I read your wonderful paper and think, What the hell is wrong with us?! On a small and a larger scale, we are the destroyers of ourselves and our beautiful planet.
Yes, massive rain WOULD be a problem for the ocean reefs, as well as all the other life in the ocean, but not simply because of some small wind farm’s development (“Tilting at Windmills,” Oct. 6, 2005). Maybe it is because of newly harvested cane fields, or the massive amounts of herbicides and pesticides used in the lovely golf courses in Wailea and Kapalua (which already wash slippery disgusting white foam into the ocean with moderate rainfall).
This list of environmental TRESPASSES could go on forever. As it is we will be in worse than bad shape were we are hit by a big storm. Again, what is OUR problem? More importantly what are WE going to do about it? Stopping the windmill farm will do nothing except help us to use more oil. The dirt will wash from every other detrimented [sic] part of the island and kill our reefs and hurt our delicate eco-system.
Maui wants to change so badly, yet so many are too lazy, or stupid or greedy to do anything about it. Rays of hope come and go. On that note, thank you so much for keeping us aware, even if we choose not to use the information you provide us. Hopefully it’s not too late.
-Essence Satterfield, Makawao
The Editor responds: Just to make clear, the point of the story you’re referencing wasn’t that we should stop building a wind farm, but that work on the wind farm had stopped because the developers weren’t adhering to their construction permit’s conditions and as a result massive rains could cause major environmental problems on the Pali and the shores below. As for the rest of your letter, right on.
HUH? PART TWO
I just ready your “Super High Octane” story (Sept. 29, 2005) and had to comment. [County Councilman Dain] Kane’s “more busses” idea is pretty stupid—what’s he doing, going for the Maui Tomorrow vote now?! And you’re right-on about the mayors tax holiday, but your support for the gas-cap law makes me wonder about you.
If tying our wholesale gas prices to Los Angeles, the gulf region and New York works here in Hawai’i to lower our prices (and the oil companies’ profits), it can work anywhere. If you think the oil companies are gonna let that happen then I know you’re smoking too many mushrooms.
From here on out, while the gas cap law is in effect, every time a cloud forms over the gulf region bigger than your biodiesel Beetle, wholesale oil prices will skyrocket. Is this blatant and ugly price gouging by the oil companies? Sure. But more than that it’s a big “Fuck you” from the oil companies, aimed directly at Hawai’i and our “best hope” gas-cap law… I suggest you switch back to water-based whiteout before you try to take on something like this again.
-Socrates, via email
The Editor responds: So the rising gas prices that plague the entire U.S. are just revenge for Hawai’i’s gas cap? Look, prices aren’t exactly plummeting around here, so maybe the cap isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. But I still don’t hear any substantive ideas that will have immediate impact coming from anyone else…
CORRECTION
In our Oct. 6, 2005 issue, we failed to mention that photographer Sean M. Hower took those bitchin’ shots of fire knife dancer Steven Manu Bacalso that ran on the cover and on page 13.
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