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MEDIA RELEASE - 10/10/2011

Friends of Lana’i Challenges HECO’s continued insistence on Big Wind and the Undersea

Cable for Lana’i, and Objects to DBEDT’s attempt to secure $2 million more for PEIS

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Contact:

Isaac D. Hall, Esq. 808-244-9017

Robin Kaye, Friends of Lana’i, 808-559-6124

Friends of Lana’i (FOL) has filed a Motion to Intervene in Public Utilities Commission (PUC) Docket 2011-0225,

one specifically opened to “receive filings and review approval requests” that Hawaiian Electric (HECO) will submit

through a competitive bidding process seeking “200MW or more of new, renewable energy” from any island, including

O`ahu.

“HECO has signaled its intent to move Big Wind forward on Lana’i and Moloka’i, regardless of cost to the

environment, cultural sites and state tax and ratepayers,” according to Robin Kaye, spokesperson for FOL. “HECO has

asked ratepayers to assume the cost of close to $4 million in studies devoted to Big Wind in one docket, and wants

‘deferral’ accounting for millions more in another docket, despite the fact that the proposal on Lana`i has not been

approved, and one proposed for Moloka`i has been derailed.”

When First Wind failed to secure land for its project on Molokai back in March, HECO sought PUC approval to

allow Castle & Cooke to essentially give away 200 MW worth of development rights to Pattern Energy, a new player in

the game. The PUC declined, and told HECO to issue a new RFP (request for proposal) that would solicit bidders looking

to supply a minimum of 200 MW “of any renewable energy resource” on any island which could reasonably serve O’ahu

-- including O`ahu -- to HECO for Commission review.

“HECO has now hired cable consultants before a single bid has been submitted,” said Kaye, “which tells us they

are not interested in first learning if O`ahu might have resources available on O`ahu, that would make the costly billion

dollar cable unnecessary.”

“This is just another indication that HECO intends to spend more tax and ratepayer dollars to pursue a oneresource

proposal that has not received a single permit or approval,” said Isaac Hall, attorney for FOL. He noted that even

though HECO has insisted publicly that it was not asking the Commission to approve a commitment to actually

implement Neighbor Island wind projects, “by hiring cable consultants without prior Commission review or approval, the

costs for which they now want deferral accounting, HECO is seeking an end-run towards the solution they prefer, not one

that has been properly vetted.”

Kaye noted, “We also just learned that DBEDT has requested $2 million more taxpayer

dollars to pay AECOM (the same consulting company that produced the original, flawed

Notice of Preparation of Programmatic EIS) to now do what it should have done in the first

place -- explore not just wind but, as over 250 commenters demanded, a variety of renewable

energy sources.”

Today Friends of Lana’i also filed an objection with the State Office of Procurement.

“DBEDT arbitrarily decided, after consulting with unidentified federal and state agencies, that

solar and geothermal should be added to the mix – but they don’t explain why only these two

resources, why only Maui County, and why they have refused to include ALL reasonable

alternatives as required by state and federal environmental law,” Kaye said.