Jobs and dependability
Pierre Davet (“Enough already,” Your Views, Feb. 3) asks why unions and working people support Honua Ola. There are many reasons.
First, Honua Ola created more than 500 jobs in the construction of the plant and continues to employ more than 30 local people, mostly from East Hawaii Island.
Once the plant is open, it will create more than 200 jobs in forestry, transportation, plant operations and in ancillary businesses, such as wood product manufacturing and agriculture.
Wind and solar, renewable technologies Davet lists, are not necessarily less expensive, nor are they as reliable.
Solar plus battery storage is intended to provide power for four hours a day at 8 to 9 cents per kilowatt hour, when the batteries are fully charged.
Honua Ola provides power 24 hours a day at 22 cents. If the battery capacity were increased and additional solar panels added to provide 24 hours of power, instead of four, the price of solar would be more than Honua Ola.
If you add batteries to these intermittent power projects, they store power all day to have it available for four hours during peak demand in the evening. But if it rains all day, or for several days, batteries cannot be charged, so they cannot be counted on to keep the grid stable.
Because Honua Ola’s renewable power is always on and can be increased or decreased as needed, it can maintain grid stability. This dependability enables more solar and wind to be added to the grid without jeopardizing the resilience of the system.
For Hawaii to have 100% renewable energy on the grid by 2045, we are going to need to put every renewable technology to work.
Warren Lee
President, Honua Ola Bioenergy
Alzheimer’s patients need access to treatment
My name is Kathleen Wyatt, and I am an advocate and volunteer for the Alzheimer’s Association-Hawaii.
Alzheimer’s disease is one of the most terrifying diseases imaginable, and many of those who have been impacted have been praying for hope for decades.
Today, we have an FDA-approved treatment!
However, the proposed Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services’ coverage decision on the FDA-approved treatment is so restrictive, it can hardly be considered coverage. It effectively denies access to all current and future FDA-approved treatments targeting amyloid in those living with Alzheimer’s disease, regardless of clinical trial results and what the FDA recommends.
Further, these clinical trials or research institutions CMS proposes to be consideration within coverage do not exist in Hawaii.
It is shocking discrimination against all people with Alzheimer’s disease. As someone who cares for 60 elders with dementia in an adult day care, and listening to the stress and frustration from their caregivers, any hope for future gains in the treatment of this horrific disease is needed.
I am gravely concerned that access to treatments would now only be available to a privileged few — those who live near research institutions or can afford to pay out-of-pocket.
Hawaii residents, and all Americans, living with Alzheimer’s are entitled to therapies, just as people with conditions like cancer, heart disease and HIV/AIDS. Treating people living with Alzheimer’s differently than those with other diseases is discrimination and simply unacceptable.
I stand with the Alzheimer’s Association and other patient advocacy groups in calling on U.S. Rep. Kaiali‘i Kahele to show his support in encouraging CMS to change this draft decision. They must ensure equitable access for all who could benefit from FDA-approved treatments.
Kathy Wyatt
Waipahu, Oahu