| DBEDT
should require EA or EIS for BlueEarth Proposal: Life of the Land's
Letters: August
10, 2007. August 24, 2007.
September 6,
2007 DBEDT's Response. August 29, 2007 HECO to buy only eco-friendly biodiesel By Jan TenBruggencate Honolulu Advertiser. Wednesday, August 22, 2007 NRDC and HECO agree on biodiesel procurement policy. Nathanael Greene's Blog. August 22, 2007 HECO vows biodeisel effort will aid trees By Diana Leone Honolulu Star Bulletin. August 22, 2007 HECO and NRDC Finalize Biodiesel Purchase Policy : Plan Could Jumpstart Sustainable Agricultural Energy Industry in Hawaii. Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) Press Release August 21, 2007 EIS may be needed for, could delay biodiesel plant. By Harry Eagar. Maui News. August 21, 2007 HECO to require that suppliers of imported palm oil be audited. By Harry Eagar. Maui News. August 21, 2007 Reducing Hawaii's Petroleum Dependence: A new biodiesel policy for Hawaiian Electric could jumpstart sustainable agricultural energy in Hawaii. By Ralph Cavanagh, Energy Program Co-Director, Natural Resources Defense Council August 21, 2007 Biofuel refinery, plant need PUC approval. Both the proposed power plant and the proposed BlueEarth Biofuel Refinery need further PUC approvals before either of them can be built. Henry Curtis. Letters to the Editor. Honolulu Star Bulletin August 10, 2007 Hawaiian Electric biofuel plan is flawed, groups say. By JanTenBruggencate. Honolulu Advertiser (Tuesday, July 10, 2007) A Greener Future For Power Plants? KHNL June 28, 2007 Proposed biofuel plant surprises some: Some $59 million in bonds may go to untested firm by Ian Lind ([ilind.net]) / 04-18-2007 NRDC is working with HECO to establish sustainable palm oil standards. In the Draft proposal, HECO & NRDC excluded RSPO requirement for Free and Prior Informed Consent of Indigenous Peoples Palm Oil Procurement Policy. HECO/NRDC Palm Oil Procurement Policy Draft Position (June 2007): HECO-NRDC_Biofuels_Draft Agreement HECO/NRDC Palm Oil Procurement Policy Final Position (August 2007): HECO-NRDC_Biofuels Final_Agreement Editorial: Without homegrown crops, biodiesel still will be imported fuel Honolulu Star-Bulletin March 29, 2007 Editorial: State should hold off on bonds for biofuels. Honolulu Advertiser. April 17, 2007 Maui News: HECO / NRDC Meeting Proposed biofuel plant surprises some. Ian Lind. Honolulu Weekly. April 18, 2007 Blue Earth Web Site Info Blue Earth Press Release (March 10, 2007) Maui News: Letter to the Editor (July 10, 2007) Hawaii on the path toward an agrofuel-induced climate change Regarding palm oil skeptics (The Maui News, July 6): Climate change is real, and its impacts are intense. We must change. There are many paths to salvation, and many more paths that lead us intentionally or unintentionally into the abyss. The mass media needs to cover in depth the competing voices and to avoid repackaging public relations releases as news stories. Investigative journalism must be a key component in saving the planet. There are different types of biodiesel. Biofuels are made from waste products; agrofuels are made from growing seed oil crops on razed virgin ecosystems using monocropping. Agrofuels cause more climate destruction than many fossil fuels. We must not go down the path toward agrofuel-induced climate change. Henry Curtis, Executive Director, Life of the Land, Honolulu ................................................................................................................................................................................................................... |
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| HECO, BlueEarth: Biofuels here won't Harm Environment (May, Maez, Letter to the Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, February 26, 2007) Bill Kamanu (Letter, Feb. 22) raises a legitimate concern about the impact of increased use of biodiesel from palm oil on rainforests and the creatures living in them. At Hawaiian Electric Co. and BlueEarth, we believe that doing the right thing also means doing it the right way. | HECO Issues
Biofuel RFP December 26, 2006 HECO Press Release Tuesday, March 21, 2006 |
