Houston-based Par Petroleum Corp., the parent of subsidiary Hawaii Independent Energy, is changing its corporate name and has selected current board member Bill Pate to be president and chief executive officer.

Par Petroleum said that effective Tuesday it will be known as Par Pacific Holdings to more accurately reflect its growth strategy of building and acquiring market-leading businesses. Its stock market ticker symbol will remain PARR.

Hawaii Independent Energy was created when Par purchased the Hawaii Tesoro refinery, retail operations and other assets in September 2013.

Pate will replace Par’s current CEO, Joseph Israel, who will remain on the board and become president and CEO of the refining, marketing and logistics business, which will be renamed Par Petroleum LLC. The CEO change also will be effective Tuesday.

“I welcome Bill to the Par management team and am looking forward to watching and supporting their continued growth,” said Walter Dods, a Hawaii-based member of Par’s board. “We have strong local leadership headed by Jim Yates and Tom Weber and now an expanded corporate team in Houston. Jim is an exceptional businessman and I am pleased with how the Hawaii management team is running the business and continuing their support to the community.”

Honolulu is the fifth-greenest U.S. city

Honolulu has the smallest amount of greenhouse gas emissions per capita in the U.S. and is the fifth-greenest city in the nation, according to a new report.

According to the WalletHub.com “Greenest Cities in America” report, released Wednesday to mark National Energy Awareness Month, Honolulu is followed by Virginia Beach, Va.; Riverside Calif.; Mesa, Ariz.; and Arlington, Texas.

Honolulu also tops the nation in median air quality.

For the worst emissions per capita, a six-way tie is split between Jacksonville and Orlando, Fla.; Louisville, Ky.; Cleveland; Corpus Christi, Texas; and Baton Rouge, La.

Honolulu is tied with Anchorage, Alaska, and Fremont, Calif., for the highest percentage of green space. The smallest percentage of green space is found in North Las Vegas, according to the study.

Honolulu also is tied for first place with San Francisco and Portland, Ore., for the largest number of farmers markets per capita.

Hawaii’s largest city is ranked 12th in the percentage of commuters who drive. New York City topped that measurement.

The entire ranking can be viewed online at 808ne.ws/1GdyyqF.

Maui eateries make travelers’ choice list

The top 25 restaurants in the U.S. include two on Maui: Mama’s Fish House and Lahaina Grill.

On the annual TripAdvisor.com list of top 25 Travelers’ Choice Restaurants, Mama’s Fish House in Paia ranks 14th and Lahaina Grill is No. 15.

The two Maui restaurants bested the vaunted French Laundry in Yountville, Calif., as well as other top-rated restaurants established by world-renowned chefs.

Mama’s was ranked 10th in 2013 and 13th last year, when Lahaina Grill made its initial appearance at No. 14.

The top two U.S. restaurants on the world list are Bouley in New York City at No. 15, followed closely at No. 16 by Alinea in Chicago.

The U.S. list is topped by those two restaurants, followed by third-ranked Le Bernardin in New York City.

The recipes from the top-rated restaurants are available free at 808ne.ws/1MBvlTi. The regional lists of Travelers’ Choice winners may also be viewed online at 808ne.ws/1LumcLi .

Honolulu in the top 20 foodie cities in U.S.

Personal finance site WalletHub has rated Honolulu the 20th-best foodie city for consumers’ wallets.

Analysts reviewed the affordability of dining scenes in the 150 most populous U.S. cities with an eye toward 18 metrics, from the cost of groceries to the number of restaurants per capita.

The 20th-best rank for Honolulu conceals other aspects of the index, including an affordability rank of 149 out of 150.

Honolulu has the highest cost of groceries, behind Jersey City, N.J. at 149th and Santa Rosa, Calif., at 148th, according to WalletHub.

Honolulu also was found to be in a five-way tie for first place for having the most gourmet-specialty-food stores per capita, alongside San Francisco, Cincinnati, Orlando, Fla., and Salt Lake City.

Honolulu ranks fifth in the U.S. for most coffee shops per capita, behind Salt Lake City at No. 4, and below the three-way tie for No. 1 among Seattle, Portland, Ore., and San Francisco.

The site released the list Tuesday to mark World Food Day. The full list can be seen at 808ne.ws/FoodieCities2015.

The market with the most affordable groceries is Laredo, Texas.

On The Move

» Hawaii Pacific University has hired Mark H. Matheson as its special projects and campus master planning director. His responsiblities include various program management aspects of implementing HPU’s Campus Master Plan. Prior to joining HPU, Matheson served as a manager and vice president in the business and project management sections of a U.S. defense contractor called Science Applications International Corp. and Leidos.

» The City and County of Honolulu has received the “Distinguished Budget Presentation Award” from the Government Finance Officers Association of the United States and Canada. This is the 17th year the City and County of Honolulu has been given the award, which shows the commitment by the city and its Department of Budget and Fiscal Services to meet the highest standards of governmental budgeting.

Ship Ahoy!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures: