• A sustainable energy future • Cell towers do not make children sick • KCC lost accreditation by its own doing A sustainable energy future A proposal in an April 9 letter supports waste-to-energy technology and criticizes Green Energy’s biomass-to-energy
• A sustainable energy future • Cell towers do not make children sick • KCC lost accreditation by its own doing
A sustainable energy future
A proposal in an April 9 letter supports waste-to-energy technology and criticizes Green Energy’s biomass-to-energy plant now under construction.
Any new energy plant must be economically feasible. Capital, operating and permitting costs for waste incineration are extremely high. The Big Island spent $2 million studying waste-to-energy and determined it was not economically feasible. Kaua‘i’s situation is no different.
By contrast, the PUC has unanimously approved Green Energy’s power purchase agreement with KIUC. According to the independent Consumer Advocate, savings on Kaua‘i over the next 20 years will be between $5.5 million and $20 million per year versus current fossil fuel energy.
Generating firm power from Green Energy’s wood chips will be nearly carbon neutral, eliminating the purchase of 3.7 million gallons of fossil fuel annually while meeting 12 percent of Kaua‘i’s electrical needs.
Air emissions will also be much cleaner than KIUC’s current diesel plants, emitting approximately 20 percent of the nitrogen oxides, 30 percent of the sulfur oxides and significantly less particulate matter.
Construction of the plant will employ some 200 workers, and when it is operational, it will have 39 employees. Green Energy’s plant will also create many more indirect and sub-contracting jobs. Our future energy security will be tied to a continuous cycle of planting and harvesting.
Waste-to-energy developers require county governments to take the risk — to guarantee a certain amount of waste each year. Kaua‘i would be committed to waste our energy future depending on producing lots of garbage. That’s not sustainable. Waste-to-energy would discourage reducing, re-using and recycling and is not the right direction if Kaua‘i is to thrive and prosper.
Let’s all envision a future for Kaua‘i in which we grow our own energy, and when most of our waste travels no further than our backyard compost pile.
John Wehrheim, Pacific Hydro, Lihu‘e
Cell towers do not make children sick
I am a resident of Kilauea, and have been for all of my life. I am writing in regards to the AT&T cell tower that is in a fight to be put up. Factless accusations are being made that the tower will make kids sick. This is a false emotional point of the argument being made.
The emissions of a cell tower is island-wide and spans across the islands, so are all the kids dying? The argument that it would affect all the kids in Kilauea is false.
The previous tower is just a couple of blocks away from Kaua‘i Christian Academy school and has been there for at least 15 years. There are no kids sick from this tower. That tower being so close to the school for so many years proves that there is not a problem.
The hypocrisy is that all the people that I have heard that have a problem with the tower being put up, all use cell phones! Who doesn’t use a cell phone? Why do you have a cell phone and yet oppose the tower?
I know where the tower is being put and the community of Kilauea town will not be able to see the tower. They will be saved from having it so close to their homes and from it possibly being an eyesore.
Kapeka Estrella, Kilauea
KCC lost accreditation by its own doing
KCC lost accreditation by choice. It was possible to maintain accreditation for the Early Childhood Education program.
Staff were willing and able to do what was necessary to maintain the current accreditation. The school was accredited for more than 20 years and now it suddenly loses it.
How is that possible? Get a director that does not understand Hawai‘i, is not willing to work with others, does not accept help when it’s obviously needed.
Administration chose to make an entirely new curriculum rather than fix the problem. It’s like blowing up a house to kill a fly.
The truth is this has nothing to do with accreditation. KCC simply wanted to get rid of two excellent teachers, but couldn’t because they are part of a union.
There was no just cause to terminate these teachers so the administration decided it’s easier to eliminate the school completely.
KCC sacrificed a valuable resource for faculty, students, parents, community and keiki to do an unnecessary staffing change. That’s the real story.
Don’t be fooled by the accreditation smoke screen.
Keith Burgess, Lihu‘e
