Questioning Windmills

When a small island is up against a billion dollar energy project it is sort of like Don Quixote “tilting against windmills.” Wait, it is exactly like fighting windmills because in point of fact, it is fighting windmills. Let me get this straight. They want to build huge roads across a scarred, erosion pitted landscape dotted with sacred burial sites to pour 750-ton concrete platforms on which to erect 400-foot tall windmills. And then they will send the power by undersea cable through the reef to Oahu?

The large number of trucks needed for this project will employ many drivers. There will be a need for road crews, construction workers, blue and white collar managers and assortment of accessory positions (mechanics, security, etc.). Security alone will increase the cost hugely. Sand in the gas tanks is a possibility. Sugar in the cement ruins the pour forever. Consider these questions: What are the insurance costs?

How many of the jobs needed for this project will come from the Molokai job pool?

How many off-island, unattached men with too much money and nothing to spend it on will be injected in to our fragile economy? How many more drugs will end up here?

How many more drug-induced problems can Molokai survive? How many more broken homes? And all this for what? So Oahu can have more power and Molokai get insufficient compensation?

Furthermore, what is the effect of bullets on the blades? How much does it cost to replace a blade? This area is known for poaching. There are thousands of deer roaming the west end and this has been prime hunting land for generations.

What is the cost of protecting the project and is this cost also handed back to the consumer since the public utility is guaranteed a profit even if the projects they build with inadequate information are not cost effective? 

And that’s the good news. Now a look at the negative side of the project.

Are you outta your friggin’ mind? I’d take 36-passenger cruise ships anytime over windmills. And so would the passengers. 

Jonathan Socher