Latest news with #JoshGreen
The Independent
18 hours ago
- Politics
- The Independent
Army secretary wants to move more quickly on an agreement for Hawaii live-fire training lands
The U.S. Army's top civilian leader said Tuesday that he wants to move more quickly on an agreement that will allow the military to continue using the only large-scale live-fire training range for ground forces in Hawaii. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said he discussed the issue during a meeting with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Monday. The Army leases a key part of Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island from the state and its contract to do so expires in 2029. It wants to be able to continue using the land so it can quickly send troops from Hawaii to Asia and the Pacific, something that is growing in importance as China becomes more assertive particularly regarding Taiwan. A May public hearing on whether to extend the lease generated hours of testimony against allowing the Army to stay. Many Native Hawaiians and environmental activists upset with the U.S. military's history of damaging Hawaiian lands with target practice and fuel leaks said they wanted the Army to return the land to the state. Driscoll told reporters the Army needs the Pohakuloa land, which sits on a rocky plateau about 6,200 feet (1,890 meters) above sea level between the Big Island's tallest volcanoes, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. 'The world is changing. We all know this. The threat in Indo-Pacom is more real than ever before,' Driscoll told reporters, referring to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, which overseas military operations in Asia and the Pacific. He said he wanted a more aggressive timeline 'to bake out these negotiations in the coming months, rather than waiting until 2027, 2028 and 2029.' 'This land matters the United States Army. We have got to be able to train here.' Driscoll said. Driscoll said he asked Green's office to give the Army a list within the next few weeks of things the Army can do to help the community. 'What we are hoping to do is figure out ways where we, the Army, can continue to contribute to a community that has given so much to our Army and so much to our nation, while at the same time acknowledging the very real world threat that we are facing in the Indo-Pacific,' Driscoll said. The Army says other live-fire training areas in Hawaii are too small to accommodate battalions and brigades. And commanders say they wouldn't be able to deter potential adversaries in the Indo-Pacific if they have to spend extra time transporting troops to the region from U.S. mainland training ranges. Green said he spent significant time on Monday speaking with Driscoll and his team. "We will be exploring possibilities on the military leases together in the coming days and weeks, and he now better understands how important it is to us to work together for the good of Hawaii's people and our land, while we all work together protect our country,' Green said in a statement. The governor said he updated Hawaii's congressional delegation on the meetings. Green said he would get the community's input 'as we move forward.' U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, a Democrat whose district includes rural Oahu and the Big Island, has said she wants the military to help increase Hawaii's housing supply and bolster Hawaii's water and sewer infrastructure. Driscoll visited Hawaii during a Pacific trip that will also include stops in Australia and the Philippines. He spoke to journalists in front of two HIMARS rocket launchers, which are designed to deliver precision strikes to long-range targets. Hawaii-based soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division are due to receive 16 of the launchers, which the U.S. also supplied to Ukraine to help it defend against Russia's invasion.
Associated Press
18 hours ago
- Politics
- Associated Press
Army secretary wants to move more quickly on an agreement for Hawaii live-fire training lands
SCHOFIELD BARRACKS, Hawaii (AP) — The U.S. Army's top civilian leader said Tuesday that he wants to move more quickly on an agreement that will allow the military to continue using the only large-scale live-fire training range for ground forces in Hawaii. Army Secretary Dan Driscoll said he discussed the issue during a meeting with Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Monday. The Army leases a key part of Pohakuloa Training Area on the Big Island from the state and its contract to do so expires in 2029. It wants to be able to continue using the land so it can quickly send troops from Hawaii to Asia and the Pacific, something that is growing in importance as China becomes more assertive particularly regarding Taiwan. A May public hearing on whether to extend the lease generated hours of testimony against allowing the Army to stay. Many Native Hawaiians and environmental activists upset with the U.S. military's history of damaging Hawaiian lands with target practice and fuel leaks said they wanted the Army to return the land to the state. Driscoll told reporters the Army needs the Pohakuloa land, which sits on a rocky plateau about 6,200 feet (1,890 meters) above sea level between the Big Island's tallest volcanoes, Mauna Kea and Mauna Loa. 'The world is changing. We all know this. The threat in Indo-Pacom is more real than ever before,' Driscoll told reporters, referring to the U.S. Indo-Pacific Command, which overseas military operations in Asia and the Pacific. He said he wanted a more aggressive timeline 'to bake out these negotiations in the coming months, rather than waiting until 2027, 2028 and 2029.' 