COURTESY HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC CO.
Rail’s elevated guideway is too close to the power lines that run alongside it for Hawaiian Electric Co. crews to access those lines in the utility’s standard “bucket” trucks. The issue was neglected for years. Now, the city will buy special trucks that can maneuver in that space — a move that’s expected to be much cheaper than putting the lines underground.
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Honolulu had a rare chance to feel a little upbeat about the overbudget rail project on Friday, learning that estimated costs have dropped by $140 million.
That’s a projection based on the discovery by Hawaiian Electric Co. that dealing with construction amid power lines on Dillingham Boulevard will be less involved than experts thought.
Of course, in the realm of Honolulu rail construction, $140 million is a drop in the $10-billion bucket. Dillingham is still a budget-buster. But good news sometimes takes the form of less-bad news, and we’ll take it.
Pollution finds its way to the bottom of the sea
Those who take a casual view of environmental pollution should take heed: Long-banned industrial pollutants have been found in the most remote parts of the planet, more than 4 miles down in the Pacific Ocean’s Mariana and Kermadec trenches, where no people live.
Scientists have discovered that crustaceans feeding at the bottom of these trenches are contaminated with polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).
There’s no escaping our past environmental sins, it seems. We should consider not committing new ones. Let’s hope that Scott Pruitt, the new administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, takes heed as well.