(Part 1) (Part 3)

With the largest protest in Hilo, over the past decade, my local MSM rag, merely ran this blurb and pic on the frontpage, with no follow-on story…! Here’s a pic of the flyer that went up around town promoting it…March in March! One remarkable feature of this protest, that surprised me, besides the sheer numbers, over a thousand! Was the fact it was largely, organized and promoted, solely on Social Media, with very little radio and/or media play…!

Basically, it all started with this sordid episode, which prompted the entire inter-isle protest marches…

Why Is A Monsanto Lobbyist Serving On A Water Resource Panel?

Hawaii Senate President Donna Mercado Kim has chosen a Monsanto lobbyist to be on the group that recommends candidates for the state water commission.

The choice is a controversial one because the Commission on Water Resource Management controls the allocation of state water resources, and Monsanto, a huge agri-business company, has a major stake in how water rights are granted. The commission has been at the center of fights among developers, large plantation owners, environmentalists, the military and Native Hawaiian groups…

…Last week, Kim appointed Alan Takemoto, the community affairs manager at Monsanto, to the nominating committee.

The company, which tests genetically modified organisms on seed crops in Hawaii, recently applied to the water commission for a permit to use 2.6 million gallons of water a day from a new well in Waipahu-Waiawa. The permit was denied…

But Kim, who records show also got $500 in campaign donations from Monsanto, defended the decision. As Senate president it’s ultimately her choice, but she said that she deferred to Solomon because she is chair of the Senate Water and Land Committee. Kim said that she reviewed Takemoto’s experience and that she believes he is qualified.

“He has this broad experience, and I thought it would be important that someone be representative of the agricultural community,” said Kim.

But Kim noted that his experience goes far beyond working for Monsanto. Takemoto has also served as director of the Hawaii Farm Bureau Federation and is on the board of the Agribusiness Development Corporation.

“Being one of four people, it’s hard for me to imagine that all three names will be all Monsanto people,” said Kim. “So I think there is a balance.”

As for Monsanto’s campaign contributions, she said that isn’t a concern…

Anti-GMO groups such as Occupy Monsanto and Babes Against Biotech immediately criticized the appointment on Facebook, circulating petitions and posters with such slogans as, “Hands Off Our Water!!!”

“Our major concern is that the lines between corporations and government are blurring right in front of us,” said Nomi Carmona, president of Babes Against Biotech. “And it’s an absolute conflict of interest for our Senate president to appoint a registered Monsanto lobbyist to a position where he would be appointing water commissioners.”

Ironically, I can personally attest to the fact that most of our county/state commissions and/or boards, are already stacked with corporate stooges…! Many of them serve on multiple commissions…!

Now, as one of the event organizers, Kea Kapahua, wrote about why she got directly involved…

March in March to Evict Monsanto

“As a Hawaiian, I am very concerned about our ‘aina, the land that feeds and sustains us, and the legacy we leave to our children and their children. When our ‘aina is repeatedly bombed with a cocktail of pesticides, this creates an unsuitable environment to grow healthy, life giving food. We are not able to care for our land and food properly and in return the land cannot care for us. This is important. I not only take issue with the devastation of our land, water and air, by these agrochemical corporations, but with the very act of crossing boundaries or barriers that nature has set up. It is unnatural to place the gene of a bacteria into the DNA of corn so it survives the repeated heavy spraying of herbicides. These corporations create an unwanted and uninvited prison for us; we live on an island, where are we going to go? What are we going to do when our water is too contaminated to drink or grow food? What about our limu and the fish we eat from the ocean? Just last year an estimated 50,000 sea urchins died off of Kaua’i’s west shore where a lot of the experimental GMO crops are grown. What about genetic pollution? The GMO papaya is the perfect example of the inability to contain life. Today, over 50 percent of the papayas on Hawai’i island have been found to be GMO contaminated. And what about the freedom to breathe clean air? On Moloka’i they are dealing with fugitive chemical laden dust storms. How can I not care?”

From the Oahu march…

Finally, here’s a response from the GMO industry…

Hawaii Crop Improvement Association Statement on Anti-GMO Marches Across the State

“Organizers of these anti-GMO and evict Monsanto marches are creating a hostile environment in our communities by using scare tactics and spreading misinformation. It is not pono to rally support for an agenda by repeating myths and exaggerations to our Hawaii communities. It is also unfortunate that misleading and false claims made by these activist groups are often repeated by mainstream media without verification of their accuracy.

