Stay vigilant
Stay vigilant
Once again there is a meeting with hundreds of people — even the mayor showed up — and the Hawaii Tribune-Herald can’t be bothered to report it. I am talking about (Friday, Sept. 14) at Hilo High School.
The federal government was here to gather input for their Environmental Impact Statement for renewable energy in the islands. Of course, they admit that their pre-study will take over a year, and they also have no impact on state/corporate developments (like ones the Public Land Development Corp. envisions), so really they are spending $2 million on nothing.
But they are supposed to do these studies before they can fund the massive undersea cable that the military wants to use to ship power to Oahu. And the power used will, of course, be from geothermal development in Puna and by covering one-fourth of Lanai with windmills, and awful proposals like that.
The military also needs fuel for their battleships, jets, tanks and helicopters, and now wants to grow and produce biofuels on a massive scale on the Big Island. Don’t be fooled into just thinking this power is only for the hotels and businesses on Oahu. The U.S. military has much bigger plans for our island, and we need to be ever vigilant and more active if we want to keep our beautiful island lifestyle and environment from being industrialized.
Sara Steiner
Pahoa
Build solar plant
Hawaii is in critical need of supplying its own safe, clean and renewable energy. One such option has been geothermal, tapping into the earth’s volcanic steam vents to generate power.
I have no doubt that a geothermal plant would produce an enormous amount of power for the Big Island. However, there are some implications. One, it is rather dangerous to harvest this form of energy. A meltdown could prove harmful to residents living nearby. And, second, religious activists claim that taking energy from the volcano is like stealing Pele’s mana.
So with all this in mind, may I offer an alternative? How about a solar plant? It’s safe, clean and easy to harness. And the perfect place to make a solar plant would be the district of Puna, since it gets the most sunlight of any district. I’m sure our county and community can reach a consensus on the matter of self-sustaining energy and the geothermal issue.
GlenAllen Beavers
Pahoa
Mahalo, Safeway
We are writing to express our heartfelt mahalo for the compassionate care and attention given to Harold Ferreira by the employees of the Hilo Safeway after his accident in the Safeway parking lot on Sunday, Sept. 9. The manager on duty’s name is Anthony, but we do not know the name of the woman employee who also gave assistance, and we would like to thank both of them for their outstanding service.
The Safeway employee who witnessed the accident immediately came to Harold’s aid. She accompanied Harold into the store and called the manager, Anthony, for further assistance. Anthony went above and beyond the call of duty by calling one of our family members to confirm if emergency help was desired, then made the call to 911 and stayed with Harold until our family member had arrived and Harold was released to the emergency personnel. The Safeway employees’ immediate response to the incident and the care and attention given to Harold was outstanding!
Haroldeen V. Quintal
Kurtistown