[ OUR OPINION ]
More competition needed
to reduce wholesale gas pricesLINDA Lingle voiced her opposition to gasoline price caps during her gubernatorial campaign, so her post-election announcement that she would suspend the law came as no surprise. Unless she comes up with another way to reduce wholesale gas prices in a noncompetitive market, she may find another law -- with greater legislative support and less flexibility for the governor -- back on her new desk.
THE ISSUE Governor-elect Lingle has said she will suspend a law that would authorize her to put caps on gasoline prices.
When asked during her campaign how she would lower gas prices, Lingle called for repealing a law that requires service stations to be at least an eighth of a mile apart. However, the market problem is at the wholesale level, described by an oil industry attorney as an oligopoly, not at retail outlets.
Evidence assembled in the state's price-fixing lawsuit against oil companies showed that Chevron earned 22 percent of its profits nationally from Hawaii during a seven-year period in which Hawaii accounted for only 3.1 percent of the company's national market. ChevronTexaco and Tesoro are the only oil refiners in Hawaii.
"I don't have any specific proposal at this time to bring down the cost of wholesale gasoline," Lingle said last Thursday, "but it is an important issue for the state and that'll be part of what I talk to the Legislature about." She said she understands that it may be difficult to attract other companies to enter Hawaii's gasoline market because of the capital investment required.
In its last session, the Legislature narrowly enacted a law that would authorize the governor to impose wholesale gasoline price caps, using a formula based on spot market prices in Los Angeles, San Francisco and the Pacific Northwest. Lingle has pointed out that, according to the law, retail gas caps would apply only to self-service pumps and only to regular, unleaded gasoline, so oil companies could get around the law by confining their sales to higher-grade gas. That is a legitimate criticism; if the proposal is revived, it should be corrected.
After suspending the gas price-cap law, Lingle will be pressed to devise an alternative way to reduce prices. The governor-elect is an avid proponent of encouraging competition to bring prices down, but she will have difficulty doing so in Hawaii's gasoline market.
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Young people learn
lessons in toleranceIF education is the mission for public school-sponsored clubs, then a group of Kalaheo High School students is on its way with teenagers already having learned quite a bit about perseverance and navigating the rules for establishing school organizations. The Gay Straight Alliance is also extending lessons in tolerance and support for understanding of diversity.
THE ISSUE Kalaheo High School's Gay Straight Alliance hopes to teach tolerance.
The club is the first chartered in Hawaii's public schools to assist the Kalaheo High community in providing a safe environment for all students and to end anti-gay bias and insensitivity. There are thousands of such groups in 46 states.
To become a school-sponsored group took students more than a year of working out guidelines so that the club fit the model for clubs. It took several attempts, but the young people persisted.
The alliance has no agenda for promoting gay lifestyles; members are male and female, gay and straight -- students who want to assure that no one suffers discrimination or bullying.
The school's principal and the group's adult advisers say that although sexual orientation may prompt a great deal of disagreement among adults, young people by and large seem more charitable about the issue. They believe they should be aware of how others who may not be like them feel about name-calling, and should not allow disrespectful behavior to hurt another.
The club's first service project focuses on preparing a brochure about derogatory terms, at the request of teachers. The 10 to 13 members meet once a week at the school to work on the project and discuss issues.
Although one parent called to express concern about the appropriateness of the club, the group appears to have general acceptance. To most kids, the club isn't a big deal. It is one of many organizations that reflect their varied interests. Their attitude of tolerance may be an education for us all.
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