“We value the concerns of the public and work to address these concerns through informative and respectful dialogue based on facts and proven studies. We also respect freedom of speech; however, we believe the community would be better served if they were provided facts instead of myths and false accusations.”

Btw, many of the protestors were ‘rewarded’ for their efforts, by Hilo’s Finest …!

F*ckers…!

After a year in existence, Occupy Hilo was finally afforded a golden opportunity to shine here in sleepy Hilo town…! First off, it was the Fifth of November, Remember the 5th of November, then, it was the traditional ‘Democratic Revolution‘ election eve rally, which has occured every two years ever since ’54, when the Dems first swept into power, supplanting the Sugar Plantation GOP stranglehold on the Territory’s Legislature…!

Anyways, so all the Dimwitted critters were in attendance and even our Honolulu Lamestream Media…! In a sidenote, several of the 10 pm Honolulu News shows led with the Hilo story…! But, I was pissed at Free Hawaii’s Gene Tamashiro actions, he totally stomped on Occupy Hilo’s “Abolish the PLDC” message…! Occupy Hilo has supported Gene and his ‘Aloha Uprising’ and ‘Free Hawaii’ efforts, in fact, several of us, myself included, had attended the Ho’oponopono with Uncle Abel, that the above clip featured…! But, what Gene did at the Rally, has soured OH from further participation in his efforts…!

Having studied Hawaiian history, I know that the Hawaiians were robbed, but, one can only turn back the clock so far…! The PLDC is the one true lightning rod that has united so many disparate entities across the Isles…! Gene’s selfish antics truly diminished our message…!

Now, allow me to highlight the Legislative History of the PLDC, as penned by a former, HI Senate Majority Leader, Gary Hooser…

Birth Of The Public Land Development Corporation – A travesty of the legislative process

…How did this happen. How did it slip through the checks and balances of our legislative process?

A better question is how did it sneak through the process because that is what happened. IMHO

A cursory look at the legislative history show clearly there were 4 hearings held on what started out as SB1555 and ended up as Act 55 and the creation of the PLDC. On the surface it looks like there were 4 opportunities for the public to testify and engage in the democratic process. On the surface that is…but the truth is below the surface and deserves a good look. It may even deserve some sunshine.

Let’s take a look at those 4 opportunities for public input.

1) SB1555 was introduced on January 26, 2011 and a public hearing in the Senate Water/Land/Housing Committee was held on 2/8/11 (public notice given on 2/2/11). At this time SB1555 among other things did not contain any provisions for exempting projects from “all statutes, ordinances, charter provisions, and rules of any government agency…” and it also provided for an 11 member Board of Directors and required neighbor island representation. Much of the language of SB1555 focused on the Ala Wai and Keehi Harbor issues. There was minimal public testimony. A SD1 version was approved by the committee containing only minor technical amendments.

2) On 3/01/11 the Senate Ways and Means Committee held a “public decision making” (public notice given on 2/25/11). While written “comments” may be offered, no public testimony is accepted at this meeting. A SD2 version was approved by the committee containing only minor technical amendments.

3) On 3/18/11 the House Water/Land/Ocean affairs Committee held a public hearing (public notice given on 3/15/11) and at the end of the hearing passed out SB1555HD1 that was dramatically different from the prior version. The House version now included exemptions from County permitting and zoning requirements. The House version also stripped out the requirement for Neighbor-Island representation. Other significant changes were also made to this version, dramatically changing it from the prior SB1555SD2.

IT IS IMPORTANT TO NOTE THAT UP UNTIL THE END OF THIS COMMITTEE HEARING AND THE ACTUAL PUBLISHING OF THE AMENDMENTS, THAT THE PUBLIC IS NOT AWARE OF THE NATURE OF THE CHANGES AND THE POTENTIAL IMPACT OF SB1555HD1

4) On 4/07/11 the House Finance Committee held a public hearing (PUBLIC NOTICE GIVEN LESS THAN 2 HOURS PRIOR TO THE HEARING – see actual hearing notice here http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/session2011/hearingnotices/HEARO ING_FIN_04-07-11_1_.pdf ). At the end of this hearing the House Finance Committee passed out SB1555HD2 after making further changes.

