Ka`u News Briefs Thursday Aug. 8, 2013

     Local origination programming, which stopped with the shutdown of KAHU, may be in the longterm future for HPR2 in Ka`u. Titterton said that HPR plans to move the broadcasting equipment onto a communication tower between Pahala and Na`alehu and possibly in Kalae in order to cover all of the south end of Hawai`i Island for HPR2 programming and emergency broadcasts. Until that time, HPR2 will be broadcast to the Pahala area from the wooden pole behind the old Pahala Plantation Store and KAHU headquarters on Maile Street in Pahala. The programming will come from Honolulu. To comment on or “Like” this story, go to https://www.facebook.com/kaucalendar.

EIGHT KA`U SCHOOL STUDENTS, who are members of the Boys & Girls Clubs in Ka`u, were the only youth attending a team building workshop at the Fairmount Orchid Hotel on Monday, the day before school started. Boys & Girls Club Chief Operating officer Zavi Breez-Saunders said that several of the students “said it was one of the best days of their lives.” Several had never before traveled much outside of Ka`u. The session was sponsored by Hawai`i Corporate Team Builders. Accompanying the team were Boys & Girls Club s Pahala Director Dolly Kailiawa, Ocean View and Na`alehu Director Leona Medek and Director of Operations Chad Hasegawa. The group from Ka`u also went to lunch at Macaroni Grill. They spent the afternoon playing games, in friendly competition on teams with their adult mentors. Each student was given a bicycle which they built with their team members and brought home to Ka`u. Pahala club member Aloha Kaluna was on the team with the most points at the end of the day.  said that it was important that the kids were team building with people from different cultural backgounds - all of them from outside of Hawai`i."

     Medek said the experience gave the Boys & Girls Club members “positive feedback the entire day and bettered their social skills. One reason is that they were paired with people – adults they had never met before.” There were seven or eight adults teamed with each Ka`u youth. 

     Kailiawa said that for some of the keiki it was therer first

bicycle. "They were so happy to know they were owning it. You

could see the smile on their faces. I hope we can do this again."

For more on the Boys & Girls Club, see 

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HIGH BLOOD SUGAR levels are prompting new concern among health care givers in Ka`u and elsewhere. While diabetes is a common result of eating and drinking too much sugar, Alzheimer’s and other dementia are also likely risks, according to a new study by University of Washington in Seattle. Regarding the study of more than 2,000 people, National Institute on Aging scientist Dallas Anderson said, “It’s a nice clean pattern,” with the risk of dementia rising over time with high blood sugars among those studied. Keeping blood sugar at healthy levels may be a simple way to reduce dementia risk, said the researchers who are widely quoted in media across the country today. An Associated Press story states that about 35 people worldwide have dementia, with five million in the U.S. suffering from Alzheimer’s disease.

HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC CO. AND HAWAI`I ELECTRIC LIGHT CO. have answered the final round of questions from Hawai`i County, the state Consumer Advocate and Life of the Land regarding the proposed contract for the electric companies to purchase biofuel that would be manufactured at a refinery that would be built off Wood Valley Road by `Aina Koa Pono. AKP plans to use feedstock from existing trees and brush it would harvest on land between Pahala and Na`alehu, plus grasses it would grow to feed the microwave units that would be installed at the $400 million refinery it would construct above Pahala. 

      The county asked questions about remediation - repair of possible damage during possible chemical spills or storage tank leaks. It also asked about the cost of decommissioning the refinery should the biofuel plant fail to obtain success. The utilities replied, “According to AKP, the cost of remediation after the useful life is based on 20 years of operation and is accrued quarterly into an escrow/special purpose account for remediation and decommissioning. The estimated cost that AKP used for the escrow/special purpose account is based on industry standards.
     “The total amount of the escrow/special purpose account would be $26,137,500 net of any interest accrued for the 20-year life. AKP will be entirely responsible to cover those costs.
     “According to AKP, any decommissioning/remediation process would involve the facility plant, equipment and surrounding areas that have been involved in the facility’s operations. According to AKP, the location of AKP’s project will be on land leased from the Olson Trust, and any transportation necessary to decommission the plant will be on roads that do not directly go through the town of Pahala; the town of Pahala should be minimally affected.”
     Hawai`i County asked the utilities to further explain their the statement that externalities, or possible negative or positive impacts of the project, “are often intangible and difficult to quantify.”
     The county asked the utilities:  “Are you saying that only certain externalities … should be considered by the Commission?”  The utilities replied: “Although externalities are an important consideration, the companies believe that the weight and attention given to externalities must be carefully considered, because they are often given value based on the person viewing the externality, thus making them somewhat intangible and difficult to quantify. As explained by the Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism … regarding the supply contract with Hawai`i BioEnergy, LLC, DBEDT does not have a model to measure advantages and/or disadvantages associated with biofuel processing and production. Further, as indicated in the Consumer Advocate’s testimony in the HBE docket …, the Consumer Advocate has also been struggling with how to develop a quantitative analysis associated with the evaluation of biofuels. 

     “As such, the companies believe that the Commission should focus on possible externalities or price premium issues that are directly related to the AKP Biodiesel Supply Contract…. Important related externalities include price, the creation of new agricultural and manufacturing jobs, the generation of higher state tax revenues, a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, increased energy security and independence, and the shifting of a portion of our significant expenditures on imported fossil fuels to locally produced feedstock for biofuel (i.e., keeping expenditures within the state).
     “Potentially negative externalities include: fuel spills or leaks associated with fuel storage or transportation of the biodiesel; social issues, such as traffic congestion; and land use, such as roadway damage and noise. However, the companies have not quantified any negative extenalities, and it is difficult to determine the impact, if any, they will have,” the utilities contended.
     See more in future Ka`u News Briefs. This and other testimony is available at puc.hawaii.gov. Docket number is 2012-0185.

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