Resist Hu Honua
What’s wrong with Hu Honua? Above all, burning wood for power emits 1.5 times more greenhouse gases than burning coal for equal electricity generated.
Hu Honua will emit 300,000 tons of greenhouse gases per year (per the Hu Honua Clean Air Permit). This is almost 1,000 tons per day of greenhouse gases adding to climate change. Regrowth of harvested trees might later resequester the carbon dioxide released. However, a government of Canada computational tool shows, factoring in rapid regrowth and fuel used for harvesting and transporting logs, Hu Honua’s cumulative greenhouse gas balance will be worse than coal for at least 50 years.
Second, Hu Honua will withdraw 21 million gallons of cooling water per day from the aquifer, add chemicals and heat, then inject them back into the aquifer at 88 degrees nearshore.
Third, Hu Honua will send six logging trucks per hour down Highway 19 from Pahala and Waiakea and Hamakua to Pepeekeo.
Fourth, 60-megawatt solar farms with battery storage near Waimea will sell power to HELCO at 11 cents per kilowatt hour. Hu Honua will sell power at 21 cents per kilowatt hour.
In September, the United Nations secretary general addressed the leaders of more than 100 nations. He stated: “Climate change is the defining issue of our time — and we are at a defining moment. We face a direct existential threat. Let there be no doubt about the urgency of the crisis. If we do not change course by 2020, we risk missing the point where we can avoid runaway climate change, with disastrous consequences for people and the natural systems that sustain us.”
Write the mayor, your council member, your state representatives. Along with the Sierra Club, 350Hawaii.org, the Democratic Party of Hawaii, the Pepeekeo Fishermen’s Association and Malama Hamakua, resist the opening of Hu Honua.
Tawn Keeney
Honokaa
Yes or no?
The Great Wall of Trump, or else.
Really? Or no pay for thousands of federal workers for now? It’s almost like watching a hostage movie based on a true story.
I was pondering. Despite our technology, the American public can’t just say “Yes” or “No” on a line directly to the White House or Congress. It would be cool. A simple push of a button and instant feedback to notify the very people who are supposed to be representing us.
No polls, just a click “Yes” or “No” as on a TV talent show, where you see the tallies rolling in. Simple: “What do the people (us) say? Here’s the question: Yes or no?”
No tweets necessary. Only one “Yes” or “No” per Social Security number allowed. No Russian hackers, please.
If our conflicted Congress or president won’t do it, maybe the media will.
Click it or live with it. Government exists, whether we vote or not.
Happy New Year! Or is that wishful thinking?
Lloyd Fukuki
Waimea