County Appointments

The Maui County Council Policy Committee will continue to discuss the nomination of DeGray Vanderbilt to the Molokai Planning Commission at a meeting at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the eighth-floor Council Chambers of the Kalana O Maui building. Other appointments to boards and commissions being considered at the meeting include:

Charter Commission

The charter commission's next meeting is scheduled for noon to 4 p.m. May 23 in the Planning Department conference room in the Kalana Pakui Building.

Lehman Bros Buys Ritz Carleton

Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. (the lender) outbid two other qualified bidders for the 404-room Ritz Carleton in Kapalua, which was foreclosed in September after institutional investors and Maui Land & Pineapple Co. defaulted on a loan, most recently valued at $268 million.  ML&P was counting on sales of its 107

Henry Curtis on the Interisland Cable

The Interisland Electric Cable is dead for this year.

PUC Rejects First Wind’s Extension

The Public Utilities Commission has rejected a request by First Wind LLC for more time to submit a document outlining its plans for a proposed wind energy project on Molokai.  HECO is now working with Pattern Energy.  Read more in the Star Advertister.

HECO Seeking Biofuels for Plant

HONOLULU – Hawaii Electric Co. says it’s seeking suppliers for 42 million gallons of biofuels to run its Kahe Power Plant, the largest generating station in Hawaii. The utility said Friday it may award multiple contracts, so potential suppliers who are unable to supply the full amount may propose to

Focus Maui Nui, Decisions Maui Applications

Applications are being accepted for a leadership program developed by Decisions Maui and Focus Maui Nui. The yearlong Ka Ipu Kukui Fellows program trains people identified as future leaders in identifying and overcoming community challenges. Between 12 and 15 fellows will be selected to participate in the program. Fellows will

Pro & Con for Big Wind

From Henry Curtis: SB367 Big Wind (also known as HIREP, Inter-island Cable) PRO Windward Ahupua`a Alliance (May 3, 2011): “I support the interisland cable and am glad that it is on the Gov’s short list. If it weren’t so serious, it would be funny that so many so-called environmentalists oppose

DBEDT Posts Big Wind Comments

The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism (DBEDT) has posted the comments for their draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement (PEIS) of the wind project. During the scoping period, in which one meeting was held on Molokai in February, over 400 written and oral statements from 200 people were

DeGray Vanderbilt to Moloka’i Planning Commission?

Mayor Arakawa has nominated Oliver “DeGray” Vanderbilt to fill the one empty seat on the Moloka’i Planning Commission.  Although DeGray has many supporters who have written in favor of his nomination, two Moloka’i residents have made charges that he is not friendly enough to business and developers. One of the