Leader of Onomea Access Group Gets Death Threats; Garden Link Is Suspected
Ed Johnston spearheaded the fight to reopen to the public the government road at Onomea Bay, and in doing so, earned the wrath of the founder of the Hawai’i Tropical Botanical Garden, Dan Lutkenhouse. In November, Johnston was sent two letters, postmarked in California, containing clear threats to him and his wife.
“You and your wife are snakes!” one letter began. “People here don’t like snakes in Hawai’i. Leave while you still can!!!”
The frill text of the second letter reads: “You are sick and selfish. Many people hate you. Your day will come!”
Because the threats were carried in the mail, the FBI has opened an investigation into possible criminal actions. Evidence in the case suggests the unsigned letters may have been the work of an employee of the garden.
A few days alter the California letters were sent, Johnston received a letter, this time on HTBG stationery, from Scott A. Lucas, assistant garden director. Lucas made eight demands of Johnston and the group he helped found, Share Onomea Access. Among other things, Lucas asked for a complete list of members’ names and addresses and inquired about who kept minutes of the group’s meetings.
“If SOA truly represents the public, as it claims to, and is not, in truth, a clandestine organization, then the information requested should be easy to provide,” Lucas wrote. “Your early reply will be appreciated.”
Johnston, shaken by the threatening letters, has told Environment Hawai’i he has no intention of providing the garden with names and addresses of others who were involved in the effort to re-open the public road to the public.
Progress; Problems
In December, a crew from Na Ala Hele, the state agency charged with maintaining and securing public trails, smoothed, widened, and graveled the portion of the state-owned road corridor leading from the end of the paved road to Onomea Stream. Also, as provided for in the mediated agreement, the garden has provided the necessary fencing, and all county permits needed for the Alakahi trail were obtained.
However, some people still report difficulty with garden personnel giving out misleading information. One couple reports that they were approached by a security guard, who told them that unless they were from the island, they could not use the trail. The couple, both Caucasian, apparently were mistaken for tourists. They informed the guard that they were, in fact, from the Hilo area, and, in any event, no such limits on access exist. When they proceeded down the trail undaunted, a gaggle of tourists who had apparently been turned back by the guard lined up behind them.
On another occasion, a Hawaiian man who wanted to gather ‘opihi in the area near Alakahi Stream was told he could not go there, even though he had planned to hike in along the rocky coast seaward of the garden’s property. Garden personnel told him that until the path to the small beach at Alakahi was opened, no one could use the area – not even someone who swam there! The ‘opihi-picker was skeptical, but chose not to challenge the garden on the matter, and then left the area.
The Hawai’i Electric Light Company should not be allowed to expand its generation plant on Conservation District land at Keahole, Hawai’i. That’s the finding of former Supreme Court Associate Justice Frank Padgett, who was appointed by the Board of Land and Natural Resources to conduct a court-mandated contested case hearing on HELCO’s application for a Conservation District Use Permit, one of several permits needed before the expansion can occur.
The Land Board will decide to accept, modify, or reject Padgett’s recommendation at its meeting of January 12.
In May 1994, HELCO refused to ask for a time extension on its application for a CDUP. When the Land Board could not muster a four-vote majority to deny the permit, the permit was deemed to have been awarded by default. An ensuing lawsuit resulted in a finding that a contested case hearing had to be held on the application before the permit could be issued, and Padgett conducted that hearing late in November.
Padgett found that the $100 million plant expansion, which would add 58 megawatts to the Big Island’s power grid, was inconsistent with the objectives of the general subzone of the Conservation District and incompatible with surrounding agricultural uses.
Padgett’s decision was the second setback for HELCO in as many months. On November 14, David Howekamp, the director of the air and toxics division of Region 9 of the Environmental Protection Agency, overruled the Department of Health’s approval of the emissions control system that HELCO planned to install and required HELCO to consider installing a selective catalytic reduction system instead. In addition, Howekamp instructed the DOH to hold another public hearing on air quality issues surrounding the plant.
Three Strikes
Meanwhile, HELCO’s plans for a much smaller (4.4 megawatt) generating plant in North Kohala have met with substantial community opposition. Two area residents have brought suit in Third Circuit Court seeking to block the project.
According to Richard Boyd of the citizens’ group Hui Lihikai, between two and three megawatts of the planned added capacity is required to supply a resort proposed by Chalon International at Mahukona – a development held up by court appeals of zoning permits. Boyd adds that up to 1.8 megawatts will be required to power pumps for a 20 million-gallon-a-day pipeline that the county Board of Water Supply wants to build. That project, also hotly contested, would deliver water from wells in North Kohala to resort areas farther down the island’s dry leeward coast.
Power Plays
HELCO has said it needs to expand the Keahole plant to meet Big Island power demands forecast by the end of 1996. However, two other companies are attempting to build plants that will meet that need. One such project is proposed to be built on Hawaiian Homelands at Kawaihae. Heading that project is Albert Hee of Waimana Enterprises. Hee’s designed plant would produce fresh water from salt water, at the same time it generates energy; hence, it meets the federal definition of a power “cogenerator. ” Under federal law, public utilities must purchase power from such cogenerators and cannot profit on the resale of that power to consumers.
Hee’s project is itself stalled in court. Nearby residents, including members of the Kawaihae Hawaiian Homes Association, have challenged Hee’s failure to prepare a full environmental impact statement covering the impacts of the plant’s construction and operation.
Enserch Development Corp. also has proposed construction of a major co-generation facility at Haina, former site of the Hamakua Sugar Company’s mill.
HELCO warned as early as last May that “rolling blackouts” could return to the Big Island before the end of the year. Still, for months, it refused to negotiate with either Waimana or Enserch, until the Public Utilities Commission ordered it to do so last August.
Volume 6, Number 7 January 1996
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