The measure then went to Conference Committee where there is NO PUBLIC TESTIMONY ALLOWED and additional very significant changes were made.

Quick and dirty (very dirty) summary: THE PUBLIC HAD ONLY ONE OPPORTUNITY TO TESTIFY ON THE SUBSTANCE OF ACT 55 AS WE KNOW IT TODAY AND THAT WAS AT THE HOUSE FINANCE COMMITTEE WHICH PROVIDED LESS THAN 2 HOURS PUBLIC NOTICE. Unless you were in the building and checking your smart phone during the 2 hour period preceding this hearing…you had no way of knowing it was even on the agenda. The original version did not exempt any projects from zoning or permitting. This was first added in the House and then dramatically expanded in Conference Committee. There are many other changes that happened during this process and explains why many/most environmental watchdog groups did not engage this issue early.

Disgusting is too kind a word to use to describe the process used to give birth to Act 55 and the Public Land Development Corporation.

Please don’t take my word for it. It’s all here in the legislative history that is available at: http://www.capitol.hawaii.gov/Archives/measure_indiv_Archives.aspx?billtype=SB&billnumber=1555&year=2011

To be clear, I offer these comments purely from a personal and individual perspective and not in any official capacity whatsoever.

Ain’t it amusing that Abercrombie had the temerity to bellow at us: “Then join the Democratic Party and you get the faith and trust of people.”

As a commenter had quipped… Gotta love a town where the protesters are to the left of the Democrats!

Amen…!

Here’s exactly what Occupy Hilo did last nite…

Btw, the Guv was ‘irked’ long before Gene upstaged us…!

From Occupy Hilo’s Facebook page…

People standing peacefully and holding signs at the Hawaii Democratic Rally were assaulted by the private security guards last night in Hilo. The guy standing by the door in the black “security” shirt with the leg wrap and the keys on a lanyard is the perpetrator. At 2:10 he pushes a girl out of the way and tells another protester to go back to where he came from. The protester says he is EXACTLY where he came from. Charges were filed at the East Hawaii Police station after the event was over.

That specific protestor just happens to be half Hawaiian, but, what unfolded inside of Aunt Sally’s Luau House was worse…! That ILWU union thug (Francis!) hired as ‘Security’ went off inside, ripping signs out of people’s hands, and even body-checking several women, and, a few males…! Five people had filed police reports soon afterwards, and, one brave wahine is even pressing charges…!

I personally was carrying the P & L in this FB clip… Bus arrives in Hilo for the Hawaii Democrat Rally 10/26/12…

Now, for some history on the Abolish The PLDC movement, and Gov. Abercrombie’s noxious participation…

Top Abercrombie Advisor Enlisted to Help Beleaguered PLDC.

…Gov. Neil Abercrombie has asked one of his closest political advisors to head a working group created to fend off attacks on the controversial Public Land Development Corporation.

William Kaneko, Abercrombie’s former campaign manager, has been leading the group, according to Sen. Malama Solomon, a PLDC supporter who has been helping the governor devise a strategy to appease mounting public antagonism toward the new state agency.

After so many people opposed the PLDC at the public meetings, Abercrombie and Solomon last month announced a strategic plan aimed at calming concerns. The working group appears to be a continuation of that plan to make it an easier sell to the public…

And, ‘We the Aina’, aren’t buying it, anywhere in the Isles…! Today, Occupy Maui and other concerned Maui citizens, greeted them on their Maui leg of their grandiose statewide ‘Bus Tour’…!

We’re mighty pissed and we’re determined…!

That clip has some snippets from Aloha Uprising’s Friday evening soirée at Uncle Billy’s Hilo Bay Restaurant, and then from yesterday’s marathon 7th session of Hawai’i County Council’s Committee on Agriculture, Water, and Energy Sustainability. The committee meeting was gavelled into session at 8:30 am and didn’t end until 7 pm, there were several 15 min. recesses, with a 1 hour lunch.

The Committee members had asked for presentations from 1) Mr. Kaleikini of Puna Geothermal Ventures(PGV), which is owned by the Israeli-based Ormat Industries, 2) Dr. Mililani Trask of Innovations Development Group, Inc., and, 3) For the State to have a Dept. of Health representative available to answer any questions the County Council might have. (More on that later!)

