Ka‘ū News Briefs, Friday, March 18, 2022

Who Done It? Transfer Station Eyesore & Liability This junk vehicle was dumped at the entrance to the county's Pahala Transfer Station. Attendees said it creates a danger, with people leaving the transfer station having difficulty seeing the public roadway with cars and trucks going by.  A sign posted on the vehicle says Warning, Abandoned Vehicle Violation. The license plate is HLM-949. Anyone abandoning or dumping a vehicle on county property and roadways is subject to a $250 fine plus the cost of removal  and disposal of the vehicle. Photo by Julia Neal

THE NEW YORK TIMES REPORTS THAT MAYOR MITCH ROTH HAS MADE ONE OF THE FEW CALLS NATIONWIDE FOR CONSERVATION, as energy prices soar. The Friday story is entitled 
Nations Should Conserve Fuel as Global Energy Crisis Looms, Agency Warns.
    Reporters Catrin Einhorn and Lisa Friedman write, "In the United States, one of the few calls for

Mayor Mitch Roth made The New York  Times today with his call for conservation  of energy. Photo from County of Hawai'i

conservation has come from Mitch Roth, the mayor of the County of Hawai'i, which is particularly vulnerable to skyrocketing energy prices in the wake of President Biden’s banning of Russian oil, gas and coal. The state of Hawai'i has relied heavily on Russian fuel, and its high cost of living has many families already struggling to pay their bills. So Mr. Roth turned to what he saw as a common sense solution: 
asking his community to use less oil and gas."
    The story quotes Hawai'i County's mayor saying, “We’re not mandating anything, but for the betterment of your checkbook, for the betterment of our community, for the betterment of our country and for the betterment of our world, it makes a lot of sense.” Hawai'i County is also offering free public bus transportation.
    According to The New York Times story, most other policy makers are asking for increased production of oil, rather than conservation. The story points to the International Energy Agency, formed during the 1973 energy crisis to help keep the worldwide energy market stable. It quotes IEA's Executive Director Fatih Birol, saying "Reducing demand is a way of addressing the situation without just pumping more oil.
    The NYT writers report the message to conserve "has largely been absent from the conversation in the United States, the world's largest oil producer, where fossil fuel companies are earning healthy profits and the response to to elevated gasoline prices has been calls for more production."