Look Out Molokai, Here it Comes!

The State of Hawaii has contracted AECOM to perform an environmental impact statement for the proposed undersea cable and wind energy installations to be placed on Molokai and Lanai. The implication is that the state assumes there will be wind farms sited on both islands and is investing heavily in developing it to meet the goal of 70 percent renewable energy by 2030. It is expected that we will be providing 12 percent of Oahu’s power demand. This is the startup of the juggernaut that is going to steamroll any local concerns about environment, culture or lifestyle into the dusty hills of West Molokai.

If you think it won’t affect you because you stay East, forget it. This will impact every man, woman and child living on Molokai. The huge influx of material and supplies that will be required to create the wind farm will swamp our harbor, wharf and roadways during the construction phase and the access roads that will be etched into our hillsides will be there well beyond our lifetimes. The towers themselves, 400 feet tall, would dwarf the now absent radio towers at the West End. What will we get in return? Nothing is assured. Molokai needs to gear up now to examine and fight the glossy EIS that AECOM will be preparing on behalf of the State and the Utilities. This goes so far beyond the concerns of La`au Point that few of us can comprehend its scope.

Why doesn’t Oahu build its own wind farms?  How do they get off calling us NIMBY when they won’t have it on their own island?  Is this just going to be jammed down our throats like a dose of bad medicine?

Paul Mullin
Maunaloa