It was a packed house with about 100 attendees in Hilo’s County Council chambers alone, I’d arrived a little late and had to stand outside because there were no chairs available inside(there are speakers mounted outside), with more attending the session, through the three satellite county offices, in Pahoa, Waimea, and Kona. Hawai’i County is one of the largest counties (a total area of 5,086.70 square miles) in the country! There were about 40 public testifiers in Hilo town, with a dozen or so from the satellite offices.

Typically, the first item on the Agenda is when all public testimony is accepted, then that’s it for the public, and the Council/Committee will move on, reserving the right to call a party back for clarification, etc., but, no more public input! However, this go-around, we’d approached most of the members early on, and at several recent events we’d hosted, asked them specifically to take the Public Testimony after these presentations! I’d noticed today in chambers, they had reverted back to their norm, but I digress…

So, Puna Geothermal Venture started off with a brief, half hour or so spiel, on how awesome they are and are only utilizing the ‘Best and Safest’ technologies available, blah, blah, blah… Then, up steps, Mililani Trask, armed with a hour, Power Point Presentation, which quickly made sashimi of Ormat’s noise; ‘there’s ten different technologies, and Ormat uses the oldest and cheapest’ was a notable zinger, amongst others. But, I’m no fan of Mililani, in that, she’s working hand and glove with the Neo-Lib PTBs interests, particularly, with her closing remarks that ‘we’ need to match the ‘right technology to the earth.’ Not when you’re promoting a $1 Billion undersea cable, the Big Wind project, and the continued drilling into Madame Pele…!

Not cool at all, the wrong technology is being utilized in the entire schemata, to start with! She gives lip service to ‘microgrids,’ ‘smart metering,’ and all, but fails to grasp the centrality of the thesis! What’s lacking is the decoupling from the entire antiquated system, into localized production and usage, not pumping it into a single cable just to feed Oahu’s voracious appetite, of which takes a constant load of 100 Megawatts just to push the juice through it…! How many PV panels and compact windmills, or even tidal power OWC’s(pdf!), could that $1 billion buy…?

It was notable that Mililani and her stoolies soon departed after her powerful PPP…! Unlike the Ormat/PGV crew, much to their chagrin, for after all the public testimony was over, they were raked over the coals by all the Council members, for the last hour and a half, with several public testifiers called back for rebuttal…! Tsk, tsk…!

Anyways, getting back to the noticeable lack of attendance by any State DoH representative, and, their lack of response to any written questions by County Council members, submitted well beforehand, was palpable…!

Hmmm… I wonder why…?

From the prepared text of Occupy Hilo, and other Community orgs…
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On May Day, which is known as Lei Day here in the Isles, Occupy Hilo hosted a potluck picnic/signwaving event in solidarity with OWS’s May Day effort. At the height of our festivities, we had fielded about 20 enthusiastic sign wavers.

We did score some political points when we had to compete with Mufi Hannemann’s (Hawaii’s 2nd CD, Mazie’s current seat) campaign crew on our left (the small group of red shirts in the last segment of my YouTube), and then Mazie Hirono’s campaign crew (US Senate, Akaka’s seat) on our right (you can barely discern them in my clip), Occupy Hilo blew them both out of the water with the sheer number of honks and shakas we were receiving! After about 45 mins, the Mufi crew packed it in! I think they were also miffed that we’d already Occupied the prime Real Estate, we did get some honks and shakas from the departing Mufi supporters…! It was awesome…!

Now, I’ve been somewhat derelict in my reporting of Occupy Hilo’s numerous recent activities, that have been garnering a lot of headline-grabbing reporting from our local press, which is surprising, since both our local rags(Hilo and Kona) are owned wholly by the overt right wing Stephens Media Group. For instance, April 25′s headline was Geothermal concerns vented, followed up the next day, with another frontpage article; Geothermal safety mulled. Now, imagine my surprise when I saw this pic of me, yesterday morning… Occupy HELCO protest… I’m infamous now, literally, (with my name listed first) with that 1/4 page sized pic being posted right next to the daily ‘Citizens Arrested and Charged’ listing, on page A8…!

