LIHU‘E — A member of the Kaua‘i County Council who came out strongly last week against a proposed 50-cent fuel tax said Friday that his job with Kaua‘i Petroleum does not constitute a conflict of interest. “I don’t think there’s
LIHU‘E — A member of the Kaua‘i County Council who came out strongly last week against a proposed 50-cent fuel tax said Friday that his job with Kaua‘i Petroleum does not constitute a conflict of interest.
“I don’t think there’s a conflict because no mater what the price is, we’re still going to sell gas,” said veteran Councilman Daryl Kaneshiro, also an account executive for the oil wholesaler for more than a decade. “I don’t think the price has an impact on people buying gas. The impact comes from the economic situation on the island.”
Kaneshiro last week called the fuel tax, one of many recommendations in the recently unveiled Kaua‘i Energy Sustainability Plan, “absurd,” and other council members criticized the proposal as “ridiculous.”
The plan has as its goal 100 percent energy sustainability — including the end of importing fossil fuels — by 2030. In addition to the transportation recommendations that would encourage fuel-efficient electric hybrids and plug-in electric hybrids, the plan includes proposals for solar, biomass and other alternative energy projects to produce electricity without the need for petroleum.
Kaneshiro said neither implementing the tax nor the plan as a whole would have a major impact on Kaua‘i Petroleum because the company not only provides gasoline to “76” brand service stations but supplies fuel for hospital generators and farm and off-road vehicles and can also store millions of gallons of ethanol and jet fuel.
“It could have an impact but the proposal doesn’t cover a lot of things like what we do for businesses,” Kaneshiro said. “Those are huge compared to selling gas at the service station and making only a few pennies. … Is it really going to effect us that much? I don’t think so.”
Kaneshiro said he expects Kaua‘i’s population to climb in the next 20 years, which will require more large trucks burning more fuel to deliver goods around the island.
“Where’s the real effect on Kaua‘i Petroleum?” he asked.
‘Under the bus’
Council Vice Chair Jay Furfaro, who has repeatedly touted his support for the KESP and the $200,000 in funding it received on the council floor, said last week that his colleagues threw Sentech Hawai‘i lead consultant Douglas Hinrichs “under the bus” as they criticized the plan’s recommendations.
“To say that the whole piece didn’t really meet his expectations I think is a little unfair at this to the consultant,” Furfaro said of Councilman Tim Bynum, who used the fuel tax recommendation to undermine the plan’s integrity as he questioned its lack of wind energy proposals.
“The gas tax I think is not something that is real palatable, but it is only part of the consultant’s strategic thinking,” Furfaro said. “To mix our thinking on energy and electricity and then throw in the gas tax, I see those as clearly two separate strategies.”
The council this week voted to finally kill the Small Wind Energy Conversion Systems bill, which had been received by Furfaro’s Planning Committee a week earlier after the KESP left out wind ideas due to a lack of clarity on federal regulations protecting endangered seabirds and complaints from residents about potential noise and visual blight problems.
North Shore resident Carl Imparato called the bill “extreme and unbalanced” due to its lack of protections for neighbors and thanked the council members who voted to kill the bill for “understanding that environmental leadership means rejecting, not supporting” poorly written legislation.
Bynum asked for a the “courtesy” of a deferral to wait for the Office of the County Attorney to answer whether receipt of the bill and drafting of a new bill that would cover lots zoned agricultural and open but would exclude residential lots was necessary or if the current bill could instead be amended.
Furfaro shot back that he would like to not be portrayed as being opposed to alternative energy sources, as a “courtesy.”
The bill was killed, 5-2, with Bynum and Councilwoman Lani Kawahara voting in opposition.
Public comment deadline extended
There’s still time to provide comment on the KESP, as the deadline for public input has been extended to Tuesday, Feb. 16. It was originally scheduled for Jan. 24.
“With the public rollout of this plan, a potentially paradigm-shifting dialogue has been started, not ended, on Kaua‘i and the Sentech Hawai‘i team encourages everyone to continue this dialogue in a productive manner,” Hinrichs said in an e-mail.
Hinrichs can be reached at 301-219-7647 or at dhinrichs@sentech.org with comments, ideas, concerns, complaints and other constructive feedback, he said.
To review the energy sustainability plan, log on to www.kauaienergysustainabilityplan.com, which has a blog that has been re-invigorated after the public rollout and is one way to continue the dialogue over the Internet, Hinrichs said.
For more information, contact the county Office of Economic Development at 241-4946.
