Coalition protests power
lines on Waahila Ridge

By Pat Omandam
Star-Bulletin

Kumu hula Vicky Holt Takamine was standing among the pine trees in Waahila Ridge State Park when a howling gust of wind distracted her during an interview.

"Feel this wind that's coming through?" Takamine gestured. "The name of this wind is Waahila. It's named after this ridge line."

"Imagine a 100-foot tower here with 10 power lines through it. Do you think the wind is going to sound the same as it does now? Is it going to feel the same?" she said.

Takamine and several dozen members of the 'Ilioulaokalani, a coalition of native Hawaiian cultural and traditional practitioners, held a six-hour vigil yesterday at the St. Louis Heights park to protest a plan by Hawaiian Electric to install a 138,000-volt line to cross Waahila Ridge as part of the $36 million Kamoku-Pukele project.

They claim the power line, which would be hung from 100-foot towers, would forever change the characteristics of the ridge, where Takamine brings her hula students to teach them about Hawaiian culture.

HECO is proposing an underground power line from its Kamoku Street substation near Iolani School to the base of Waahila Ridge on the mauka side of Dole Street. The line would run along Kapiolani Boulevard to King Street and through the University of Hawaii's lower campus to a site on Dole Street near the U.S. Marine Fisheries Center.

From there, overhead lines will be used to go over the ridge to the Pukele substation. HECO officials have said the transmission link will strengthen service reliability to more than half of Oahu's electric customers.

HECO spokesman Chuck Freedman yesterday said the company is working with consultants to respond to public comments given in a draft environmental impact statement.

The final environmental report, once completed, will be sent to the state Department of Land and Natural Resources for approval, Freedman said.

After that, he said HECO will apply for the various permits it needs before construction can begin. Even though the formal public comment period for the environmental impact statement is over, there are still many opportunities for people to voice their concerns, he said.

Henry Curtis of the Life of the Land Foundation said there are at least two more agency hearings for the public to testify: The first is for a conservation district-use application with the land department, and the second is with the Public Utilities Commission.

Opposition for HECO's project is growing, Curtis said. More than 5,000 people have testified on the project so far, he said.

Curtis claims the state spends about $200 million a year to buy oil to fuel the power plants.

Curtis believes if that money was put into solar energy research at the UH, it would eliminate the drain on the economy and alleviate the need for the overhead power lines.