Thursday, September 11, 2008

Musings: Surprise, Surprise, Surprise



























Anonymous said...


A boondoggle of epic proportions indeed, and supported by the likes of Chairman Gregg, Hooser, Yukimura, and Jimmy Tokioka who said when asked who would be holding the bag if the resorts and other large coop members jumped ship, Tokioka replied "Oh no I talked to them and they will not do that. They want to be good corporate citizens"


If the Co-opt was a municipal power authority (the only good idea I can remember Mayor Kusaka having)we would have other revenue streams (like increasing taxes) to subsidize the up-front costs of moving to real renewables and cut the stranglehold of being dependent on oil.

Instead we are sinking in a sea insurmountable debt which can only be paid back by doing what we are doing until we can't to it any more.

Lack of political will then and lack of political will now is the 600 lb gorilla in the room.

Ed Coll said...

Read the title of this post as Gomer Pyle would have to put a smile on such a serious pickle.

The term GOMER is originally an acronym, meaning "Get Out of My Emergency Room". It originally referred to malingerers who were always on sick call, trying to get out of their duties.

People who stand around talking green and wasting time are now known as "Lawn Gomers".

Anonymous said...

"...Kalepa Ridge, which G&R was already eying.."

Where'd you get that, Joan? Or did you mean Pacific West energy?

Joan Conrow said...

No, I meant G&R was already looking to lease some of that land, presumably for the ethanol project when it was still a player.

As to where I got that, all I can say is from very reliable sources.

Anonymous said...

Which side of the ridge?
The East side is mostly DHHL. And I thought the west side was Grove Farm.

Anonymous said...

I think your source meant will Maloney and G&R Ag Energy which was a to be a partnership between Pacific West, G&R and a major equity partner. G&R was to be a very minor player in that venture. It was more of the name and ag assets being used than the actual entity. But that's pau now in any case.

But just to help correct a couple of your statements: 1) G&R, Inc. is in fact still owned 100% by the Robinson family. 2) It wasn't anticipated that the ethanol would be sold to KIUC, but rather the electricity generated by burning bagasse. The ethanol would be sold to oil companies that would use it versus importing ethanol from outside Hawaii to meet the State mandate.

Joan Conrow said...

Which side of the ridge?

It's on the mauka back side of that ridge, on the right as you drive up to Wailua Falls.

To anon. 3:07, thanks for your corrections, which I have noted in the post. Still, my point about KIUC needing/wanting the energy, even if it's derived from burning bagasse, is the same.

Anonymous said...

Doesn't KIUC have some sort of mandate to be using more poer from renewable sources by a certain date? It may be self imposed. I believe that's why they're currently interested in any power generated by renewable fuels.

Anonymous said...


How could you say that when the Robinsons have been taking care of their employees and tenants for over a century? Due to their relationship with their employees, the employees consistently voted down union membership. The company remained non-union umtil they were forced to in buy-out of Olokele Sugar in which C. Brewer and its union demanded that the G&R workers join. Further, at their own expense, they have protected the culture and lifestyle of the 250 Native Hawaiians living on Niihau. Sorry, Joan, but you should do more research before you go disparaging people with your second-guessing of motivation and intention. I'd give G&R and the Robinsons the benefit of the doubt. I think you're anti-business prejudice is showing a bit much.

Anonymous said...

This guy never lived under the Robinsons. Yes they take care of their people, just like the plantations of the Old South did. Talk to some of the older employees and they tell of how they had to get off the road if a Robinson was approaching. Or how about the families who were evicted because a son had some weed growing in the back yard. On Niihau, no tobacco,no liquor and you have to attend a Calvinist church right out of the 19th century. And God help you if you vote for a Democrat.
I'm not down on them, they are responsible for preserving the Hawaiian language and have held off on development of their lands but make no mistake, they rule with an iron hand.

Anonymous said...

I replied to Anon. Sept. 12, 2008 3:28 PM in comment form. It is not showing. Should I have bothered?

I’m disappointed that you now appear to exclude comments simply on whim as opposed to those that one could broadly describe as objectionable in some way. Why should one waste the time of composing a comment if you are going to arbitrarily exclude it? Sure it's your blog; you can do anything you want. But if you are simply preaching to the choir, then say so and I won't bother to read or comment here anymore. But if you're actually trying to promote discussion between opposing viewpoints, then you current exclusions are not favoring that. Why not be up front about what your true policy is as most journalists of integrity do. What you said is the past about not posting certain comments is not what’s happening now.

Joan Conrow said...

Relax. The comment moderation function doesn't work perfectly and sometimes I don't get comments, and other times I get so many at once that one occasionally gets overlooked or accidentally deleted. I'm not censuring opposing points of view, as you would know if you're reading comments.

Since you don't use a name, and didn't tell me when or what you posted before, I can't search for your original comment, but if you want to try again, you're welcome to do that.