TMT is fitting way to honor Hawaiians
The Star-Advertiser urged completion of the TMT project on Mauna Kea ("Find way to let TMT project be completed," Star-Advertiser, Our View, April 11).
We aren’t talking about putting luxury condos or a tourist complex or missile-launching platforms on Mauna Kea.
As your editorial so eloquently stated, "The ancient Hawaiians were scientists themselves, studying the stars and natural phenomena for the benefit of their people."
The University of Hawaii has carried on these explorations and achieved global excellence in oceanography, volcanology and astronomy.
Ancient Hawaiians were among the first to practice aquaculture and give names to the many types of lava. Polynesians who studied the stars, waves and ocean birds were able to cross thousands of miles of open ocean to reach a tiny group of islands before European navigators discovered the vast continent of North America, while using much less sophisticated navigation techniques.
What could be a more fitting way to honor their achievements than continue these studies at this and other special places?
Mark Smith
Waikiki
Spiritual powers superior to science
Proceeding with the Thirty Meter Telescope project without the blessing of well-intentioned Hawaiian groups is a grave error in judgment.
Righteous Hawaiian spiritual teachers are able to communicate directly with God and our ancestors to heal everything that plagues us.This wisdom does not come from a telescope.
These spiritual powers come from a foundation of deep respect and reverence for the land and our ancestors, and are far superior to modern science.
To bulldoze and pour more concrete atop a revered natural landscape, which is a spiritual partner of the most advanced human intelligence on Earth, will be catastrophic to the human race.
If a harmonious agreement that protects this sacred land cannot be reached between groups who cite protection of sacred lands and astronomers eager to install the latest, most technologically advanced equipment, no further development shall commence.
Derek Meier
Manoa
HECO saves money buying solar power
Carlos Perez’s letter to the editor was misleading ("NEM credits not a gain to HECO," Star-Advertiser, April 11).
He says that Hawaiian Electric Co. does not profit from net energy metering (NEM) credits, but that is wrong: Every kilowatt-hour that a NEM customer generates is one that HECO does not have to generate but can nevertheless sell, which means that HECO benefits. The customer has replaced a dirty kilowatt hour with a clean one.
He also said that when customers fail to use all of their credits, they go to other customers and help reduce everyone’s electric bill. With "decoupling" that may be a tough case to prove.
He also fails to point out that credits are a "use it or lose it" proposition: NEM customers’ accounts are reconciled annually, and customers lose any credits they have not used. I was reconciled recently, and since installing my PV system three years ago have pumped over 5,000 kWh back into the grid (about $1,500 worth) for which I will never receive any credit.
Gerrit Osborne
Waialae Iki
Oil is wrong choice for the long term
Joseph Israel made the sales pitch that "All this discussion about clean energy, for me (is) categorized as nonsense" and that "the cheapest energy source for the foreseeable future is oil" ("Oil — not renewables — touted as isles’ linchpin," Star-Advertiser, April 10).
This short-term economic analysis neglects the long-term costs to future generations of climate change due to increasing carbon dioxide levels due to burning of fossil fuels.
Furthermore, even in the short term, Hawaii is increasingly vulnerable to sudden changes in oil supply and cost.Note the ongoing deterioration of the political and military situation in the Middle East. Interruption of the oil supply would be catastrophic to our way of life.
There is no assurance that the present glut of oil and low oil prices will persist beyond a few more years.So there is great wisdom in the movement of Hawaii into renewable energy sources.
Paul Jokiel
Kaneohe
State is too slow in sending tax refund
We filed our federal and state tax forms electronically in early February.Our federal tax refund arrived about two weeks after filing.To date, we have not receivedour state tax refund.
Since this is our moneyand not the state’s, I don’t understand the whining by the state regarding its failure to promptly refund what is due to us.
The excuse that it has to carefully examine refunds to weed out fraudulent filings is pretty lame.
If we were as tardy in paying bills as the state is on the refund, we would be charged significant interest on the amount owed.
Since the state is so slow in refunding what is rightfully owed to us, I think we should be paid interest on the amount owed to us.Fair is fair.
Joel Maimon
Ewa Beach
Conflict-of-interest accusation unfair
Regarding accusations of state Sen. Josh Green’s conflicts of interest because he is a physician, I was dismayed that the article did not mention that the most common career path to political office is that of lawyer ("Senator takes heat from psychologists, retirees on potential conflicts of interest," Star-Advertiser, April 12).
After that, representatives of the insurance industry make up a sizable lot.
In fact, physicians are highly under-represented in political office. I like to think it is because our sense of ethics is too high. Be that as it may, it is beyond perverse to suggest that a physician at the head of a Senate committee is in any way more a conflict of interest than all of the lawyers in similar positions.
Ron Kienitz
Doctor of osteopathy Kailua
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