Sen. Hirono UNdecided on Keystone XL Pipeline

[kalakoa]

we'll continue to ship oil here to Hawaii regardless of the Keystone projects minor delay.

When Keystone is complete, none of that oil will be coming to Hawaii anyway, but there will definitely be an influx of new residents after the first pipeline disaster.

How do we promote this sort of energy independence here on this island?

Secede from the US and nationalize all HELCO's infrastructure, for a start.

[Wao nahele kane]

GFL on that one. :-)

[kalakoa]

No, it's really that simple: energy independence requires the ability to make and enforce policy. Under the current regime, Hawaii (State or County, your choice) cannot do anything effective, and the problem is exacerbated by the built-in "fuel tax" on all shipping.

Other than that, all this island needs is a real grid with enough intelligence to shape load to fit the available sources, there's probably no need for fossil fueled generation.

The island could probably farm enough to keep itself fed, too, but this requires a similar dispruption of the underlying economics (eg, the factory food is massively subsidized by your tax dollars -- if you had that money back, you could afford the "expense" of local production).

Lest anyone think I'm derailing the thread: food production consumes massive amounts of fossil fuels. (For extra irony, imagine all that crude oil passing right through those same farmlands on its way to export...)