HEI should be locally owned

There are many reasons to oppose NextEra Energy’s offer to buy Hawaiian Electric Industries, but the main one is that we don’t need or want someone in Florida making decisions for Hawaii.

Aside from that issue, we need the willingness and capability to meet Hawaii’s clean energy goals of 100 percent by 2045.

NextEra has effectively stated that it has no interest in complying with these goals. NextEra is more interested in fracking and nuclear energy and makes heavy use of lobbyists to pursue its goals.

John Hoover
Volcano, Hawaii island

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State should stop micromanaging

Traditionally, electric utilities have been granted a monopoly in return for rate control and the legal obligation to reliably serve customers’ needs.

Assuring that power supply meets demand at the lowest cost has always been a challenge. Today it’s a nightmare. Not only are utilities required to provide backup power for growing numbers of independent renewable-energy systems that operate only under special conditions, but their attempts to lower rates and emissions using new fuel sources are challenged by politicians.

So who should be held responsible if prices go up and the lights go out? My bet is it won’t be the people who caused the problem.

Creating a secure, reliable, sustainable energy future is going to require change on everyone’s part. Government has a legitimate role in setting objectives, but should stop short of micromanagement. Let the people ultimately held responsible for results do their jobs.

James B. Young
St. Louis Heights

U.S. owes rent for stolen land

Money and land grabbers Lorrin Thurston and U.S. Minister John Stevens were the ones who instigated the theft of the sovereign Hawaiian Islands.

Stevens said, “The Hawaiian pear is now fully ripe, and this is the golden hour for the United States to pluck it.”

President Grover Cleveland expressed regret that the United States caused Queen Liliuokalani to surrender her sovereignty, saying, “I am ashamed of the whole affair.”

The U.S. needs to pay rent for the land it stole since 1893, pay rent for land it wants to keep using (with permission), and return the balance of the land to the Hawaiian people.

Queen Liliuokalani died Nov. 11, 1917, while desiring to receive our beloved Hawaii back from the U.S. The U.S. should pay for and return stolen lands by Nov. 11, 2017, the 100th anniversary of her death.

Steve Kaleipahula Holck
Kailua

Wind farms not necessarily good

Residents are right to be leery of offshore wind farms (“Plan for sea wind farm faces resistance,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 27).

In July, Deepwater Wind installed the first “steel in the water” for the first offshore wind farm in North America, in Rhode Island waters. The wind farm is expected to be fully operational in 2016.

The final purchase price agreement between Deepwater Wind and National Grid utility was 24.4 cents/kilowatt hour, with an escalator clause that would increase price by 3.5 percent annually over a 20-year contract. This would culminate in a final price of 46.9 cents/kWh, with average price of 34.5 cents/kWh over the lifetime of the agreement, making Rhode Island surpass Hawaii for highest electric rates in the nation.

Ken Williamson
Makaha

We’re surprised by tainted votes?

Princess Abigail Kawananakoa and many others are calling for City Council members to nullify past rail-related votes and vote on those issues again because some Council members have been tainted by ethical concerns (“Halt to rail sought in wake of lawmakers’ ethics issues,” Star-Advertiser, Aug. 27).

This raises some interesting questions. For one, are the princess’ skirts clean? Have she and the other Campbell Estate heirs never benefited from lobbying?

Shouldn’t we apply the same ethical standards to state legislators, who frequently accept money and gifts from lobbyists? And what of federal legislators, and, of course, presidential candidates who accept vast sums of money from special interest groups, especially since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in Citizens United that corporations may donate unlimited funds to support politicians?

Are we to believe that the hundreds of millions of dollars floating around our politicians come with no strings or expectations? We get what we ask for: The best politicians money can buy.

Tony Turbeville
Makiki