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Politics, Commentary, Community, Labor
Politics, Commentary, Community, Labor Sunday
30Mar
Hong, headlines, GMOs, Tiff's baby
Sunday, March 30, 2008 at 09:34PM Here a few notes on the computer left over from the weekend:
Hilo attorney Ted Hong, running for the 1st District State Senate seat, used Aloha Airlines' demise to score cheap political points. I published his press release here which shows that in the interest of being fair and open to such things I risk being accused of running darn near anything sent to me. I haven't seen this kind of claptrap, outside of the Hawaii Free Press, in a while.
Essentially, Hong expresses concern for friends and relatives who work for Aloha Airlines, mentioning no one else, and blames the company's bankruptcy on, yes -- Democrats, wouldn't you know. Get real, Ted. There are lots of legitimate issues that could stake you to a position as a serious candidate. No need for this kind of empty rhetoric.
In Sunday's "Daily Headlines" (left column), I posted the story by new Hawaii Tribune-Herald reporter Daniel Brock who replaced Alan Schnepf. The story also appeared in Sunday's West Hawaii Today with a different headline. I didn't use the headline either paper used, however, since both seemed to misrepresent the gist of the story about "avoided costs, a topic discussed here recently.
The HTH headline said "Being 'green' may come at a price," while the WHT said, "Alternative energy may cost residents." The story points out that "avoided cost" means Helco pays for alternative energy at the same rate as fuel oil whether the alternative is cheaper or not. Of course that now translates to big profits for companies like Puna Geothermal Venture. But I didn't see in the story how it costs consumers any more for alternative energy than for energy from fossil fuels. Am I missing something? Somebody help me out.
And to Rep. Herkes who, according to the article, favors alternative solutions, I'd pose this question again: Why not convert state buildings to use alternative fuels? Set an example.
On another topic, at nearly every public forum I've been to lately there's been a tremendous amount of interest in GMO research, mostly in opposition to it. While I don't believe there's anything to fear from GMO foods, I do think there is something fundamentally wrong with one industry ruining another by contaminating its product, which GMO can do to organic and non-GMO agricultural products.
The Hawaii County Council seems to think so as well and has passed resolutions urging the state legislature to enact a five-year ban on GMO research on the Island of Hawaii. But backers of the resolution fear that state Rep. Clift Tsuji (D - South Hilo, Panaewa, Puna, Keaau, Kurtistown), who is chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, will pocket the bill even after hearing hours of testimony in favor of it. Anyone interested should get in touch with Tsuji's office to ask why he won't bring Bill SB958 SD1 HD1 up for a vote.
Finally, best news of all, Tiffany Edwards Hunt and husband Jeff are the new parents of a baby girl. I just heard the news on KHBC radio this a.m. but not the details. Congratulations and and all the best to the Hunt family for another welcome contribution to the fastest-growing district in the state.
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Reader Comments (14)
'HTH headline ..."Being 'green' may come at a price,"
Thanks for this, Hunter. I, too, was baffled.
The culprit is not the 'green', it is the State Law that distorts prices.
With Independent Power Producers (IPPs)able to compete for the market with the lower cost electricity that can be generated with 'alternatives' (geothermal, wind, methane, etc), then oil would be less competitive, and, if allowed, the market, through IPPs would deliver more alternatives and less oil. The 'avoided-cost' mandate serves to keep other sources as expensive as oil and oil thus is kept in the mix, and a limited amount of alternatives (e.g., geothermal) keeps those operators with returns far above costs without concern that others will come in to compete.
Now, HELCO is the only distributor, and one of the largest generators, with several relatively recent 'alternative' generators.
Needed: decouple electricity generation and electricity distribution so HELCO lacks an incentive to prefer oil-generated electricity, and so there is an incentive for investment in electricity generation with alternatives.
I bet Aloha employees are feeling about the same way right now towards MESA.
also. His press release was a bunch of hogwash and scare tactics. Aloha’s demise was due to predatory airfares by Go/Mesa Airlines and high fuel costs. Which were exacerbated by fuel guzzling aircraft Aloha currently employs. Neither can be pinned upon the Democrat controlled legislature or Hawaii’s poor business climate.
Excuse me, has the Governor, with whom I would be so brash as to assume that Mr Hong is a political ally, been stink-talk the Hawaii economy? lowest unemployment for months running, and on and on...
The 'mainland' recession has landed?
Whose war is bankrupting our nation?
Who is bailing out big bankers?
Who left the big bankers unregulated and free to f--- up the financial system?
Mr Hong's and Ms Lingle's good friends in the Bush.
Guess Mr Hong's opinion is one I find disagreeable.
But, will leave it to someone else to 'save' us from him.
Who is his opponent? I'll send 'em a $10 campaign donation.
Q: What conditions existed that allowed Go/Mesa to enter the market and innitiate a fare war?
A: It was the monopolistic high fares that were charged by Aloha/Hawaiian. Aloha is the first casuality.
Q: What's to keep Go/Mesa from charging exorbitant fares if and when Hawaiian goes under?
A: They would be suseptible to another "predatory" airline moving in.
If Aloha/Hawaiian hadn't been gouging the public for years, they wouldn't be in this predicament today.
Personally, I love the "fare wars".
Congrats Tiff and Jeff! What's her name?
I would suggest: "Treasure", or maybe: "Easter Egg".
The headlines and articles of recent days in WHT and HTH both have, IMHO, had a clear bias toward bashing 'green', especially about waste and energy ...
...any other
For we unwashed, not familiar with editorial policy at a local daily -- locally owned or not -- please explain how, hypothetically, such a bias would be executed.
Congratulations to Tiff and Jeff.
Rene
The fact that the legislature had no energy policy makes them equally guilty. It would be interesting to see who owns HELCO and oil stock in government. The very people who said Ted wasn't of judicial timber were themselves indicted. So when opponents say they don't like him, take it with a grain of salt. He'd be a good judge, a good, Senator, and he's a good man. I know for a fact Ted is interested in real low cost housing. Not $300,000 starter houses.Don't blame Ted for Hawaii's repuation as a business unfriendly state . It is a title we've held for years. With one in 5 teachers rated incompetent, and no votech in most schools it's not going to get better. Until we teach our kids how to develop green energy and build with recycled material locally. Self sufficiency should be in every politicians mission statement.