LIHU‘E — Last week marked the conclusion of five community meetings organized by SENTECH Hawai‘i in an effort to gather as much public opinion as possible about creating a more sustainable island. Key energy players in the county, including representatives
LIHU‘E — Last week marked the conclusion of five community meetings organized by SENTECH Hawai‘i in an effort to gather as much public opinion as possible about creating a more sustainable island.
Key energy players in the county, including representatives from KIUC, major land owners and sustainability groups, attended the 10th stakeholders-only meeting on Thursday as a recap of the prior gatherings and to review the results of an online survey voluntarily completed by more than 130 community members.
The purpose of the meetings has been to help generate an implementable energy plan for Kaua‘i — one that people can agree upon and one that would eventually allow the island to be entirely energy independent.
While the public and media were excluded from Thursday’s stakeholders meeting, Douglas Hinrichs, vice president of SENTECH, recapped some of the information exchanged in an interview Friday.
Most stakeholders were reportedly in agreement with the preliminary plan elements but some had reservations.
“I’ve been so impressed by the support and openness of people we’ve met,” said Hinrichs. “When I first started planning these meetings to hear what folks thought about energy issues on Kaua‘i, I kept hearing that we’d have trouble engaging people and getting them to speak up at meetings. That has certainly not been the case.”
The online survey shows that 38 percent of participants were under age 18 and 29 percent were over 55 — age groups which are typically underrepresented in sustainable or clean energy planning efforts, he added.
Another unexpected finding, he said, was that most of those surveyed felt “environmental sustainability” is deemed more worthy of immediate attention than “relief from high energy prices.”
Keone Kealoha, executive director of Malama Kaua‘i, was one of the few who attended Thursday’s meeting.
“My hope is that we get a plan that’s a little bit more in line with where our future seems to be headed,” he said Saturday. “It’s hard for people to think outside of their generation; to think of a future that hasn’t been like what they’ve experience or read about in the past. We need to be open to the possibility that our near future is not going to look like any other cycle we’ve been through before. If we’re open to that, more possibilities can come to the table.”
Diane Zachary, president and CEO of Kaua‘i Planning & Action Alliance, has teamed up with SENTECH Hawai‘i to serve as a neutral facilitator and has been impressed by the community’s involvement and agrees that the island will need to head in an entirely new direction.
“Participants have asked in-depth questions, raised relevant issues and offered resources to inform the plan’s development,” she said. “In considering our energy use and energy sources, there is broad recognition that the status quo will not work for Kaua‘i in the future.”
Hinrichs said he is “guardedly optimistic” about the plan thus far, and adds that continued community support will still be needed along the way.
A preliminary plan is expected by Nov. 13 at which time public input will be called for again. The final plan, which the county is funding, is set to be completed by January 2010.
“As someone told me recently, we’re doing the ‘easy stuff’ now — getting the plan implemented will be the hard part,” Hinrichs said. “In a way, I hope to prove that person wrong.”
For more information, visit www.kauaienergysustainabilityplan.com
