It's disappointing that someone representing the Sierra Club would actually stoop to politically motivated hatchet jobs like the one authored by Randy Ching in yesterday's Star-Bulletin. His mean-spirited attack on Mayor Mufi Hannemann was riddled with distortions from beginning to end, and was a gross mischaracterization of the mayor's impressive environmental record.

Ching's timing is certainly poor. Just the day before his commentary appeared, another environmental group, SustainLane, once again ranked Honolulu among the top 20 most sustainable U.S. cities. Last year, Hannemann also received a major award from the U.S. Conference of Mayors for his long-term sustainability plan. This national award, coupled with our city's notable ranking from SustainLane, are unbiased assessments - not angry rantings from someone who seems more intent on taking down our mayor.

Let's take a closer look at the three specific areas cited by Ching:

  » Energy. The city operates, and is enlarging, Hawaii's only major renewable energy source, the H-Power waste-to-energy plant. The city's energy conservation efforts have been highly effective, and its extensive use of biofuel makes it a national leader.

Ching is wrong on everything regarding the previous city “;energy expert”; he pines for. This political crony of the former administration was not “;fired”; by Mayor Hannemann; he resigned. He was also better known for misrepresenting his academic credentials than his knowledge of energy conservation.

  » Recycling. Former Mayor Jeremy Harris' recycling program fell apart because he unwisely attempted to force its expansion despite a serious labor dispute and repeated warnings about operational problems. Using his collaborative skills, Hannemann worked out a solution, met with the United Public Workers to address its members' concerns, and is now steadily expanding this successful curbside recycling program throughout the island. He also established curbside green waste recycling early on and expanded regularly scheduled bulky-item pickup islandwide.

  » Sewage. The Sierra Club sued the city over sewage programs while the previous administration was still in office. While Ching acknowledges that Hannemann inherited a sewer system suffering from 25 years of neglect, he is apparently willing to blame the mayor for not totally restoring or replacing it during his first year in office. This reveals rather startling ignorance of engineering realities and city operations.

The truth is that Mayor Hannemann has budgeted and spent more in four years to repair the sewer system than the previous administrations had in more than 10. The Sierra Club's chosen candidate for mayor promises to do it even faster while also pursuing unnecessary upgrades to our sewage treatment facilities for $1.2 billion - all while reducing sewer fees and property taxes. That might sound nice, but it is obviously impossible.

Hannemann appreciates the Sierra Club's 2006 endorsement of the city's rail transit plan. Rather than pick political fights and wasteful court battles, we hope the Sierra Club will work with Hannemann, and help us move forward with a transportation alternative that will improve the quality of life on Oahu and greatly benefit the environment.