Read the rest of this entry →

My humble apologies for not being more prolific in my updates of Occupy Hilo’s activities! Basically, it’s been a slowly developing tsunami, that is starting to lap at the 1%’s heels…! We won some battles, and we lost some, we did lose our first Occupy Foreclosure action…

Today, when I’d walked into the County’s Research and Development Energy Advisory Commission meeting with my ‘Stop Geothermal‘ t-shirt, I’d noticed some visible squirming from about half the ‘Commissioners’, most of the lot are interlocking Commission members…! Also, where half of the Commission does have direct ties with either; HELCO, Puna Geothermal Venture(PGV), ORMAT’s Drilling Crew(akin to Halliburton, and a Firm that is wholly owned by a private Israeli corporation), and, Family members thereof…! Proving once again, the age-old axiom in County/State hiring, that it’s not ‘What ya know, It’s Who ya know’…!

What we’re looking at is the fanciful notion that the Puna district can suddenly leap from 30 Megawatts of Geothermal production, to 1,000 Megawatts of production, delivered to Oahu(Honolulu), via an estimated $10 Billion undersea cable…! It should also be noted that currently, a particularly odious bill, is wending it’s way through the State Legislature, establishing a No/Low interest rate Bank/Funds for any ‘self sufficient’ Energy source(s), which would also happen to enjoy Hawai’i statutory exemptions from the State’s strict Evironmental Review process…! How convienent, eh…? It’s a ‘gut and replace’ bill that is being promoted by the ‘dirty dozen’ of State Legislators, mostly Dims, most are Dinos, and bought and paid for by HEI and their subsidiaries (HELCO, MECO, American Savings Bank, etc.)…!

Just as a refresher, HELCO (Big Isle) customers pay 47 cents a kwh, the national avg. is 14 cents, and, the 30 Mw Puna Geothermal Venture is paid only 11 cents per kwh, which purportedly, provides 37% of our local Big Isle needs, where’s the ‘aloha‘ for us local Big Islanders…?

Anyhoots, we’re finally hitting the front page, and above the fold, in our own local right wing rag(Stephens Media propaganda)… HELCO president in hot seat over rates…

…Hawaii Electric Light Co. President Jay Ignacio came before a County Council committee Tuesday to clear the air on what he said were misperceptions about the effects of solar and geothermal energy on electric rates.

But rather than calming worried residents, Ignacio’s slide presentation brought out a packed house of testifiers, most of them skeptical that HELCO has their best interests in mind. Most members of the council Committee on Agriculture, Water & Energy Sustainability didn’t seem convinced, either.
[cont.]
Concerns about the risks of geothermal and HELCO’s apparent resistance to allowing homeowners to hook up their own photovoltaic systems topped the list. Most of the 30 or so testifiers were Puna residents with many of them opposed to geothermal energy for health reasons.

“There was nothing in their presentation that any of their plans would reduce electric rates,” said James Weatherford, a County Council candidate in the Puna district that’s home to Puna Geothermal Venture, the state’s only geothermal producer, which has a 30-megawatt plant. “No commitment there whatsoever.”

Ignacio said HELCO is looking to increase geothermal power as a way to bring a stable source of energy into the Big Island grid. The company has recently announced it will be seeking proposals for a contractor to produce up to 50 megawatts more at a location in West Hawaii.

“Will taxpayers be left holding the bag to bail out geothermal profiteers when things go wrong, just like the Wall Street bankers scammed the taxpayers?” said longtime geothermal opponent Jim Albertini. “Same ol’ same ol’ — privatize the profits, socialize the costs.”

I’m sure Jay Ignacio, as chairman of Helco, is a 1%er, especially when his Boss, HEI’s Chairwoman ‘earns’ $6.5 million a year…! I’m sure they do ‘feel our pain’…!

Now, Hilo, signed a ‘Sister City’ compact with Leyte Island’s Ormoc City, during the massive APEC conference on Oahu…!

In which, Ormoc City, being roughly the same size and all… The city enjoys economic growth because it supplies the whole country of its power needs due to the abundant geothermal power resources in Tongonan and neighbouring Kananga town.

What’s lost in the discourse is that Letye’s Geothermal efforts are located on geologically ‘dormant‘ volcanic sites, not, on active volcanic rifts…!

