�Point to Brazil � Stale Island Breath � Freedom to travel universal Point to Brazil I read with great interest Nathan Eagle’s article on the Gay & Robinson ethanol project and the discussion around using coal as an alternative fuel
�Point to Brazil
� Stale Island Breath
� Freedom to travel universal
Point to Brazil
I read with great interest Nathan Eagle’s article on the Gay & Robinson ethanol project and the discussion around using coal as an alternative fuel to run the plant.
I have a couple comments.
The first is that, contrary to Nathan’s generalization, ethanol is not a “grain based” product. It comes from naturally occuring sugars which can be produced not only by grain, but by sugar cane and sugar beets, and even from wood pulp. However, sugar cane produces seven times the amount of ethanol by weight as corn for the same production energy expended.
Why does no one point to Brazil, which has cut its dependence on oil imports to only 10 percent, solely as a result of their development of sugar cane ethanol production and conversion of automobiles to either E85 or pure ethanol? The Brazilian people are paying less to fuel their cars than we are. Regarding the use of coal as an alternative, I have reservations about it unless there is a sincere attempt at implementing state of the art stack scrubbers for emissions. Maui has enjoyed a significant grid contribution from bagasse combustion for decades. It (bagasse) should be looked to as the primary fuel, and not a secondary source. As for coal, it is cheaper than oil, far more plentiful in terms of reserves, and as pointed out, far less susceptible to terrorist interruption (aside from disruption of maritime shipping). Once the ethanol plant is operating, it would be a shame to not see a concerted effort to promote flex-fuel vehicles on Kauai. We could be a mini-Brazil in terms of energy independence.
Elaine Albertson
Waimea
Stale Island Breath
Juan Wilson’s Island Breath rants (“Creating a plan for sustainable land use on Kaua�i,” A9, Nov. 4) are nothing more than regurgitated stale breath, the odor of which is masked by the PC language of “sustainability,” “self sufficiency,” and “doing the right thing.”
He regularly engages in airy feel-good fantasies wherein he envisions that we all live in a subsistence level agrarian utopia. He berates landowners especially to “do what’s right” with their land.
Indeed.
Underlying his persistent proselytizing to “do the right thing” and live the “sustainable” life however, runs the telltale scat of all elitists and do-gooders � the delusion that they know what is good for all of us, and we damn well better listen up and fall in line.
Simply stated, all of Wilson’s articles are characterized by these arrogant admonitions to “do the right thing,” as long as your choices conform to his notion of what is right and good. If he could, Wilson (he is not alone here) would not hesitate a second to bring down upon us all the full force and threat of violence that resides with the state monopoply of such means, in order to achieve his dream of the perfect life. What irony that it is usually the well intentioned do-gooders that are first to set up the guillotine.
Thankfully, Wilson is confronted by two awkward facts: First, that the competent do not need his assistance; and second, that the majority of people think independently, make their own decisions and positively do not want to be “done good” to by Wilson or any of the others standing in the line marked “wannabe dictators.”
If Wilson and his fellow travelers think that subsistence farming and living closer to the Stone Age is the “right thing” then let them pursue that life � but leave the rest of us alone while they do.
RS Weir
Kapa�a
Freedom to travel universal
Last week, I read the op-ed by Sen. Fred Hemmings regarding the Superferry and he had a lot of good points to make, even though some were slanted from a governmental standpoint.
I just finished the article in The Garden Island about the bill the Senate passed with all the new guidelines (restrictions?) the Superferry will have to follow in order to operate legally in the islands. A ride on the ferry was already going to be expensive enough. With all those new employees and added time needed to enforce the extra rules, the cost could only go higher, right?
They are going to have to do the EIS after all, as they should, but we all know an environmental statement is a guess of what might happen if you do something. The true test will be when it actually runs.
Having all those new restrictions on what can and can’t be taken on the ferry is good. But what about Young Bros. and Matson? Just a few months ago, there was a story about a cat jumping out of a Matson container from the Mainland. A cat is pretty big, but what about all the small things that aren’t found?
When I moved my household belongings from O�ahu to Kaua�i in 1998, I used two of Young Bros.’s “G-vans.”
They are 5 1/2-by-5 1/2-by-6 feet if I remember correctly and cost me just $99 each, one way. Nobody watched me load or unload and the only rules that I had to follow were that I come during business hours and supply my own lock. I tried to be careful what I packed, but I bet a few cockroaches and maybe a couple of geckos snuck in with my stuff. But what if I’d wanted to sneak in some drugs, plants, etc.?
I have no idea if any kind of security goes snooping around all the shipments with dogs after they are locked up, but the fact remains, I probably could have smuggled all kinds of things and there was certainly no deterrent in place to make me feel like I couldn’t if I’d wanted to.
Some of my friends that I surf with complain that the Superferry will bring surfers from other islands to Kaua�i.
I know guys that travel from Kaua�i to O�ahu and also guys that travel from O�ahu to Kaua�i anytime there are big waves. They did it then and they do it now. The ferry won’t bring more or less of them than are travelling already.
People here complain about all the tourists, yet the state’s economy revolves around tourism.
Remember right after 9/11 when the planes weren’t flying and most of the island businesses slowed down to a crawl? Singling out a ship that only goes inter-island and blaming it for causing so many tourist related problems doesn’t make sense.
When I hear that there are more Hawaiians in California than in Hawai�i and that the last census taken in the state showed that the largest percentage of Maui’s permanent population is now caucasian, I’d think that if these things are both true, people have been moving around freely for many years. After listening to people grumble for over 40 years here in Hawai�i about all the newcomers, yet rave about the great vacation they just had in Las Vegas, it would appear that there are some that want the freedom to travel whenever and wherever they please, but don’t want to allow the same freedoms to others to come to their home.
That’s kinda’ selfish, isn’t it?
Jack Custer
Niumalu
