Ka`u News Briefs Sunday, Jan. 8, 2017

Hōkūleʻa will soon return to Pacific waters after its around the world voyage through Indian and Atlantic Oceans. Photo from Polynesian Voyaging Society

     The title of her Malama Honua Worldwide voyage can be translated as “to care for our Island Earth.” A primary mission of the voyage is to grow the global movement toward a more sustainable world.      Hōkūleʻa sailed the Pacific from Hawai`i to Tahiti, the Cook Islands, Samoa, Tonga, New Zealand and Australia. In the Indian Ocean, she visited Bali, Maritius and South Africa. Rounding the southern tip of Africa, she entered the Atlantic Ocean, stopping at the island of Saint Helena, then Brazil, the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Cuba, Florida, South Carolina, Virginia, Washington, D.C. and Maine.     
     After spending several months sailing up and then down the East Coast, Hōkūleʻa left U.S. waters in Key West, Florida. The crew spent Christmas and New Years in the Caribbean, sailing to the west of Cuba on their way south. In Panama, the crew will engage with local communities in marine activities.
     Hōkūleʻa is the Polynesian name for Arcturus, the brightest star in the constellation Bootes. She is a performance-accurate full-scale replica of a waʻa kaulua, a Polynesian double-hulled voyaging canoe. She was launched on 8 March 1975 by the Polynesian Voyaging Society, and is best known for her 1976 Hawaiʻi to Tahiti voyage completed with exclusively Polynesian navigation techniques.

A voyage for the worldwide sustainability movement continues on the Hōkūleʻa, the Polynesian Voyaging Canoe. Map from Polynesian Voyaging Society

United States Ambassador to the UN Samantha Power, who declined  to block the UN resolution condemning Israel settlements in territory  claimed by Palestinians. Hawai`i Congresswoman Tulsi Gabbard  supported the UN resolution and voted against a resolution in Congress that condemns it. Photo from the UN

    Gabbard explained her vote: "While the UN resolution was one-sided and problematic in many respects, it recognized that the continued expansion of Israeli settlements undermines the path to peace in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. On Jan. 5, 2017 the U.S. House of Representatives considered H.Res.11 which condemns the UN’s actions, as well as the U.S. government’s decision not to block the UN Resolution. I voted against H.Res.11 because it represents a one-sided view of the current situation, and undermines a long history of bipartisan U.S. efforts to work through bilateral and multilateral forums toward a two-state solution.
     “I know how important our enduring alliance with Israel is. My vote upholds my commitment to maintaining and strengthening this alliance, as well as my long-held position that the most viable path to peace between Israel and Palestine can be found through both sides negotiating a two-state solution.

Tulsi Gabbard sworn into the 115th Congress  with Republican leader Paul Ryan.  Photo from Tulsi Gabbard

     "While I remain concerned about aspects of the UN Resolution, I share the Obama Administration’s reservation about the harmful impact Israeli settlement activity has on the prospects for peace.
      “Ultimately, a negotiated solution must come from Israelis and Palestinians themselves, and can only happen when both parties are committed to peace, where they alone determine the terms of the settlement. I co-sponsored H.Res.23 which reaffirms the U.S. commitment to Israel, and a negotiated settlement leading to a sustainable two-state solution that re-affirms Israel’s right to exist as a democratic, Jewish state and establishes a demilitarized democratic Palestinian state living side-by-side in peace and security. I will continue to work with my colleagues in Congress to support bilateral negotiations between Israel and Palestine in order to bring an end to this enduring conflict.”

THE COST OF CLEARING OF ALBIZIA TREES is one of the justifications presented by Hawai`i Electric Light Co. in its proposal to raise its customers' electricity rates.
     Albizias were introduced to Hawai`i in 1917 from the Molucca Islands in Indonesia and have spread across the islands. Thinly rooted and top heavy, they often fall during storms, taking out power lines and poles and crashing into vehicles and homes. According to the rate case filed by HELCO before the Public Utilities Commission, the utility wants ratepayers to help finance the cutting and trimming of albizia. The rate hike would be 6.5 percent to accommodate albizia cutting and many other costs. The rate hike could be as high as 12.5 percent, if HELCO is able to purchase a fossil-fuel power generating plant in Hamakua.

Albizia trees that towered over Bull Kailiawa's Ka`u coffee plantings in Moa`ula. Photo by Geneveve Fyvie

    The felling of albizia could be funded by turning the harvested trees into electricity, according to the managers of several projects on the north end of the state. On Kaua`i, a Green Energy Team was founded to develop biomass-to-energy, with albizia as one of the main sources of fuel and is selling the feedstock to the Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative. During a blessing for the project last April, Gov. David Ige remarked,  “In addition to producing energy, we have found a use for albizia, described as an invasive species, the scourge of the islands during the last hurricane.”
     The plant was funded, in part, with a  $72.9 million loan from the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Rural Utilities Service. The budget for the facility was $90 million.
     Eric Knutzen, of Green Energy Hawai`i, asserted, “It’s been about 12 years since we first talked about this. It’s been a long road, but it’s operating, now — producing on an average of 12.4 percent of Kaua`i’s energy needs being provided through Kauai Island Utility Cooperative.”
     Jim Kelly, of the Kaua`i Island Utility Cooperative, said, “This plant is sustainable, renewable, and independent of local and foreign oil supply.”
    Reports from The Garden Island newspaper on Kaua`i stated that more than albizia will be burned to make electricity at Green Energy Hawai`i.