Bare conductors nothing new
It is so sad to see the media is using junk science to fuel the sentiment against HECO. In the Sunday (Aug. 27) paper, the journalists from Associated Press wrote the article about “Bare wires, leaning pole could have sparked fires.”
It is a fact that conductors on power poles above a certain voltage are bare. It is all about economics and bare conductors are used all over the world. It is a fact that when an energized conductor touches another energized conductor or ground it will spark. The article made it sounded like it only happened on Maui.
“The Associated Press confirmed those wires were among miles of line that Hawaiian Electric Co. left naked to the weather and often-thick foliage, despite a recent push … to bury them.”
Really? Are those facts? Where are the statistics to show that push? Is it one case out of a thousand? Did that push turn into reality? It is so easy to find one rare fact to create such a blanket claim. Did the authors know anything about economics or science? Did they know how much it costs to bury high voltage power lines underground? What about the danger of high voltage power cables buried underground in an earthquake prone environment?
The world is full of bare conductors transmitting electricity to rural communities. Only the very high end subdivisions and highly populated areas can afford underground power. Those high voltage cables also have issues. They are BARE conductors. Only the secondary low voltage cable coming from the power pole to your house is insulated.
How do those journalists propose to “cover up” high voltage conductors? Did they just invent some new cost effective methods? They would not be writing articles for newspaper if they did!
I am not here to defend HECO. They can sue HECO with other facts for all I care. They can debate about whether MECO should have turned off power or not. It just annoys me that journalists use irrelevant facts to sell stories.
Please let the residents in Maui grief naturally without sensationalized stories like this.
Hansen Tsang
Hilo
Lava hazards
well known
You know, I don’t know what to say … The collective outrage over high insurance premiums is matched only by the outrage I and others feel when we are asked to subsidize, via our taxes, poor decisions. When one chooses to buy and build, for whatever reasons, on the Rift Zone in Keahialaka (aka, Leilani Estates), you’re on your own. The hazards are well-known and understood. It’s not if, but when, Pele will arrive. Doesn’t matter how long since the last flow, doesn’t matter the topography, a fissure can easily rend a 200-foot tall pu‘u. No problem.
Folks seem willfully ignorant of eruption mechanics and histories. How is that possible after 2018, 1983-2018, 1977, 1969-1974, 1960, 1955, etc.? How?
And those “folks” include (Sen. Joy) San Buenventura and (Rep. Greggor) Ilagan. How dare they try to link the catastrophe on Maui with our lava flows?
Poor decisions have consequences.
Bobby Camara
Keaau
