Ka`u Calendar News Briefs Monday, May 23, 2016

HAWAI`I COUNTY COUNCIL last week commended Volcano resident Keola Awong for being selected as manager of Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park’s Kahuku Unit.

      Awong graduated from Konawaena High School in 1981. She holds a master’s degree in American Studies and graduate certificates in museum studies and historic preservation from University of Hawai`i at Manoa. She also earned a bachelor’s degree in anthropology from University of Hawai`i at Hilo, minoring in Hawaiian Studies.
      Awong began her career with Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park in 1999 as a fee collector and moved to Volcano in 1984. From 2005, she served as the national park’s cultural anthropologist and continues to serve as the national park’s liason to the Native Hawaiian community.
      “On behalf of the Hawai`i County Council, please accept this certificate of recognition with our sincere aloha and heartfelt appreciation for your personal achievements, hard work and extraordinary contributions to our visitors and the citizens of Hawai`i Nei,” Council member Maile David said.
      “This is my small way for me to be able to take care of the `aina I love,” Awong said. “It wouldn’t have been possible without the support and love from my family.”
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HAWAI`I CONSUMER ADVOCATE’S questions to Hawai`i Electric Light Co. regarding a proposed substation and transmission line, while eliciting responses to many issues, did not address several concerns of Ocean View-area residents, according to Ranchos resident Ann Bosted.
      One of those concerns is fire danger, Bosted said. Ocean View is prone to fierce winds and dry brush that can be a fatal combination. “Solar installation fires have been caused by electrical faults. Defective solar panels can also cause problems, and with 30,000 panels to be installed, the risk of even a small percentage being bad is significant,” Bosted said.

      At the Public Utilities Commission’s public hearing in February, an Ocean View firefighter said, “You are going to get someone killed if you put all that (photovoltaic equipment) down there.” He said that each year the firefighting budget gets smaller, yet the amount of work gets larger. In letters to the docket, residents have called for an independent fire hazard study of the area.

      Also left off the CA’s list of questions was the cost of reimbursing property owners who may leave their homes because of the project. Many chose Ranchos for its rural, ranch-like atmosphere, low crime rate, wide-open vistas and ambiance. “From published comments by Ranchos residents, it is clear that many will move if the project is built,” Bosted said. “Added to the fire risk is the eyesore problem. Each PV site will be leveled edge-to-edge and surrounded by a six-foot chain link security fence. Herbicides will be used to control over 60 acres of weeds, so groundwater contamination is a risk for the whole town. The unwanted project will be a magnet for crime and vandalism. Some handgun owners have talked of using the solar panels for target practice. This is not what residents signed up for.”

      According to Bosted, the CA asked questions about the 26 owners of the project, but allowed the answers to be filed electronically, “thus keeping the tangle of related and associated corporations a mystery,” she said. “It is assumed that 17 of the 26 owners are shell companies incorporated in Delaware, owned by another shell company, Calwaii, that is owned by SPI Solar, headquartered in Shanghai. The eight Kona South lots are supposedly leased from the Doolittle Trust, but county records do not indicate that. They appear to be under the control of Hawai`i FIT Twelve LLC, which appears to be a shell company of Green Island FIT LLC. The 26th site is supposedly under the control of South Point FIT LLC, also owned by Green Island, but county records show it belongs to Jasmine Drive Aina LLC. Does SPI Solar also own Green Island? The spokesman for the 26 owners, Ian Craig, of Roseville, California, refused to speak at the PUC’s public meeting, failed to show up at a community meeting he called in September and has declined to answer questions from West Hawai`i Today.”
      The CA did not ask how the developer intended to access the eight sites in Kona South, for which FIT permits have been issued. Each subdivision in Ocean View is a “stand alone,” and it is not legal to access one from another, Bosted said. “Craig has asked the Hawaiian Ranchos Road Maintenance Corporation for permission to access this subdivision from Ranchos and has been refused. Mats Fogelvik, President of HRRMC, was walking his dog when he encountered a surveyor staking out a route to be bulldozed from Ranchos to Kona South. Mr. Fogelvik ‘ran him off.’ Craig later claimed that the surveyor had ‘lost his way,’” Bosted said.
      HELCO has until June 1 to answer the CA’s questions. The reply will be filed in the docket.
      See puc.hawaii.gov for more on docket 2015-0229.
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LAUREN KURPITA, COORDINATOR of the Hawai`i Island Hawksbill Turtle Recovery Project, reveals the differences between hawksbill and green sea turtles (honu), threats to hawksbills and the latest conservation efforts to protect the species from extinction tomorrow at 7 p.m. at Kilauea Visitor Center Auditorium in Hawai`i Volcanoes National Park.

      $2 donations support park programs; park entrance fees apply.