UHERO: Shortage of Sister-Isle Medical Care Mostly Affects Low Income Residents
Feds Plan Hawaii Kai offshore wind lease auction for Kaiwi Channel
S247: … The US Bureau of Ocean Energy Management (BOEM) has set a 2028 start date for wind leasing off the coast of Hawaii’s island of Oahu.
Hawaii is also home to over two dozen military bases and the first consultations about two possible lease areas in 2016 revealed conflicts with military operations in the area.
However, Aukahi Energy – a partnership between Progression Energy and EDF Renewables – and the US Department of Defense agreed on a third area that could facilitate the development of between 500 and 800MW of offshore wind energy. The agreement does include certain limitations including a maximum turbine height.
The area’s potential is in line with the 500 to 600MW of offshore wind that will be needed to meet the state’s decarbonization targets and reduce its dependence on imported oil, biofuels, and hydrogen.
The developers who decide to bid for the lease area will have to use floating wind technology which is problematic due to the depths in all three proposed Hawaiian lease areas.
The deepest floating offshore wind project to date measures some 300 meters to the ocean floor. Still, BOEM considered anything down to 1,300 m to be within the realm of technical feasibility when evaluating Hawaiian lease areas….
read … US looks to 2028 for Hawaii offshore wind lease auction
Will Insurers Keep Subrogation Issue in biased State Courts?
CB: Victims’ lawyers want the Hawaii Supreme Court to step in. They have asked Maui Judge Peter Cahill to let the high court determine the question central to his ruling, and want the insurance industry to join in on their request as a way to resolve the issue.
(QUESTION: Who would take advice from an enemy?)
… Creed said the insurers “should join in the request to have the Hawaii Supreme Court decide” the central question.
TRANSLATION: As Michael Miske says: ‘Defend Hawaii’ -- meaning ‘keep mob business in the state judiciary’.
If the subrogation issue can’t be resolved within nine months, the proposed settlement will terminate based on its terms, Creed wrote in his motion to send the question to the Supreme Court. ….
(IDEA: Stripping subrogation rights from insurers is such an insane idea that even the bizarre and absurd Hawaii Supreme Court might not want to take that step. Not even to save a core old boy institution like HECO and save 1,000s of Hawaii political insiders from seeing their HE stock go to zero.)
read … Insurance Industry Insists It Has Right To Recoup Billions In Paid Wildfire Claims
Schatz Wants Another Random $1.2 Billion for Maui
CB: … Heading into the fall, U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz said he aims to secure some $1.2 billion in federal grant dollars to reimburse Maui County for wildfire recovery costs that the Federal Emergency Management Agency isn’t authorized to cover.
Precisely which disaster recovery costs and services those dollars would pay for, as well as how the total amount was estimated, remain unclear, however.
The funds would come from the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s Community Development Block Grant Program. They could be attached to any one of several federal spending bills that lawmakers are expected to take up through the rest of 2024, Schatz said last week….
read … Maui County Faces $1.2 Billion In Unmet Needs For Wildfire Recovery Efforts - Honolulu Civil Beat
Five attempts to kill Honolulu police this year
SA: … Serious attacks against Honolulu police officers are up since last year, and officials are concerned the violence is impacting recruiting and public safety.
There have been 21 cases of first-degree attempted murder of a law enforcement officer on Oahu so far this year compared to only three last year, according to the Honolulu Police Department’s data dashboard.
A single incident may have multiple offenses tied to it, and HPD spokesperson Michelle Yu said 17 of the 21 cases arose from the New Year’s Day pursuit Opens in a new tab and gun battles with an attempted- murder suspect. The 17 cases reflect the 17 officers involved in the Jan. 1 shooting that ended near the University of Hawaii campus in Manoa with two officers hospitalized with gunshot wounds and the 44-year-old suspect dead….
All told, there have been five separate incidents of attempted murder of a police officer on Oahu so far this year….
HPD data also show 22 cases of assaults against officers so far this year compared to 25 in all of 2023. Harassment cases total 172 so far this year compared to 258 last year….
read … New Year’s Day shooting drives rise in attempts to harm police
Aquarium fishing proposal stalls: DAR seeks to start permit process for commercial fishers
HTH: … A contentious proposal to reopen aquarium fishing in West Hawaii stalled Friday after hours of public opposition.
At Friday’s meeting of the Board of Land and Natural Resources, the state Division of Aquatic Resources submitted a request to establish a process to grant permits to commercial aquarium fishers to operate in West Hawaii, something that hasn’t been allowed since 2017.
A Hawaii Supreme Court injunction issued in 2017 that prohibited the issuance or renewal of aquarium fishing permits in West Hawaii waters was lifted last year. And despite substantial opposition from environmental groups, DAR is considering opening the West Hawaii Regional Fishery Management Area to aquarium fishing once again.
According to DAR’s request, permits would be tightly controlled, and would only be issued to no more than seven qualified applicants. Permittees would only be allowed to catch eight different fish species, with yearly catch limits imposed for each one — for example, fishers would be allowed to catch up to 28,571 yellow tang in a year, and up to 49 bird wrasse…
WHT: A setback for foes of aquarium fishing - West Hawaii Today
HNN: State Supreme Court ruling opens door for aquarium fishing off West Hawaii
read … Aquarium fishing proposal stalls: DAR seeks to start permit process for commercial fishers
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