Commentary. Regarding the response from HECO/BlueEarth Biofuels to Bill Kamanu’s letter of concern about their proposed 40 to 120 million gallons per year biodiesel refinery, maybe the title should have read “Biofuels Here Won’t Harm Environment Here”. There have been countless articles – from the Wall Street Journal to the Asia Times – written about the devastating effects of the importation of large quantities of palm oil. Some of these articles indicate that Europe, which … Read more

‘Ano’ai kakou: Hawaiian Electric Industries is proposing a Maui Biofuel Refinery that is truly unsustainable; and will force Hawaii to become dependent upon importing „Palm Oil.‰ What‚s more, this BlueEarth project will readily negate the opportunity for Hawaii‚s locals and rural communities to participate in the development of a much more sustainable and worthy renewable energy/biofuel program for Hawaii. (See Link Below) Article: http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2007/Feb/18/ln/FP702180354.html MECO announced using 72 million gallons of petroleum diesel in 2005; … Read more

There’s a difference between renewable and sustainable. Before we rejoice at the announcement of Maui Electric’s proposed $61 million biodiesel refinery, many tough questions must be asked.The project would initially import palm oil to produce 40 million gallons of biofuel by 2009 and 120 million gallons by 2011. But, palm oil production in Maylasia, Borneo, Indonesia, Thailand and elsewhere has been one of the great ecological disasters of our time. More than 60 million acres … Read more

News recently of a proposed $61 million Bio Diesel refinery on Maui rippled thru the Islands. Blue earth Biofuels is seeking $59 million from the Hawaii state legislature by way of special purpose revenue bonds to build the project. Blue earth plans to produce bio diesel from imported Palm Oil and will import at least 40 million gallons per year. Importing oil? How does this create a sustainable local renewable energy economy? I thought we … Read more

Read Rob Parsons First Article Read DuByne’s Response to Parsons’ first article The Rob Report Maui Time April 5, 2007 Back in February, I got an email from David DuByne, a former Maui resident now working on bio-fuel development and organic farming projects in Northern Thailand. He had read my Feb. 15, 2007 article, “Potential Energy” and wrote to tell me he had just finished a book on biofuels. He said the book was written … Read more