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| $61 million project a start to ending use of petroleum (Maui News, February 18, 2007) Hawaiian Electric Co. and BlueEarth Biofuels LLC announced Saturday that they will build a $61 million biodiesel refinery at the Waena power station site, with Maui Electric Co. the initial customer. While MECO President Ed Reinhardt said the goal is to get all of the company’s Maalaea generators off petroleum, Mayor Charmaine Tavares noted her call at her inauguration to diversify the county’s economy. The development of a plant-based alternative energy source would support her vision of a sustainable Maui economy, she said. | HECO: We want ethanol Pacific Business News (Honolulu) - March 23, 2006 Third Energy Strategy Meeting on Dec. 13 DBEDT December 6, 2006 |
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| Maui biodiesel plant planned: The proposed $61 million facility would generate energy from replenishable sources (Honolulu Star Bulletin, February 18, 2007) BlueEarth Maui Biodiesel LLC hopes to start operating a refinery in 2009 with imported oils -- probably palm oil, company spokesman Ray Sweeney said yesterday. But it could ultimately produce biodiesel fuels made from Hawaii-grown oil products that could include coconut or kukui nuts. Raymond Sweeney Ethics Form | Maui Electric Company
Limited's (MECO's) Final Environmental Impact Statement (EIS). Waena
Generation Station. (December 1997) Chapter 3: Proposed
Action and Alternatives |
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Maui News (July 12, 2007) Bill allows BlueEarth Biofuels to sell bonds. Gov. Linda Lingle has signed Act 261, the bill authorizing BlueEarth Biofuels to sell $59 million in taxable, special purpose revenue bonds to finance most of the cost of a biodiesel refinery at Waena on Maui. Landis Maez, partner in BlueEarth, says the company is close to choosing among three underwriting companies bidding for the job of placing the bonds. Special purpose revenue bonds give borrowers the advantage of the state’s credit rating to obtain lower interest rates. But they do not obligate the state to repay the bonds if they should default. |
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| BIOFUEL: BlueEarth Studying Many Sources for Oil (Wellington, Letters to the Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, March 10, 2007) In response to the letter (March 4) from Kelly King, vice president of Pacific Biodiesel, we share many of her concerns. We respect what the Kings have done to foster biodiesel production and use in Hawai'i, and would be happy to work with them in the future. | ||
| Study considers Kahului Harbor alternatives (Maui News, March 9, 2007) Two very different possible harbors are described in the preparation notice for an environmental impact statement, published Thursday in the bulletin of the Office of Environmental Quality Control. Includes pipeline upgrade for MECO biofuels. Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC) Bulletin March 8, 2007 * Kahului Harbor EISPN | ||
| A greener future for power plants?
By Paul Drewes (Biofuels
News,
June 29, 2007) Power companies in Hawaii have plans to go "green." But some environmentalists are actually opposed to the idea. Island power companies have a plan to use palm trees to fuel future power plants, which is a greener way to go than gas. The interest trees like the oil palm tree or the kukui is mainly in the nut, which has a high oil content and just as important, it is easy to extract. If hawaiian electric get its way, tree crops could power some of its plants. That would not only reduce our dependence on imported oil, but could also force Island farmers to change their crops. "Potentially this could change the crop grown on maui, and branch out to the big island and molokai and oahu." says Maui Electric Company's Ed Reinhardt. While many want to go green, some feel under this new plan, we still wouldn't be outgrowing our dependence on oil. "We would be importing not traditional oil , but another kind of oil, its just a substitution that we are not self reliant." says Kat Brady, with the Life of the Land, a Hawaii focused environmental group. Using bio-diesel to power plants in the islands would reduce carbon dioxide emissions that add to global warming. But even the electric company admits, there aren't enough farmers to grow the bio-diesel crop needed to fuel a planned new refinery and the modified power plants on several islands. "We probably will not have enough of the raw product to turn into bio-diesel." adds Reinhardt. So palm oil or other plant oils would still need to be imported to our islands, leaving some hoping "plants" are left out of future "power plants" for Hawaii. "Hawaii has every resource known to mankind to produce our own energy, deep cold ocean, constant sunshine, trade winds why are we using our ag lands to grow energy crops?" Hawaiian Electric's power plan, of a bio-refinery and bio-diesel plants is the first of its kind in the country for a utility. There will be more meetings between Hawaiian Electric and the public, planned for Thursday 6/28 in Hilo, Friday 6/29 in Kona and Monday 7/2 on Maui. |
