Disappeared News

by Larry Geller

In an op-ed in Thursday’s Honolulu Advertiser, Undersea cable could cost millions more (12/24/2009), Henry Curtis points out that not only has the state’s environmental impact statement been illegally segmented, but that prior press coverage has omitted part of the cost and all of the blight.

Remember the opposition to stringing high-voltage cables across Manoa’s scenic ridges? Henry notes that power delivered by the proposed undersea cables to Oahu has to get from the cablehead to parts inland. Since the nearest transmission substation is five miles away from the cablehead, he says that a 138-kV overhead transmission line would need to be built probably along the H-3.

Not only will that not be pretty, it is part of undeclared costs that Henry estimates could be $300 million or much more.

Transmission lines would also be needed on Maui, Molokai and Lanai. In addition:

Lana'i would need to upgrade its road system, to handle large vehicles. The dirt road leading to the mystical Garden of the Gods rock formations would need to be widened to two to four lanes and paved.

By omitting part of the infrastructure and its costs and by illegally segmenting the environmental impact statement, it appears that the administration is pulling another fast one. It doesn’t work. When will they learn?

Check out Henry’s op-ed for all of the details.

Permalink posted by Larry @ 12/24/2009 02:00:00 AM