By JOHN BURNETT
By JOHN BURNETT
Tribune-Herald staff writer
There appeared to be more unity than infighting at the Hawaii Party Democratic County Convention Saturday at the Honokaa High School cafeteria.
Delegates from around the island came to meet and mingle with office holders, candidates and each other, and to propose and vote on platform resolutions they hope will be adopted at the party’s state convention May 25-27 in Honolulu.
“I think some really good resolutions came out of the package,” said Steve Pavao, the county’s party chairman. “They go to the state convention now and we’ll see if they get passed or not.”
Resolutions on energy, particular geothermal energy, produced the most floor discussion and debate.
Russell Ruderman, a Puna resident and owner of Island Naturals who is running for the state Senate District 2 seat said that “nobody who lives near (Puna Geothermal Venture’s plant) is in favor of” expanding geothermal production. He said that for those living near the geothermal facility, it’s been “a horrible, horrible experience.”
“We’ve had a lot of experience with geothermal and the people who promote it are not from Puna,” he said.
David Gomes disagreed, calling the present geothermal industry in Hawaii “a one-legged stool.” He said geothermal development should be expanded to that Mauna Loa and Hualalai on the Big Island and Haleakala on Maui.
Ruderman supported a proposal that called solar power “the best option for energy for Hawaii” and described it as “our safest choice.”
“Solar can be put on every school and business with no downside,” he said.
Others disagreed, with at least two calling solar power “intermittent.”
“Solar is a piece of the puzzle; it’s not the answer,” said Patti Cook of Waimea.
Brenda Ford, a county councilwoman from Kona said there are “several best options.”
“There’s solar, there’s wind, there’s waves — and for those who support geothermal, there’s geothermal,” she said.
David Tarnas, a former state representative who works for Merica International, a Waimea biofuel company, spoke in favor Hu Honua, which is in the process of converting the former Hilo Coast Processing Co. facility in Pepeekeo into a wood-burning powerplant despite resistance from nearby residents.
“We need renewable energy that is not intermittent,” he said.
That prompted another speaker who said the island “does not need biomass.”
“It sends chemicals, carcinogens into the atmosphere,” he said.
Hu Honua has been successful in securing permitting approvals from the county’s Windward Planning Commission and the state Health Department’s Clean Air Branch.
In the end, delegates voted for resolutions favoring the expansion of geothermal and against a solar-first approach.
A two-plus page resolution suggesting that the county break up the private monopoly on Big Island electricity held by Hawaii Electric Light Co. also generated lively discussion.
Sheri Joy noted that HELCO customers pay more than four times the national average for electricity and said that power should be generated by a municipal utility.
“It’s ours and we want to take it back,” she said.
Replied Tarnas: “The County of Hawaii doesn’t have that power,” stating that decision making on electrical utilities resides with the state’s Public Utilities Commission.
“Who is the PUC? We call ‘em ‘puke,’” Joy retorted, eliciting laughs from a number of delegates.
The HELCO resolution, written by the “Occupy HELCO” movement, was approved for submission to the state party convention, a sign of the public’s frustration with skyrocketing energy costs.
A series of five platform resolutions on another hot-button topic, marijuana, was approved without debate. They include recommendations to support legislation increasing the number of marijuana plants allowed for medical marijuana patients and allowing them to transport medical marijuana both on the island and between islands, a resolution to repeal the “prohibition on cannabis” and an appeal for Gov. Neil Abercrombie to pardon inmates jailed on marijuana charges.
Afterwards, state Sen. Malama Solomon, the convention’s chairwoman, noted “a lot of concern about the development of geothermal energy” and said that concern “was heard loud and clear.”
Solomon said she thinks “the tone of the convention went really well.”
“I think those that participated were really here to listen and they were here to be in support of each other. But it’s quite obvious that different districts have different agendas, but that’s our diversity,” she said.
Abercrombie was supposed to have been the convention’s opening speaker, but cancelled “at the last minute” a party official said.
Email John Burnett at jburnett@hawaiitribune-herald.com.