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| BIOFUEL: HECO Refinery Plan Has Negative Impacts (Kelly King, Letter to the Editor, Honolulu Advertiser, March 4, 2007) Regarding the response from HECO/BlueEarth Biofuels to Bill Kamanu's letter of concern about its proposed 40 to 120 million gallons per year biodiesel refinery: Maybe the title should have read "Biofuels here won't harm environment here." There have been countless articles — from the Wall Street Journal to the Asia Times — written about the devastating effects of the importation of large quantities of palm oil. Some of these articles indicate that Europe, which was producing biodiesel almost a decade before it became experimental in the U.S., is now backing away from palm oil feedstocks because of deforestation and the actual increase in carbon-based global warming. If HECO is truly interested in making a positive impact, it would not have been difficult for it to find the information: Environmental organizations such as Friends of the Earth are helping to expose these atrocities. HECO's plan will increase global warming until all 120 million gallons of biodiesel are produced from oil crops grown in Hawai'i, something that is impossible to achieve. Thus, Hawai'i will still be hostage to unstable, potentially hostile nations which control palm oil, like anti-U.S. Malaysia and Indonesia, both large Muslim countries. HECO's mad rush to secure approvals and public support for such a negative-impact project indicates it is unaware of the issues and may be using unknowledgeable industry experts, if, in fact, it is even consulting experts. Kelly Takaya King, Vice president, Pacific Biodiesel Inc. | ||
| Honolulu Star-Bulletin (February 18, 2007): Maui biodiesel plant planned: The proposed $61 million facility would generate energy from replenishable sources By Wendy Osher. A proposed $61 million refinery on Maui would produce renewable biodiesel fuels for Maui Electric Co.'s largest power plant, officials said yesterday. ''BlueEarth Maui Biodiesel LLC hopes to start operating a refinery in 2009 with imported oils -- probably palm oil, company spokesman Ray Sweeney said yesterday. ... Palm oil from the Pacific Rim and South America would be the starting fuel stock, Sweeney said. ... Some oil palms can produce three to four crops a year, said HECO Chief Technology Officer Karl Stahlkopf.'' http://starbulletin.com/2007/02/18/news/story03.html | ||
| The Maui News (February 18, 2007): $61 million project a start to ending use of petroleum. By Harry Eager, Staff Writer ''BlueEarth says it is planning to use palm oil 'imported from around the Pacific Rim and South America from suppliers that practice sustainable palm production.''' http://www.mauinews.com/story.aspx?id=27836 | ||
| VIEWPOINT: Biofuel money should be spent in Hawaii for Hawaii (Lance Holter, Maui News, March 01, 2007) BlueEarth plans to produce biodiesel from imported palm oil and will import at least 40 million gallons per year. Importing oil? How does this create a sustainable local renewable energy economy? I thought we were trying to get away from this paradigm. | ||
| State should hold off on bonds for biofuels Honolulu Advertiser Opinion Tuesday, April 17, 2007 There is such a thing as a reasonable idea whose time has not yet come. That seems to be the case with Senate Bill 1718, which proposes special purpose revenue bonds for the financing of a biofuels plant on Maui. more | ||
| Testimony
re proposed large biodiesel refinery on Maui using imported Palm
Oil (BlueEarth) Testimony in House Finance Committee (March 30, 2007) For: BlueEarth * ILWU * Maui Chamber of Commerce * Plumbers Union * HECO Support the Intent: Hawaii Farm Bureau Against: Beth McDermott * Bill Akiona * Hawaii Audubon * Kat Brady * Life of the Land * Pacific Biodiesel * Sawit (Palm Oil) Watch (Indonesia) * Sierra Club, Hawaii Chapter * Sierra Club, Maui Group * Windward Ahupua`a Alliance Testimony (March 15-29, 2007) For: BlueEarth * MECO * DBEDT Comments: Dept of Budget & Finance Against: Environmental Defense Fund * Sustainable Biodiesel Alliance * Pacific Biodiesel * Life of the Land * Maui Tomorrow * Sierra Club, Maui Group * Sarah Preble * Doc Berry |