September 26, 2026 News Read

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Saturday, September 26, 2026

September 26, 2026 News Read
By Andrew Walden @ 9:54 AM :: 150 Views

DCCA Hosts 2026-2027 Hawaiʻi LifeSmarts Competition.

DOH: Recycling Centers Slightly Amend Amount Wasted on Plastic 'Recycling'

Honolulu Selected to Join Love Your Block – Partnering With Residents to Improve Neighborhoods Citywide

Political Correctness is a Tool for Corruption Coverup

SA: … “No place for racism in tax-funded work” …

REALITY: Former Rep Isaac Choy was exposing CNHA's HTA contract shenanigans. The Star-Adv embarrasses itself by pretending it cannot see CNHA's 'racism' accusations as the smoke screen that they are….

REALITY:

read … Editorial: No place for racism in tax-funded work | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Kauai Wants Visitors Back. So Where Are They?

BH: … Kauai was doing just fine with arrivals before Hurricane Lowell. During the first six days of September, an average of 2,299 passengers a day arrived directly on domestic flights, actually up about 5% vs. comparable days last year.

Then Lowell hit; visitors were asked to reschedule trips or visit another island, and the number collapsed. During the latest five days available, September 19 through 23, direct domestic arrivals averaged just 859 passengers a day. The comparable number last year was 2,247, down nearly 62%….

read … Kauai Wants Visitors Back. So Where Are They?

HI-5 bottle tax yields $105M slush fund-what will legislators waste it on?

SA: … The state Department of Health now has over $100 million in a fund from an inefficient and inconvenient program created to boost beverage container recycling with refundable deposits paid by consumers.

There is now $105 million in the Hawaii Deposit Beverage Container program fund held by the agency, up from $74 million near the end of last year as redemption rates fall in part due to not enough redemption centers and centers that aren’t very convenient for consumers to use….

Under the program, consumers are charged 6 cents for each beverage container purchased and can receive a 5-cent refund on containers they return to redemption centers.

Before HI-5 was established in 2005, the rate for recycling plastic, aluminum and glass beverage containers in the state was 20%. But after surging to 79% in 2009, a more or less gradual decline set in for redemptions, which also include containers that consumers put into home curbside bins for the city to pick up and recycle without receiving money back on their deposits.

Last year’s rate was 52%, down from 55% in 2024 and 58% in 2023. Because of redemption declines, unreturned deposit revenue continues to build up in a DOH fund.

After the fund balance hit $74 million near the end of last year, the Legislature passed a bill in May to sweep $12 million into the general fund, a transaction that has yet to occur.

Hawaii’s 52% redemption rate was third-lowest in 2025 among 10 states with beverage container deposit programs, according to a presentation to the committee by the Container Recycling Institute.

The lowest rate was 33% in Massachusetts followed by 49% in Iowa. The highest rate was 92% in Connecticut followed by 88% in Oregon.

Susan Collins, president of the California-based nonprofit institute, told committee members that states with higher deposit fees, including Connecticut and Oregon at 10 cents, tend to have higher redemption rates because the cost of not recycling is a powerful motivating force….

(TRANSLATION: Their plan is to raise the bottle tax to 10 cents.)

read … HI-5 fund swells to $105 million as bottle redemptions decline | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Hawaiian Electric still plans to retire Maui’s fossil fuel plants despite EPA easing greenhouse gas restrictions

MN: … The Environmental Protection Agency said last week that it was repealing most of the Biden administration’s greenhouse gas requirements for U.S. power plants. The EPA also was proposing rescinding all remaining greenhouse gas standards for the power sector.

The agency argued the rules were “effectively forcing plants to retire rather than setting standards they could actually meet.”

Hawaiian Electric, which has been planning for years to retire the Kahului and Mā‘alaea power plants on Maui, said the EPA changes would “have no effect” on its facilities.

“The revisions do not alter the company’s commitment to Hawaiʻi’s clean energy goals, renewable energy integration, grid modernization, or emissions reductions objectives,” the company said in a statement to the Hawai‘i Journalism Initiative. “The EPA rules for GHG emissions also do not have any bearing on our intent to retire older units as part of our plan for the grids to integrate more renewable energy.”

For the last decade, Hawaiian Electric has been pushing toward a goal of 100% renewable energy by 2045 under a state law passed in 2015. The company had reached 37% renewable energy across the five islands it serves as of 2025….

read … Hawaiian Electric still plans to retire Maui’s fossil fuel plants despite EPA easing greenhouse gas restrictions : Maui Now

HART reviews tentative $652M budget for next year

SA: … The Honolulu Authority for Rapid Transportation is proposing a preliminary $651.8 million budget for fiscal year 2028, which begins July 1, rail officials say.

HART’s next budget would be about $417 million lower than the $1.07 billion spending plan adopted for the current fiscal year. The nearly 39% reduction is almost entirely due to lower capital spending as the agency shifts funding toward Pearl Highlands and park-and-ride construction, according to a budget presentation.

HART’s preliminary budget calls for $182.5 million in operating spending and $469.3 million in capital expenditures, compared with approximately $177.6 million and $891.4 million, respectively, in the current year’s budget….

read … HART reviews tentative $652M budget next year | Honolulu Star-Advertiser

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