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Environment

News stories regarding Molokai’s outdoor environment

Letter: SB2785 Passes the Senate

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

By Cheryl Corbiell

Mahalo to all those who testified in opposition to Senate Bill 2785, a bill which, according to legislators, provides a framework for Big Wind. Legislatures commented about all your calls, letters, visits and emails – we got their attention.

The bill passed at the very last minute, with acknowledgements of our concerns. The senate floor discussion on SB2785 centered on opposition from Lanai and Molokai. Senators Hee, Chun Oakland and Slom voted “no”, and we congratulate and thank them for having courage to say NO. Ten senators voted “with reservations,” which means that a majority of the Senate had problems with this bill.…

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Kawela Bridge Replacement Underway

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

For years, Kawela residents living along the highway about five miles east of Kaunakakai have experienced flooding of Kawela Stream during heavy rains. Now, the year-and-a-half process of replacing the Kawela Bridge has begun, which state Department of Transportation (DOT) officials say should improve water flow and mitigate future flooding.

Construction of the new bridge is scheduled to continue through January 2014, according to a statement from Goodfellow Bros., the Molokai company contracted to complete the work. The $8.4 million project is being paid for with $6.5 million in federal funds, $1.6 million in state money, and some additional funding, according to DOT spokesperson Michael Moscati.…

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SB2785 Passes the Senate

Sunday, May 6th, 2012

Community Contributed

Mahalo to all those who testified in opposition to Senate Bill 2785, a bill which, according to legislators, provides a framework for Big Wind. Legislatures commented about all your calls, letters, visits and emails – we got their attention.

The bill passed at the very last minute, with acknowledgements of our concerns. The senate floor discussion on SB2785 centered on opposition from Lanai and Molokai. Senators Hee, Chun Oakland and Slom voted “no”, and we congratulate and thank them for having courage to say NO. Ten senators voted “with reservations,” which means that a majority of the Senate had problems with this bill.…

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IAM Launches International Petition to Stop Undersea Cable

Thursday, May 3rd, 2012

I Aloha Molokai News Release

I Aloha Molokai (IAM) has launched a worldwide petition to stop Gov. Neil Abercrombie’s multi-billion-dollar Big Wind Interisland Cable boondoggle. Gov. Abercrombie, Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) and some House and Senate members are now finalizing legislation that would allow the project to fast-track without sufficient environmental analysis or public review.

Noting the project’s huge potential impacts on whales and “critically endangered Hawaiian monk seals – one of the rarest marine mammals in the world – as well as five species of sea turtles, three species of dolphins, and hundreds of other marine species,” the petition adds that the project “will be rubber-stamped without due process – without public input from residents of Hawaii and, not to mention, everyone worldwide who wants to protect whales, sea turtles, seals, and dolphins.”…

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GMO Labeling Campaign

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Community Contributed

Opinion by Walter Ritte

Let me explain why an old guy from Molokai is flying to Oahu and helping to lead a charge for labeling. Molokai is paying the true cost for this “cheap” genetically modified organism – or GMO – food. Our best farm lands are being turned into dust bowls. Soil is not only blowing out into the sea but is being washed by rain down onto our reefs. In the dust are powerful chemicals which are blowing into our cars, schools, kupuna housing, daycare center, County Baseball Park, Molokai Community College, and hundreds of homes. If this is happening to our island, it must be happening on other islands, we all have na`au to aloha aina, and kuleana, to malama aina.…

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Local Produce, Fresh Menus

Wednesday, May 2nd, 2012

Local Produce, Fresh Menus

Hotel Molokai upgrading food service

A farm to table approach is coming alive at Hotel Molokai’s Hula Shores restaurant under the leadership of Kitchen Manager and Oahu native Gene Pike. With Kumu Farms vegetables, Keawanui shrimp, Kaupu Farms fresh poi and many other Molokai-grown ingredients, patrons can now enjoy fresh, new favorites, while local farmers have an outlet to showcase their products.

“I want to integrate more Molokai products into our menu, and we can do that on an almost daily basis,” said Pike, who has lived in San Diego for the past 20 years and worked in the restaurant industry his whole life.…

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Think Yellow, Go Green

Sunday, April 29th, 2012

Hawaiian Telcom and Berry Company News Release

Hawaiian Telcom Yellow Pages, The Berry Company, Hawaii Food Banks and Local Schools, Work to Collect Directories for Recycling

Students around the state are competing in an annual event to recycle the most telephone directories with the goal of surpassing last year’s recycling totals and winning cash prizes. The Think Yellow, Go Green program is put on by Hawaiian Telcom Yellow Pages in conjunction with its sales agent, The Berry Company, LLC. The companies team up with schools on the islands of Hawaii, Kauai, Lanai, Maui and Molokai for the program, set to run April 25 through May 25.…

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Ocean Resources Management Meeting

Friday, April 27th, 2012

Governor’s Office News Release

Add your input to a new state ocean resources management plan during a listening session on Molokai, to be held May 30, at the Mitchell Pauole Center. An open house will begin at 5:30 p.m., with a formal presentation at 6:30.

The State of Hawaii Office of Planning Coastal Zone Management (CZM) Program is inviting coastal and ocean users, as well as other stakeholders and interested individuals, to the state-wide series of listening sessions as it begins the Hawaii Ocean Resources Management Plan (ORMP) update.

The ORMP takes a place-based approach to management of ocean resources in the islands, taking into account recognition of the ecological connections between land and sea, the link between human activities and impacts on the environment, and the need for improved collaboration and stewardship in natural resources governance.…

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Lanai Solar Farm Generating 1.5 MW

Friday, April 27th, 2012

Lanai Solar Farm Generating 1.5 MW

Castle & Cooke News Release

La Ola, the largest solar farm in the state, is now producing at its full capacity of 1.5 megawatts (MW) DC (or 1.2 MW AC) of clean solar energy on Lanai. The renewable energy generated by La Ola will help to stabilize electric rates on Lanai and reduce Lanai’s importation and burning of foreign oil.

La Ola is the world’s first utility-grade photovoltaic (PV) project to incorporate battery storage. The 1.5 MW large scale solar farm located on the Island of Lanai, is capable of supplying up to 30 percent of day-time peak electrical demand on Lanai, and 10 percent of the island’s total power needs.…

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Undersea Cable Impacts and Costs Too Severe, Says National Grid

Thursday, April 26th, 2012

I Aloha Molokai News Release

A high-voltage undersea transmission cable planned for Massachusetts has been killed by one of the nation’s major utilities because it would be a “high-risk” installation, too expensive to construct, with too many severe environmental impacts and too difficult to maintain.

The National Grid, which serves much of New England and New York State, released the findings of its Cable Feasibility Study this week. The cable would have been built using the latest technology called horizontal direct drilling – the same technology planned for sections of the interisland cable proposed by Governor Neil Abercrombie and HECO, and now being considered by the Hawaii Legislature.…

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