Happy holidays, everyone!
We received good news on Monday: The PUC rejected the 'Aina Koa Pono biofuel project.
The Public Utilities Commission has rejected a proposal to build a biofuels facility in Kau on the Big Island.
The developer, Aina Koa Pono, hoped to use plant feedstocks to produce drop-in biofuel for the electric utilities on the Big Island, Maui and Oahu. But the PUC said that the fuel would be too expensive, in a decision issued on Monday.
"The contract price for the AKP-produced biofuel is excessive and not cost-effective at present and for the foreseeable future, and thus, is unreasonable and inconsistent with the public interest," commissioners wrote... Read the rest
It goes to show that "we, the people" can make a difference.
In this case, a grassroots group of folks came together spontaneously to advocate for low-cost electricity on behalf of the rubbah slippah folks on the Big Island. We called ourselves the Big Island Community Coalition (BICC).
We supported other community members by submitting written testimony, and helped organize public participation at two PUC hearings on the Big Island. Here's a post about it from last year.
The people involved in the BICC were Dave DeLuz, Jr., John Dill, Rockne Freitas, Michelle Galimba, Richard Ha, Wallace Ishibashi, Kuulei Kealoha Cooper, Robert Lindsey, H.M. Monty Richards, Marcia Sakai, Kumu Lehua Veincent and William Walter.
Helping the rubbah slippah folks helps all of us.