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+--- Thread: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding (/showthread.php?tid=23577)
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - Punatang - 04-21-2026
(04-21-2026, 07:05 AM)MyManao Wrote:(04-21-2026, 02:09 AM)HereOnThePrimalEdge Wrote: DHHL is not the best example to cite of
I have to agree with you there. Bribery, mismanagement, and corruption is certainly not what I like to see my money spent on..
bitching about OHA is misplaced.. it's all trickle down from haole's mismanagement..
OHA sounds like the perfect place to perfect your Excel skills before being hired to be The Chief Energy Officer in charge of securing Hawaii's LNG future instead of geothermal and solar. Smaht you, Joshi-san!
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 04-21-2026
OHA sounds like the perfect place to perfect your Excel skills
Or high school. It would also be beneficial for taxpayers if those spending our money learned how to add and subtract. Because it doesn’t seem they do. Even when they campaign on a “promise” to save us money, for those of us who can add, subtract, divide, and multiply it’s clear that waving a hand in the air and tossing glitter about some cuts, doesn’t negate the additional quiet (sometimes extremely loud if you’re under or next to it) hidden spending elsewhere. Hypocritical expenditures that are even greater than the cuts.
In Hawaii.
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 04-28-2026
Have you ever heard of The National Science Foundation? It’s overseen by an independent board that has advised presidents since 1950. Here’s some of what they do for Hawaii and Big Island:
Key NSF Initiatives and Impact in Hawaii:
Research & STEM Education: NSF funds projects at UH Mānoa focusing on placing-based pedagogies that integrate Indigenous knowledge with marine biology graduate education.
Technological Innovation: The UH Desert and Pacific region NSF I-Corps™ Hub promotes innovation and entrepreneurship, supporting projects like improved ECG technology.
Scientific Facilities: The NSF funds the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST), located on Haleakalā, Maui, which is managed by the National Solar Observatory.
Artificial Intelligence: NSF grants support UH researchers developing AI models for health event predictions.
Academic Infrastructure: NSF data tracks new construction and research funding for STEM space at institutions like U. Hawaii, Hilo.
Everyone on the board has been fired. What could go wrong?
https://www.yahoo.com/news/articles/trump-administration-fires-entire-national-013731212.html
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 06-07-2026
Another loss for Hilo and Big Island. Is this how you manage cost saving measures? Terminate a $1 lease? Maybe ask these people to count to 10, divide by 65, not sure it’s worth asking them to multiply. Don’t like science. Don’t like math.
The lease that permits Forest Service scientists to use a 30,000 acre lot in Hilo, Hawaii, for instance, was signed in 2002, between the Department of Agriculture and the Hawaii Board of Land and Natural Resources, and is valid through 2067. For renting the land located at the University of Hawaii for 65 years, the federal government paid a one-time fee of $1, the lease obtained by NPR shows.
https://www.npr.org/2026/06/06/nx-s1-5831470/forest-service-cuts
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 06-16-2026
This change may not entirely cause a loss of funding, but it may be a loss for Hawaii in other ways. AMOS on Maui does this type of satellite tracking.
Donovan added that this rule would also prevent astronomers from accessing certain observatories or facilities. Besides disconnecting space science communities, that could also introduce serious risks in orbit.
Under this proposed rule, "satellite operators can't contact Chinese operators if there's a risk of collision," Donovan said. "This isn't a hypothetical — there are dozens of these types of emergency notifications involving a U.S. and a Chinese satellite generated every day."
https://www.space.com/space-exploration/this-is-actually-taking-a-page-out-of-the-communist-party-playbook-new-white-house-proposal-could-deny-scientists-funding-based-on-their-political-opinions
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 07-04-2026
Another Big Island institution lost, partly due to federal funding cuts:
Aging facilities and funding challenges, especially given the expiration of the UH master lease in 2033, in addition to the obligations contained in the UH Master Plan, led to the decision to end science operations. The U.S. Naval Observatory has sponsored scientific research at UKIRT for many years, supporting decades of discovery through the telescope.
https://www.hawaii.edu/news/2026/07/02/uh-continues-ukirt-decommissioning/
The warning from last year:
The proposed NSA and NASA budget for astronomy seem to make little sense, he said, because they would slash operational funding for facilities that cost billions of dollars to design and construct. Plus, they are still producing top-tier research.
https://civilbeat.org/2025/06/hawai%CA%BBi-astronomy-stares-into-the-abyss-of-federal-cuts/
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 07-24-2026
More news today about energy department funding cuts. Court documents show that administration officials admitted they cut funding to Hawaii and other states that voted for Harris and have Democratic leadership, as punishment. Many of the projects listed in this thread fall under those cuts.
When the Trump administration canceled more than $7.5 billion in Biden-era federal grants for clean energy projects in October, it framed the move as an urgent corrective to protect taxpayer funds from waste.
But it wasn’t true.
In little-noticed court documents, federal officials acknowledged this month that they had terminated the funding “based solely” on political criteria, targeting projects in states that were represented by Democrats and had voted for Kamala Harris, the party’s presidential nominee, in the 2024 election.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/business/trump-state-grants-canceled.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share
If you live in Hawaii, do you vote against your own best interests, a clean environment, friends and neighbors working toward that goal? Or not? The fraud after all was not in project expenditures, but in the false rationale. If you’re against fraud.
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - HiloJulie - 07-24-2026
If you live in Hawaii, do you vote against your own best interests, a clean environment, friends and neighbors working toward that goal? Or not? The fraud after all was not in project expenditures, but in the false rationale.
Good point HOTPE.
Another big concern heading our way - let's hope Fausto does not require Hawaii to ask for FEMA help or funds:
Democratic states, officials sue Trump administration for tying FEMA grants to election policies - Votebeat
The suit is being led by Illinois, which is joined by California, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, Pennsylvania Gov. Josh Shapiro, and the District of Columbia.
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - Durian Fiend - 07-24-2026
(07-24-2026, 09:18 PM)HereOnThePrimalEdge Wrote: ...When the Trump administration canceled more than $7.5 billion in Biden-era federal grants for clean energy projects in October, it framed the move as an urgent corrective to protect taxpayer funds from waste.
But it wasn’t true...
Say what, they lied? I'm shocked!
"...In contrast, the administration left untouched hundreds of additional energy grants in states that were represented by Republicans and had backed Mr. Trump in the last election, even though the Energy Department had recommended canceling them, the government confirmed in the July court filing..."
Specific Hawaii cuts:
Canceled Hawaii Energy Projects
- Puʻuloa Microgrid Project: ~$39.8 million awarded to Ameresco, Inc. to deploy a smart, front-of-the-meter microgrid for energy resilience on Oahu and Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam. [1]
- Grid Resilience & Wildfire Protection: Funding aimed at upgrading Hawaii’s electric grid to withstand extreme weather and wildfires. [1]
- Kauaʻi Grid Technology: Portions of technology funding totaling $18 million involving the Kauaʻi Island Utility Cooperative to maintain grid stability. [1]
- Other Local Research/Tech Awards: Impacted selections tied to the University of Hawaiʻi and Oceanit Laboratories.
![[Image: Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFn...wZw==.webp]](https://imgproxy.divecdn.com/GPHMhB26KGhuMdQfRKl9I2sC822q7VwvpJrXswPZucA/g:ce/rs:fill:1200:675:1/Z3M6Ly9kaXZlc2l0ZS1zdG9yYWdlL2RpdmVpbWFnZS9HZXR0eUltYWdlcy0yMjc5ODczNDQ5LmpwZw==.webp)
U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wright delivers remarks alongside U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum, EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and U.S. President Donald Trump, during a “Beautiful, Clean Coal” event in the Oval Office of the White House on June 4, 2026, in Washington, DC. Wright testified to a House committee on June 10 that politics were not involved in DOE grant cancellations. https://www.utilitydive.com/news/judge-overturns-doe-cancellation-clean-energy-grants/822818/
Isn't lying during testimony to Congress a crime?
RE: Big Island Organizations & Programs Losing Funding - HereOnThePrimalEdge - 07-31-2026
Fraud or entrapment? Once again big government weasels prove they are willing to engage in practices used by the worst of the worst.
Several Big Island food stores have recently lost their ability to accept SNAP payments, which in Puna is a large portion of food purchases for stores. Nobody can afford to lose business in this economy. Residents have less choices when buying fresh natural foods.
At the Waiholokui Garden grocery store on the Big Island, owner Elizabeth Ward said a minor slip up led to disqualification.
A person performing a USDA inspection and posing as a shopper came into the Pāhoa store three days in a row. On the first day, the inspector tried to buy products that weren’t SNAP-eligible, including a tea infuser, Ward said.
Elizabeth Ward, the owner of Waiholokui Garden, in her Pāhoa store, which the USDA said can no longer accept SNAP as payment. (Courtesy: Elizabeth Ward)
“She’s like, ‘Can you just help me out this one time?’ Ward said. “And then one of my cashiers said, ‘No, sorry about that. Can’t.”
The next day, the inspector returned, again posing as a customer. She engaged the cashier — Ward’s daughter — in conversation about having a surname in common, and bought an array of products with SNAP including a bottle of coconut oil. However, it was oil for skin, when only coconut cooking oil can be bought with SNAP.
The next day, Ward said, the inspector came in and tried to buy the same coconut oil. “My daughter said, ‘Oh no, you can’t buy that one with EBT (the SNAP payment card). Then the inspector said, ‘But you let me buy it yesterday.’ She goes, ‘Oh, I don’t know how that happened, but we’re not supposed to.’ And that’s how they got us.”
https://www.civilbeat.org/2026/07/federal-government-abruptly-cut-these-hawaii-markets-from-food-stamps-program/
Keaau Natural Foods recently lost their ability to process EBT purchases as well. My understanding is that once revoked they cannot reapply for EBT/SNAP acceptance for 6 months. Stores have employees. Employees are trained, and informed of proper procedures. If they don’t follow it to the letter, the owner suffers.
I once had a worker tape up a box for shipment, apply an address label and invoice. The customer called when it arrived and asked me if this was a joke? The worker had shipped an empty box. They never noticed, even though part of their job was to pack the box.