Rescind ethanol mandate Gov. Abercrombie and the state Legislature should immediately rescind the ethanol mandate. The ethanol subsidies just canceled by Congress are another nail in the coffin of a well-meaning, but bad idea. We are paying too much for
Rescind ethanol mandate
Gov. Abercrombie and the state Legislature should immediately rescind the ethanol mandate. The ethanol subsidies just canceled by Congress are another nail in the coffin of a well-meaning, but bad idea.
We are paying too much for a fuel which doesn’t provide the intended benefits. It is not “sustainable,” at least in Hawai‘i. If an established and innovative company like Gay and Robinson couldn’t make it, we doubt anyone else can.
We have to import ethanol just like the gasoline it supposedly helps us save. A gallon of ethanol has a smaller carbon footprint than a gallon of gasoline.
Two problems with that: 1) If you take into account the diesel fuel needed to produce the ethanol, it has a much larger footprint than gasoline, and 2) A gallon of ethanol won’t take you anywhere near as far as a gallon of gasoline.
Most of our cars and light trucks will run fine on E-10. It just costs more per mile than on gasoline. There are serious problems with yard equipment, generators and outboard motors because ethanol absorbs water. Items left unused for days or weeks will “breathe” with temperature changes and will foul with water.
To avoid some of these problems with trimmers, hedge clippers, etc., I empty them after each use. After pouring the fuel back into the storage can, I start the unit and run the carburetor and fuel pump dry. That is not as practical with generators or many outboards.
So I respectfully ask our governor and legislators to lift this unproductive burden. I would never buy E-10 if I had a choice.
John Love, Kapa‘a
AMDF not reliable
The American Missile Defense Plan, begun in 1983, was revamped two years ago into a proposed system of interceptors based on land and sea around Europe and east Asia. Likened to shooting down a bullet with another bullet, AMDF never worked reliably.
The new plan’s stated purpose is to defend against “rogue states” Iran and North Korea, but opposition to the deployments is being heard from other countries — Russia and China. A look at the map shows why. The locations of the missile deployments are not in logical proximity to Iran and North Korea.
Russia’s top general and President Medvedev spoke out in November, threatening to target the U.S. missile shield that is being deployed along Russia’s southern border in Bulgaria, Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic. The General raised the specter of a nuclear exchange. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Russia stood down from its conventional defense capabilities and doesn’t have many cards to play before resorting to the nuclear option in its defense.
China has likewise responded to ship-based U.S. missiles off its coast and the attempted construction of an Aegis missile destroyer base on South Korea’s Jeju Island, just 200 miles from the Chinese mainland. The concern in Moscow and Beijing is that these missiles could easily be targeted toward their countries.
Watchdog groups are calling Missile Defense a Trojan horse to prepare the U.S. public for the introduction of weapons systems into space. The Pentagon’s Space Command is already planning to control “battlespace” with satellite-based missiles and lasers powered by nuclear reactors. It would be a bonanza for the armaments industry that more and more drives Departments of Defense and State foreign policy.
A key component to all of this will be the adaptation of the Aegis missile to be fired from land, and the critical testing and evaluation is to take place right here on Kaua‘i, starting in 2012, at the Pacific Missile Range Facility.
Kip Goodwin, Kapa‘a
Bridge needs traffic light
I have been a frequent visitor to Kaua‘i for more than 30 years. My first two visits were before the airport had its safe north-south runway installed.
I have driven Highway 560 many times. I agree with Evelyn de Buhr (Letters: Jan. 25) with one exception. The Hanalei bridge should have a traffic light that is used in most parts of the country when a road is reduced to a single lane and there is no flagger present.
The courtesy Ms. De Buhr mentions is too often violated at the Hanalei bridge; more often by locals than visitors.
The other bridges are just fine as they are, so long as their structural integrity is maintained, which has not always been the case.
Wally Roberts
San Clemente, Calif.
Solid foundation
“A Bridge Forward” by David Thorp (Letters: Jan. 23) continues with the Democrat’s La La Land of spending our way out of debt.
To build a bridge forward requires a solid foundation.
To build that foundation requires us to control our spending, to include a plan to reduce our national debt.
Borrowing 40 cents of every dollar we spend does not work for families or nations. We’ve been remiss in allowing our politicians to get away with continually spending their way to reelection.
I think Abraham Lincoln summed it best with:
“You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich.
You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong.
You cannot bring prosperity by discouraging thrift.
You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling the wage-payer down. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred.
You cannot build character and courage by taking away people’s initiative and independence.
You cannot help people permanently by doing for them, what they could and should do for themselves.”
You cannot motivate a society by de-motivating individuals.”
Mike Curtis, Koloa
