HANALEI — Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative and Free Flow Power began public outreach meetings last week on their proposed hydropower projects on six Kaua‘i waterways. The meetings — held Nov. 1 in Waimea, Wednesday in Hanalei, and Thursday in Kapa‘a
HANALEI — Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative and Free Flow Power began public outreach meetings last week on their proposed hydropower projects on six Kaua‘i waterways.
The meetings — held Nov. 1 in Waimea, Wednesday in Hanalei, and Thursday in Kapa‘a — were part of FFP’s information-gathering process for scoping and feasibility studies, according to Dawn Huff of FFP. She said draft plans will be available at the end of the month.
Few people showed up on time for the KIUC and FFP meeting at the Hanalei School cafeteria. It was billed as a joint request for community participation in developing hydroelectric power. Throughout the meeting, participants staggered in late, bringing the head count by the meeting’s end to nine. Some attendees were surprised by the low turnout; others were not.
Low attendance may have had to do more with scheduling than a lack of interest in issues common to hydropower projects, such as ecological impacts, water rights and land use. Wednesday marked the one-year anniversary of the untimely death of 32-year-old world-champion surfer Andy Irons of Hanalei.
The number of representatives from KIUC and FFP almost equaled the number of community members at the meeting. There were eight in all, including both on-island FFP employees, Huff and Jason Hines, two KIUC marketing and communications department employees, KIUC’s recently appointed chief of operations, Mike Yamane, and KIUC Board Directors Steve Rapozo, Jan TenBruggencate and Stewart Burley.
Not all who attended the meeting participated in the discussion, which was supposed take place in small groups, Shelly Paik of KIUC said before the meeting began. Apparently, too few community members showed to justify division into groups, so the meeting became an open-forum discussion.
On a few occasions when community members made atypical comments about hydropower, both Huff and Hines took hurried notes.
“Will KIUC charge me for water, if I use it down river … because many countries do it,” asked Carrice Caspillo, a Hanalei taro farmer.
KIUC reps responded, saying, “Absolutely not.” Hines said they’re seeking permission to use the water, not sell it.
Caspillo’s other concerns involved diminishing water levels in the rivers in the northern and western parts of the island and the disappearance of the rivers’ fish.
“Is all this going to affect us farmers that have a lot of taro growing now, because taro takes a lot of water and for about 10 years, 11 years, I’ve lost a lot of taro,” she said. “That’s why the people that come here we cannot trust because we don’t know you or really what is the next step. Why is it that Waimea has very little water. Why is it?”
Hines said it’s because the weather is much dryer on the other side of the island, except in the mountains and that it’s “just the natural climate.”
“It’s amazing because the water in the river used to be deep,” Caspillo said. “Wainiha was like that. When I was growing up, we could dive from the bridge and there’s a huge stone that used to be in the middle of the river and now it’s way over there and the river is getting smaller. … I can tell you we have not found fish for many years now in the river. Before, we used to have constant o‘opu.”
Community member Charlie Conden was the most vocal of the small group, readily expressing support for the projects and qualifying questions and concerns posed to KIUC by other community members.
“I call them opposers, the people who just oppose everything,” he said. “We have to wait and see what is the plan. These existing (hydropower) sites, has anybody dug in and found anything wrong with them? I mean, to me, I’ve seen a bunch of them, and they all seem kind of benign to me. They just take some water out and put it back in the stream. There’s no farmers in between, up in the hills.
“… I hear, you know, about getting the whole community involved but, to me, it’s like what’s the plan, you know?” he said, before adding he was glad the co-op is using FERC.
Huff said, “It’s very clear to us the state holds complete control and power over water rights and water resources, pretty much anything to do with water, so we’re working with them —- all the state agencies, actually, because whether KIUC moves forward through the FERC process or not, what is very clear is that the state permits that will be involved with each project will still be in place.
“FERC is simply another layer,” she said. “It doesn’t replace or change anything we will be doing with the state.”
The FERC preliminary permit applications Free Flow filed under its own name, prior to entering into a memorandum of agreement with KIUC to explore hydropower on Kaua‘i, required a project description. Hines said FFP took the information they provided to FERC from studies previously performed and that the projects haven’t deviated much since then because FFP wants to do outreach prior to drafting preliminary plans.
“It’s gathering resources from all angels at this time,” Huff said.
The project would be a pelton wheel type only shorter bypass reach between the diversion and the tailrace, Hines said, “about four miles,” and would be dumping the water back out before the taro ditch systems.
“That’s been one of the problems there,” he said. “We’ve had some discussions just trying to understand if there’s a way to get water out of the tail end of the system and directly into the ditches just to save intake problems they’re having.”
Huff added, “Part of the reason we don’t have pictures here tonight is because we’re trying to gather information about what’s going on around it.”
Rapozo interjected, saying they will not be building any dams.
“Of the six projects we were looking at, three of them involved new diversions and three involved existing ditches,” Hines said. “For the ones that may use a new diversion, what we’re proposing is a very low profile type of intake, really just a control weir similar to a lot of the irrigation diversions.”
Hines said they’re looking at intakes that have a fine screen.
“Some of the water goes down through and passes through a trough,” he said. “The great thing about that is all of the little weeds and sticks just go right over, they don’t clog it up. Fish and little things like that can just slide on over. So the general idea is a low weir and if necessary, if there were fish that moved upstream in that section of river, there would be a couple of steps for a fish ladder on the side so that it would really just be like a steep step in a rocky part of a river.”
‘Catch 22’
“We’re in a little bit of a catch 22 in that we would like to put out specifics for people to talk about, but then at the same time, if you throw something out there before talking to people, it’s like, ‘What are you thinking?’” Hines said. “So it’s like we’re trying to balance having something real to talk about but not being presumptuous in putting something out there that doesn’t work.”
“Let’s talk money,” said Allen Leonard, a community member at the meeting. “How much do we owe? I’m a member of the utility, I have to pay this money. How much do we owe and what’s the interest rate? How many millions?”
Yamane said, “I don’t have that off the top of my head.”
TenBruggencate spoke up to say, “I have a vague idea, but I can get you the number. Before you leave, make sure I’ve got your information.”
Leonard seemed concerned that by carrying a great deal of debt, the co-op is making itself vulnerable to a takeover. He questioned the brokerage background of Free Flow Power Corp.’s CEO and Board Chair Daniel Irvin.
Irvin was one of FFP’s founders in 2007, according to FFP’s website. He became CEO in 2008 and chairman in 2009.
Prior to joining FFP, Irvin had 25 years experience in investment banking in the areas of public infrastructure and project finance, including arranging more $50 billion of debt and equity, and financing hundreds of infrastructure projects, the website states.
“Basically, I’m very concerned because Kaua‘i represents to many people in the world a very high level of what the planet should be,” Elizabeth Hooker of Hanalei said. “Kaua‘i really is a place people look to as a microcosm, in fact. We here have to be as answerable to everybody on the planet. We have a lot to protect here, a lot.”
Community member Brian Woolsey said based on his experiences with hydropower development in California, “It’s critical that all voices are heard, but it’s also critical that third parties are reviewing every little thing.
“The process needs to be transparent,” he said. “There are processes that have been utilized that are established. If we do it right from this step in the beginning, we can avoid a lot of costs later and have it be sustainable and have it be healthy to the rivers.”
