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Editorials
Wednesday, April 26, 2000Alternate energy
bill isn’t necessaryTHE state of Hawaii has a long history of encouraging the development of alternative energy resources, going back to the oil crisis of the mid-1970s. Solar water heating -- Hawaii has by far the largest program in the nation -- geothermal power on the Big Island, wind turbines in Kahuku and on the neighbor islands, hydroelectric plants, photo-voltaics, ocean thermal energy conversion experiments at Keahole, HPOWER's generation of electricity through burning garbage, the burning of bagasse on the sugar plantations for the same purpose -- these are all state or county programs over the last quarter century aimed at reducing Hawaii's near-total dependence on imported oil as an energy source.The issue: A bill in the Legislature would require electric utilities to maintain minimum percentages of alternative energy sources.
Is it enough? Probably not. So-called alternative or renewable energy technologies continue to advance, opening new opportunities. For example, Hawaiian Electric's wind turbine experiments proved uneconomic and were abandoned, but recent improvements hold the promise of more favorable results.
It's obvious that continued reliance on oil imports is undesirable and efforts should continue to develop alternative energy sources. Undoubtedly some of these sources will become technically and economically viable in the future if they are not already.
However, a bill now in the Legislature would require electric utilities to maintain minimum -- and increasing -- percentages of renewable energy sources in their overall power generation operations. This represents a simplistic, unwise and potentially costly attempt to force the pace of adoption of these technologies without regard to practical problems and potential negative effects.
A more reasonable approach would entail encouragement of alternative energy use -- as has been state policy in the past -- without the imposition of arbitrarily mounting renewable energy requirements on the power companies that might result in rate increases without significant benefits.
Renewable energy activists claim that existing technologies are not only effective but economically competitive with oil production. They gloss over problems these technologies have encountered and provide doomsday warnings of soaring oil prices -- which other authorities dispute.
They claim that Hawaiian Electric is dragging its feet in supporting renewable energy, which Heco denies. The utility points out that it has teamed with government and other organizations in research on renewable technologies. When they are proved and economical it adopts them. It should be encouraged to do so -- but not have them rammed down its throat without regard to costs that will be passed on to consumers.
The bill would result in heavy-handed government intrusion into a highly technical area that should be left to the private sector. In the years ahead Hawaii's dependence on oil will diminish. This legislation is not needed to accomplish that and indeed could complicate the alternative energy effort.
Juvenile justice
MINORITY youths are known to be involved in crime in numbers disproportionate to their population. However, a new study reveals that their treatment by the judicial system is far more harsh than treatment of white juveniles similarly accused. Racial discrimination cannot be justified in juvenile courts and must be eliminated where it exists.
Black youths comprise 15 percent of the nation's population under 18 but one-third of the youth referred to, formally processed and convicted in juvenile court, according to the report commissioned by the juvenile justice advocacy group Building Blocks for Youth. Once they enter the juvenile justice system, the racial disparity grows even larger. Blacks account for 40 percent of the youths sent to adult court and 58 percent of the total youth population sent to adult prison.
The study found that when white and minority youth were charged with the same offenses, blacks were six times more likely to be incarcerated than whites with corresponding backgrounds. Latinos were three times more likely than whites to be put behind bars.
"This makes kids of color much more likely to spend their formative years behind bars," said Michael Jones, co-author of the report and a senior researcher at the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, the nation's oldest criminal justice think tank.
To some extent, the numbers may be skewed by police patrolling low-income, inner-city neighborhoods for crime sweeps and the reluctance of judges to send juveniles home without a biological parent or legal guardian. But the differences are so large that they suggest the existence of glaring racial bias in the judicial system.
The study's researchers want Congress to give the Justice Department at least $100 million to conduct a study and correct disparities, and to require that states spend at least one-fourth of their federal juvenile justice grant money on the issue.
Further research is needed, including a closer look at treatment of Asian and Polynesian adolescents, for greater understanding of the extent to which race has become a factor in the application of justice to juveniles.
Published by Liberty Newspapers Limited PartnershipRupert E. Phillips, CEO
John M. Flanagan, Editor & Publisher
David Shapiro, Managing Editor
Diane Yukihiro Chang, Senior Editor & Editorial Page Editor
Frank Bridgewater & Michael Rovner, Assistant Managing Editors
A.A. Smyser, Contributing Editor
