Sherry Menor-McNamara, president and CEO of the Chamber of Commerce Hawaii, said Wednesday the organization supports NextEra Energy Inc.’s purchase of Hawaiian Electric Industries.

“As the leading business advocacy organization in the state, we recognize that tough decisions need to be made, focusing on the long term and from the big-picture standpoint,” Menor-McNamara said. “We believe the merger will reduce our state’s reliance on oil through renewable energy efforts, upgrade the power infrastructure, and increase efficiency and use of technology to improve reliability and reduce costs for all consumers, both residential and business ratepayers.”

The chamber represents about 1,000 businesses employing more than 200,000 people . It joins more than 20 organizations, including trades and unions, in support of the merger.

The Chinese Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii, Hawaii Korean Chamber of Commerce and Filipino Chamber of Commerce of Hawaii announced Monday they support NextEra’s proposed $4.3 billion buyout of HEI. The AFL-CIO, a union composed of 75 affiliated unions, councils and constituency groups that represent more than 100,000 workers in the state, announced its support for the sale last week.

Olelo to cablecast NextEra–HEI hearing

Olelo Community Media will cablecast the 12-day evidentiary hearing about NextEra Energy Inc.’s proposed purchase of Hawaiian Electric Industries. Olelo will stream live the state Public Utilities Commission’s hearings. Olelo will air 84 hours of coverage on Channel 49 from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Dec. 3; Dec. 7-11 and Dec. 14 -16.

The cablecasts will be available on Oceanic Time Warner and Hawaiian Telcom cable on Oahu. Olelo also will provide live streaming at youtube.com/olelocm and at olelo.org/olelo49. Each live cablecast will be made available on Olelo’s YouTube channel and at olelo.org/olelonet. For more information, visit olelo.org.

On The Move

» Straub Clinic & Hospital has announced that Dr. Jane Luu has joined its medical staff as a cardiologist. She completed her residency in internal medicine at the University of Illinois at Chicago as well as doing a cardiology fellowship at Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Va., and in interventional cardiology at Scripps Clinic in La Jolla, Calif.

» Hawaii Pacific Health has promoted the following two individuals:

— Gidget Ruscetta to chief operating officer of Pali Momi Medical Center from vice president of hospital operations for Kapiolani Medical Center for Women & Children. She previously managed clinical and business operations for inpatient and outpatient services at Nemours Children’s Clinic in Florida.

— Patty Boeckmann to chief operating officer of Straub Clinic & Hospital from vice president of hospital operations and chief nurse executive. She previously served in hospital and system executive roles and was responsible for inpatient and outpatient operations, business development and strategy, and physician relations at Allina Health in Minneapolis .

Ship Ahoy!

Today’s ship arrivals and departures: