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News of Big Wind:

• As you may recall, DBEDT's original Programmatic EIS (PEIS) for Big Wind was going to study ONLY "wind or no wind". The community outcry from all islands was so overwhelmingly critical that DBEDT requested an additional $2.1 million to include a study of solar and geothermal in their PEIS.  The State Office of Procurement (SOP) denied their request, saying that the study of those renewables should have been included originally.  

• Just a few weeks after that first Big Wind rebuff, DBEDT asked SOP to exempt an additional $200,000 from competitive bidding, to fund a Maui-County-targeted PR campaign to counteract the voices of Friends of Lana'i, I Aloha Moloka`i and other opponents of Big Wind.  According to the proposal, those funds were to be used to "...establish relationships with key community members" in Maui County, which will allow them to push "a more balanced relationship and voice within neighbor island communities" and "correct misinformation."

It was very clear: DBEDT was targeting opposition to Big Wind for their strategic public relations/propaganda push. But, the SOP disapproved that request as well. 

On both DBEDT requests, the SOP said that it "received several comments and objections from concerned individuals and organizations" about DBEDT's programs and policies that did not factor into the decision.

That may be, and there is no way to know who voiced their opinion(s) to the SOP, but it can't hurt to let government know that Hawai`i citizens are paying attention to how their tax dollars are being spent. 

• In yet one more indication of community input and outrage, you may remember that Hawaiian Electric Company (HECO) filed its PUC-mandated Draft Request for Proposal (RFP) for a minimum of 200 MW of renewable energy, the same amount that HECO and Castle & Cooke tried to "give" to Pattern Energy to "use" on Moloka'i, in late October.  Although the draft didn't forsee any bidded project to be operational until 2018, HECO gave potential bidders THREE WEEKS from the release of the draft to respond with a formal "intent to submit"- after that, bidders were completely closed out.  But, after a lot of public attention and outcry, HECO backed off, setting a new deadline for intent to submit bids to April, 2012.