Now, if one suddenly should notice a sudden uptick in Seismic activity, in a ‘stable’ region of the nation, say Oklahoma, due solely to drilling and injection processes, what sort of Seismic activity do you suppose might be created from drilling 150+ wells, on an active Volcano rift zone…? Hmmm…? The South-West Puna lava ridge, created mostly from all the recent flows(1983, onwards), hundreds(thousands, even) of acres could ‘slip’ into the ocean and create a serious tsunami that would ‘wrap’ around the entire Isle and potentially hit the West Coast, and, South America…! Estimates do vary on the potential height…!

Now, don’t you think that the estimated $10 Billion for the ‘undersea cable’ alone, could buy a whole lot of PV systems, for all of the available roof-tops on the Big Isle…? Inquiring minds would like to know…!

I would like to think that if we hadn’t had such a deluge on Wednesday, we would’ve had an even larger turnout…! I shot that video during the lulls in the storm…!

Now, I would like to point out what prompted Occupy Hilo to occupy Helco…

…Occupy HELCO is a peaceful non-violent protest sponsored by Occupy Hilo to draw attention to local changes needed to provide abundant clean, affordable, reliable, renewable energy to our community at the lowest cost, and to show support and solidarity for a national day of action, #F29.

You might think HELCO is in the business of providing energy, but a closer look would inform you that its primary function is to provide PROFITS to its parent company, Hawaii Electric Industries, (HEI) and its shareholders. Selling electricity, charging fees for connections to the grid, and charging customers for expansions to the grid are the MEANS by which HELCO generates profits for its owners. HELCO recently complained that too many people were connecting solar electric panels to the grid and reducing its profits below levels it had planned, so it was going to have to raise rates, (HELCO Customers already pay the highest utility rates in the US, at 4x the average US cost for electricity.) Read the rest of this entry →

As the YouTube caption notes…

Occupy Hilo and other concerned folks from all over the Big Island gathered to give testimony against a terribly written and horribly unfair building code. After the particularly passionate testimony of one citizen, several people marched out of the council chamber and to the mayor’s office chanting “Kill this Bill.” After this, the council chamber doors were locked and police were called to the scene.

Now, I had attended this event for the first two hours, but, I had to leave before all the fireworks, since I had numerous errands to run before I had to head up to Mauna Kea for my night shift. This YouTube clip shows when the cops first arrived…! I should add that R.J. Hampton is the first individual featured in that clip…!

Cutting to the chase, finally an Occupy Hilo event made a splash in our local rag…

Council passes controversial building code measure…

…An unruly crowd chanting “kill the bill” forced two recesses of a County Council meeting Wednesday and brought a dozen police officers to council chambers.

“As if the homeless problem is not bad enough, this bill as written will create even more homelessness,” said Puna resident Bob Petricci. “These building codes are a very big part of the reason we have so many foreclosures right now. They have driven the cost of homes so high that people had to borrow beyond their means just to have what you call an affordable home…

Ain’t it funny that Councilman Fred Blas is a retired HPD Major, and had just supplanted Emily Naeole, running on a ‘Law and Order’ ticket…? He absolutely despises, any and all DFH’s…!

Needless to say, another battle has been lost, but, the War ain’t over…!

Occupy Everywhere…!

Occupy Hilo in solidarity for the West Coast Port action

As an active participant in my small, local Occupy, I would like to opine on some of the trials and tribulations experienced in trying to get an actual Occupy off the ground, and, also highlight the amazing efforts being exerted by even such a small entity, both on the National level and at the Local level…!

At the local level, we’re tackling two immediate problems that have arisen lately, the first is stopping the shenanigans being played out in the latest gerrymandering efforts by two County Council incumbents, and then in stopping a draconian bill to impose criminal and/or hefty financial fines to local home builders for deviating from the County Code! Fines of up to a $1,000 a day, for each day of non-compliance…! Read the rest of this entry →

The third time is always the charm…!

Occupy Hilo has finally set a hard date and site, to truly Occupy the public space…!

Despite a slightly smaller crowd than the prior GA’s, and, absent a few key leaders, Occupy Hilo still accomplished a whole lot last night. It was fascinating to participate in such an open and democratic process that truly does listen to all comers. Being a small Occupy, we’ve adopted the more informal ‘Social Circle’ methodology, rather than the traditional #ows pattern…! Read the rest of this entry →