Three lanes needed
The Hilo landfill is closing, and the refuse containers will then be hauled to Waikoloa.
On their return, they should not be tied up in traffic trying to reach the transfer station. If that happens, the lines of vehicles and the wait time will be horrendous.
The County of Hawaii should implement three lanes of traffic. There should be two lanes entering and one lane departing the transfer station.
The right-hand lane should be used by the returning refuse containers, Hele-On, people who are recycling, green waste and the drag strip.
The middle lane should be used by those going to the transfer station and heavy metal recycling. The left lane will be used by everyone to depart.
The left lane will have to be paved; it’s currently a dirt shoulder.
Dennis Yoshimura
Hilo
Contrary opinion?
Your readers might want to know that Derek Kurisu, executive VP of KTA, wrote a commentary in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser (Island Voices, June 22) in which he strongly recommended PUC approval of Honua Ola (formerly Hu Honua), our fledgling Hawaii Island biomass-burning energy producer.
He trots out all the standard tropes and bromides that Honua Ola has recited for the past several years, including such Honua Ola benefits as: firm electrical power! Jobs, jobs, jobs! Renewable energy!
Mr. Kurisu fails to mention the resulting air and water pollution that will come from burning trees, the multitude of diesel-spewing trucks that will run up and down the Hamakua Coast ferrying trees from where they grew up to where they will burn up, and the cost penalties of producing electricity in such an inefficient way.
Why Mr. Kurisu chose to publish in a Honolulu paper is a mystery, but his choice suggests he wants to encourage the PUC to approve Honua Ola’s application while, at the same time, keeping his Hawaii Island customers in the dark about his efforts.
It’s also strange that Mr. Kurisu wants to promote Honua Ola in the first place, given what I suspect is the contrary opinion of most of his customers to higher electrical costs and unnecessary environmental pollution. So, cui bono?
Skip Sims
Ninole