hosting an 8-week, interdisciplinary seminar series on Sustainable Cities, co-hosted by College of Engineering and College of Social Sciences….
read … Competing Hawai`i Energy and Climate Meetings
Communists Cheer Kauai Celebrutards Anti-GMO Propaganda Movie
PW: … Biotech companies such as Monsanto and DuPont, whose pesticides and GMO experimental projects are turning people into lab rats at Kauai. This Hawaiian island just so happens to be the home of Pierce Brosnan, who portrayed Ian Fleming’s suave British secret agent in four big screen thrillers. Now, instead of aiming his Beretta or Walther PPK at the agrichemical supervillains, the Irish actor and environmentalist is pointing a camera at them as executive producer of a hard-hitting documentary co-directed by his wife, Keely Shaye Brosnan….
(Translation: Anti-GMO activism is driven by celebrutards trying to re-shape Hawaii to suit their psychoses. And the Communist Party, USA is happy.)
read … The CPUSA Rag
Ritual Exposed as a Fraud: Eco-Priests Blame ‘Dirty recycling’
HTH: … Garbage in, garbage out.
Hawaii County’s recycling program fell apart not because of a lack of markets, but because of dirty garbage dumped into the two-bin system, the Hawaii County Council learned Tuesday…. (Uh-huh. Sure.)
read … Dirty recycling dooms Hawaii County program
How Much Grift can Public Employees Accept? Honolulu Ethics Commission invites public input
ILind: … The Honolulu Ethics Commission has invited the public to weigh in on the issue of whether to adopt a “zero tolerance” prohibition on the solicitation or acceptance of gifts by city officials and employees. The matter has been scheduled for discussion at the commission’s regularly scheduled meeting next Wednesday, November 13, 2019, at 11:30 a.m.
Here is the question the commission will consider: “Should the Gift Guidelines Be Amended to Prohibit City Officers and Employees from Accepting Gifts from Persons Doing Business with Their City Agency, Regardless of the Value of the Gift” …
ILind: On the question of “gifts of Aloha”
PDF: Ethics Agenda Nov 13, 2019
read … Honolulu Ethics Commission invites public input on gift guidelines
Christopher Deedy can be re-tried but only for assault
KHON: … All of the stems from the November 5, 2011 incident in which Deedy, a U.S. State Department Special Agent in town for the APEC event, and Elderts got into an altercation at a Waikiki McDonald’s.
It turned fatal — when Deedy fired his gun at Elderts. Deedy called it self defense.
Deedy’s attorney told Always Investigating:
“Today’s ruling brings us one step closer to ending this corrupt effort on the part of the prosecutors to win at all costs in this case. The prosecutors have said over and over assault does not apply…We will take whatever steps necessary to prevent a third trial.” -- THOMAS OTAKE, CHRISTOPHER DEEDY’S ATTORNEY
We’ll continue to follow up on whether and when prosecutors re-file assault charges, and if either party will further appeal the ninth circuit’s ruling….
SA: State can retry Deedy for assault, court rules
Flashback: Before Waikiki Shooting, Chris Deedy in Benghazi
read … Christopher Deedy can be re-tried but only for assault
Kauai police officer arrested following domestic incident
HNN: … Authorities say 29-year-old Royce Kaauwai, Jr. was taken into custody after police responded to an incident at a Kapaa-area home just before 10 p.m. Saturday night.
Responding officers reported that a 28-year-old woman sustained non-life threatening injuries during the incident.
Kaauwai was arrested on suspicion of abuse of a family or household member. He posted $1,000 bail and has since been released.
Police officials say Kaauwai is a two-year veteran of the department as an officer in the patrol services bureau….
read … Kauai police officer arrested following domestic incident
Just Before Veterans Day--Naval Air Museum Barbers Point wrongfully evicted by Airports Division
KITV: … Operators of a historic museum on Oahu have been told by the state to move out immediately. People at the Naval Air Museum at Barbers Point believe they're being wrongfully evicted. Since late September, tours at the museum have been suspended.
“We were very shocked. We weren’t expecting at all. We’re in compliance, according their reasons for evicting us in the letter," Brad Sekigawa, Naval Air Museum vice president, said.
The surprise came in a letter from the State Department of Transportation Airports Division. It said the facility lacks insurance and failed to address environmental issues like oil leaks and spills. The museum admits there were some oil stains under certain vehicles but it has since been cleaned up….
KHON: Historic military museum sent notice to vacate just days before Veteran's Day
SA: Air museum is being evicted over contract issues
read … Naval Air Museum Barbers Point believes it's wrongfully evicted by the state
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