[ OUR OPINION ]
HAWAIIAN Electric Co.'s pleas to string high-voltage power lines above Waahila Ridge have been rejected by the state Board of Land & Natural Resources, and HECO now plans to ask the Public Utilities Commission for its Monday-morning assessment -- validation? -- of its doomsday predictions. The company instead should turn its fervor into searching for energy alternatives that are more environmentally acceptable. Options to Waahila
Ridge line need study
THE ISSUE The state land board has rejected Hawaiian Electric's high-voltage power line project along Waahila Ridge.
HECO did not ask the commission for its opinion about the need for replacing 20 wooden poles 40 feet tall with 110-foot steel poles, including eight on conservation land, before taking its proposal to the Land Board. HECO spokesman Chuck Freedman says the company never has asked for such a preliminary opinion before completing a construction plan. Perhaps it is time to begin doing so.
Instead, Freedman warned about a "cataclysmic failure" of Oahu's electrical power system if the high-voltage lines were not installed. However, Mary Steiner of the Outdoor Circle noted that HECO never was able to substantiate to the Land Board the probability of such a catastrophe. Instead, conservationists pointed to HECO's claim two years ago of 99.98 percent reliability of the present system.
Opponents argued that the power towers would cause permanent damage to the ridge, which separates Manoa and Palolo valleys and is listed among America's 11 most endangered historic places by the National Trust for Historic Preservation. They said the poles would have marred the legendary profile of the sleeping giant Kauhi in the ridge's outline.
Freedman says HECO will ask the Public Utilities Commission for its estimate of the need to connect a Palolo Valley electrical substation with a Moiliili substation 3.8 miles away, as the $31 million project was intended to do. Any such reassessment should include a more thorough examination of alternatives, such as decentralizing the island's power grid. A more expensive underground power line offered by HECO also was opposed by residents and conservationists.
HECO naturally has the expertise on the subject of electrical power, but the company's conclusion short-circuited its obligation to provide a more comprehensive set of options. The company apparently was so confident from its past record of getting what it wanted that it underestimated the forcefulness of opposition to the Waahila Ridge proposal.
This year's Legislature neglected to provide a more balanced outlook by approving a $50,000 contract for the National Conference of State Legislatures' Energy Project to conduct a statewide audit of how energy is generated and distributed in Hawaii, as the organization is doing in Montana and Rhode Island. The bill faced no opposition and was approved by the state House, but died in a Senate committee. It will not be too late for the audit to be approved in next year's session.
BACK TO TOP
Published by Oahu Publications Inc., a subsidiary of Black Press.Don Kendall, Publisher
Frank Bridgewater, Editor 529-4791; fbridgewater@starbulletin.com
Michael Rovner, Assistant Editor 529-4768; mrovner@starbulletin.com
Lucy Young-Oda, Assistant Editor 529-4762; lyoungoda@starbulletin.comMary Poole, Editorial Page Editor, 529-4790; mpoole@starbulletin.com
The Honolulu Star-Bulletin (USPS 249460) is published daily by
John Flanagan, Contributing Editor 294-3533; jflanagan@starbulletin.com
Oahu Publications at 500 Ala Moana Blvd., Suite 7-500, Honolulu, Hawaii 96813.
Periodicals postage paid at Honolulu, Hawaii. Postmaster: Send address changes to
Star-Bulletin, P.O. Box 3080, Honolulu, Hawaii 96802.
