We have met the enemy, and he is us.
-Walt Kelly’s Pogo
The 1960’s were a time when Cold War politics dictated that
Americans live in fear of the Soviets dropping “the big one,” a nuclear
bomb. Thousands of families constructed and stocked backyard fallout
shelters. Elementary school children drilled “drop and cover” maneuvers
beneath their desks.
Fortunately, that bomb never dropped. But, late in the decade there
was another explosion of sorts. In 1968, Dr. Paul Ehrlich, a Stanford
biologist wrote The Population Bomb,
a study of unavoidable consequences of human population growth. Though
some have criticized his doomsday predictions of widespread famine and
food wars, Ehrlich recently pointed out that the 2.8 billion people
we’ve added to the planet since the 3.5 billion already alive in 1968
certainly constitutes an explosion, which continues to degrade the
global environment.
I read The Population Bomb a
few years later after it published, when I was a senior in high school.
It’s one of a half dozen books I’ve read that substantially changed the
way I view the world around me. Page by page I read Ehrlich’s work and
thought to myself, “Oh my God, we’re screwed.”
Even considering all the recent discussion of renewable energy
possibilities for Hawai`i, Maui Electric Company’s (MECO) sudden
announcement of plans to construct a $61 million biodiesel refinery was
a bit of a bombshell. The proposal, in which MECO teams with BlueEarth
Biofuels, LLC, projects a first phase output in 2009 of 40 million
gallons of biodiesel fuel, more than half of the 73 million gallons of
diesel MECO used in 2005 to run its generators. While the facility
would utilize imported palm oil, it aspires to set up a nonprofit
public trust to encourage the growth of local fuel crops.
If all goes well, in just a few years we’ll be able to crank up our
air-conditioning, set out more strings of holiday lights and heat our
Jacuzzis… all guilt-free. But, closer examination of the MECO/BlueEarth
proposal raises questions.
Lots of questions.
BlueEarth Maui Biodiesel registered as a Limited Liability
Corporation with the Hawai`i Department of Commerce and Consumer
Affairs Business Registration Division on Jan. 29, 2007. BlueEarth’s
two principle partners, Robert Wellington and Landis Maez, live in
Texas and Arizona, respectively. Is there a local connection?
The Maui News recently
reported that BlueEarth is building a plant in Mason City, Iowa capable
of producing 30 million gallons of biofuel. But the Iowa Renewable
Fuels Association website reports that plant is being constructed by
Freedom Fuels, with general contracting by NewMech of St. Paul,
Minnesota.
How did MECO select BlueEarth, a new company with no track record in
Hawai`i and possibly anywhere else? By what process did they deem them
worthy of this joint venture that is seeking legislative approval to
receive $59 million in special purpose revenue bonds? Isn’t that the
largest request of public funds since the proposed Superferry?
Also on Jan. 29, 2007, Raymond Sweeney Jr. of Sweeney Communications
in Honolulu registered as a lobbyist for the BlueEarth Biofuels office
Frisco, Texas. Senate Bill 1718, authorizing the revenue bonds, has
already sailed through the Energy and Environment Committee, and soon
will face a hearing with the Ways and Means Committee, chaired by
Maui’s Roz Baker.
Henry Curtis of Life of the Land is perhaps the state’s leading
renewable energy advocate. In his testimony on SB 1718, Curtis asked,
“Who is applying? Why do they need money? What are the environmental,
cultural, and social impacts? Or are we giving away money to anyone who
wants to invest in an energy project which begins in ‘bio’?”
Life of the Land, advocating for the people and the `aina since
1970, has a stated mission of preservation and protection “through
sustainable land use and energy policies, and by promoting open
government through research, education, advocacy, and litigation.” They
are currently involved in a contested case hearing with Hawai`i
Electric Company over that agency’s proposed 110 megawatt generating
station at Campbell Industrial Park.
Will the “rush to renewables” allow us to make intelligent,
sustainable choices, or are we heading down a feel-good path, while
adversely impacting the environment in unseen ways?
In a Dec. 6, 2005 commentary in The Guardian,
George Monbiot maintains that palm oil is worse than the fossil fuel it
looks to replace. Turns out there’s a global rush to use palm
oil-derived diesel, with commodity traders listed in such diverse
locales as Russia, South Korea, India and Dubai. But palm oil
plantations in Malaysia, Sumatra, Borneo and Thailand have faced harsh
environmental scrutiny for destroying millions of hectares of
rainforests.
A 2005 report by Friends of the Earth, titled Oil for Apes Scandal,
found that 90 percent of orangutan habitat in Indonesia and Maylasia
had been destroyed, placing the apes at the edge of extinction. Simply
imperiled are the Sumatran tiger and rhinoceros, gibbons, tapirs and
the Asian elephant.
A U.S. embassy energy news posting from Jakarta, Indonesia states
that, “North Sumatra has avoided the haze from fires used to clear the
forests for oil palm cultivation, and the oil palm plantations provide
a buffer for environmentally protected areas.” A North Sumatran
environmental official noted that heating the oil palm nut to extract
the crude palm oil is still a dirty business, as is burning the empty
husks.
BlueEarth claims they will buy palm oil imported from the Pacific
Rim and in South America from suppliers “that practice sustainable palm
production.” By 2011, they expect their refinery to produce 120 million
gallons yearly, enough to provide fuel for electric generation on Oahu
and the Big Island.
But to what extent would this giant venture employ local labor in
the construction or in regular operations? Would something of this
scope and size encourage grassroots biofuel agricultural production or
just benefit traditional large plantation owners and spark squabbles
over water allocation?
Moreover, can MECO partner in building this facility, then buy the
fuel from itself without going through a competitive bidding process?
Would such a request to provide biofuels contain incentives for locally
produced, not imported fuels?
Representative Mina Morita of Kauai raised an even more essential
question at the Governor’s Biofuel Summit last August. She asked what,
with all this talk of using agricultural lands to raise crops to
produce electricity, are we doing in terms of food security?
There was no answer—just a hush in the Hawai`i Convention Center’s
meeting room. But, shouldn’t there be an equally ambitious effort to
offset our state’s 85 percent dependence on imported food?
It seems that the earlier model of the family farm and small towns
made a lot more sense than our current agribusiness-dominated global
economy. As Kelly King of Pacific Biodiesel reminded a panel audience
recently, all sustainability is local. In fact, King advocates a
community model of local biofuel production far different than the
recent bio-bomb dropped by the big state utility.
In their closing argument against Hawai`i Electric’s proposed new
generating plant, Life of the Land’s Curtis called for alternatives to
combustion—even of biofuels—which produce less harmful emissions. He
advocated Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion, seawater air conditioning
and wave energy, which is currently being tested off Kaneohe Bay on
Oahu. Curtis reminded us that all forms of energy production have
environmental impacts.
Much as we’d like to blame others for all the challenges we face in
the 21st century, we need to realize that we are the problem. Every
dire environmental problem, from global warming to rainforest
destruction, over-fishing to lack of fresh water, is traceable to the
rapidly increasing number of humans impacting the planet. This year
alone, an estimated 133 million babies are expected to be born.
Can we learn to live without our SUVs, big screen TVs and shipped-in
luxuries? Will we convince each other to live in a way that minimizes
environmental degradation?
Lots of big questions, indeed. MTW
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