A lot of trucks
A lot of trucks
This is in response to Hu Honua general manager Kevin Owen’s June 7 Tribune-Herald quote about the SSFM International traffic study of 2011.
Kevin says the SSFM study shows three or four trucks an hour will go to Hu Honua’s plant. Page 7 of the SSFM traffic study dated April 2011 plainly states: “Six trucks are expected to access Hu Honua per hour during daylight. Thus, each hour there will be six trucks entering and six trucks exiting.”
Simple math works out to 12 logging truck trips per hour on our roads, through our north and south communities. They are permitted to haul up to 12 hours per day, translating to 144 truck trips a day.
In a five-day workweek, that’s 720 logging trucks on East Hawaii roads for a power plant that at best can generate 14 percent of the island’s needs (presently not needed).
Like Kevin, I support trade unions. But unlike years past when Hu Honua tried and failed to reopen, unemployment was much higher. The Department of Labor and Industrial Relations reported as of May that Hawaii’s unemployment is 2.7 percent. That is a fantastic low number. Hooray for the state of Hawaii!
I appreciate Kevin’s open-door policy to the community. We are awaiting to be reinvited to the once-cancelled tour.
Contact the Public Utilities Commission with your thoughts at PUC.Hawaii.gov (docket No. 2017-0122).
R. Smith
Pepeekeo
Hawaii doesn’t care
Hawaii being the first state to sign on to the Paris accord implies it actually cares. Here are some facts.
Hawaii is likely the largest climate-change polluter, not just because of its active volcanoes, but because it imports 95 percent of all of its energy. And almost 9 million people per year visit by airplane, the most egregious emitter, and then rent tens of thousands of autos each week.
It air conditions most of its commercial buildings as a convenience, not necessity.
Worse than this, it stopped subsidizing solar (cost too much) and stopped building windmills (too unsightly).
It exports its methane-generating waste to Oregon.
Its imported energy is mostly oil, but attempts to switch to biofuels led to deforestation of southeast Asia to plant palm oil trees. Biodiesel is well-documented to increase climate emissions.
You all can keep making believe you are doing good, but in fact you are enabling our demise.
David Smukowski
Seattle and Maui