'This land matters the United States Army. We have got to be able to train here.' Driscoll said. Driscoll said he asked Green's office to give the Army a list within the next few weeks of things the Army can do to help the community. 'What we are hoping to do is figure out ways where we, the Army, can continue to contribute to a community that has given so much to our Army and so much to our nation, while at the same time acknowledging the very real world threat that we are facing in the Indo-Pacific,' Driscoll said. The Army says other live-fire training areas in Hawaii are too small to accommodate battalions and brigades. And commanders say they wouldn't be able to deter potential adversaries in the Indo-Pacific if they have to spend extra time transporting troops to the region from U.S. mainland training ranges. Green said he spent significant time on Monday speaking with Driscoll and his team. 'We will be exploring possibilities on the military leases together in the coming days and weeks, and he now better understands how important it is to us to work together for the good of Hawaii's people and our land, while we all work together protect our country,' Green said in a statement. The governor said he updated Hawaii's congressional delegation on the meetings. Green said he would get the community's input 'as we move forward.' U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, a Democrat whose district includes rural Oahu and the Big Island, has said she wants the military to help increase Hawaii's housing supply and bolster Hawaii's water and sewer infrastructure. Driscoll visited Hawaii during a Pacific trip that will also include stops in Australia and the Philippines. He spoke to journalists in front of two HIMARS rocket launchers, which are designed to deliver precision strikes to long-range targets. Hawaii-based soldiers with the 25th Infantry Division are due to receive 16 of the launchers, which the U.S. also supplied to Ukraine to help it defend against Russia's invasion.
ABC News
6 days ago
- Politics
- ABC News
Hawaii increases price of paradise to pay for climate protection
No Pacific island has felt the effects of climate change more keenly than Hawaii in recent years after a series of wildfires broke out in early August 2023. The wind-driven fires killed more than 100 people and caused widespread devastation, predominantly on the island of Maui. Despite the damage, securing funding to protect against these events has become even harder under US president Donald Trump, whose skepticism for climate change is well known. But a new tourist tax, set to be imposed in 2026, will help circumvent that, with Hawaii's governor Josh Green saying the levy paid by visitors will allow his state to defend against natural disasters without federal support. FEATURED: Hawaii governor, Josh Green
Yahoo
6 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Poll shows Green's approval rating at 63%
Gov. Josh Green has a 63 % approval rating among Hawaii's registered Democratic, Republican and independent voters, placing him in a tie for the fifth most-popular governor in the nation, according to the results of a voter survey released Wednesday by Morning Consult Pro. Green's approval rating among Hawaii voters has increased ahead of the 2026 gubernatorial election, in which no clear challenger with household name recognition has yet to emerge. Green has told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser that he intends to seek reelection to a second, and final, four-year term in 2026 but will make a formal announcement during the campaign season. In the fourth quarter of 2024, Green's disapproval rating has fallen from 37 % to now 27 %, according to Morning Consult Pro. Among Hawaii Democrats, Green has a 77 % approval rating, followed by 57 % from independents and a 46 % approval rating among Republicans. Among Republicans, Green has a disapproval rating of 51 %. The survey was conducted from April through June. 'I am extremely grateful to have so much support from our people, and will continue to focus on housing, affordability and keeping our people safe, ' Green wrote in a text to the Star-Advertiser. 'Our team is working as hard as we can to get results for Hawaii.' Morning Consult Pro did not release data on approval ratings of U.S. House members, but U.S. Sen. Brian Schatz ranks the third most-popular among America's senators, with a 63 % approval rating. U.S. Sen. Mazie Hirono, with a 59 % approval rating, was tied among four senators as the ninth most-popular U.S. senator with a 59 % approval rating. In 2022, Green won his first term as governor in a landslide following a Democratic Party primary where he first defeated U.S. Rep. Kai Kahele and former first lady Vicky Cayetano, which paved the way for a general election showdown with three-time Republican candidate James 'Duke ' Aiona to become only Hawaii's ninth governor since statehood. The general election wasn't close. Green and his lieutenant governor running mate, Sylvia Luke—outgoing chair of the House Finance Committee—more than doubled the votes cast for Aiona and his Republican running mate, Seaula 'Junior ' Tupa 'i Jr., a Hilo pastor and first-time candidate for state office. Following his electoral victory in 2022, Green told the Star-Advertiser : 'Every day for the next four years, I will work to heal old wounds, unite the people of Hawaii as one ohana and lead us forward to fulfill our commitments to each other, to our islands and to future generations. I'm incredibly grateful for all of this support from across our state, but I don't take it for granted and I'm going to work hard every day to earn it. Whether people cast a vote for me or not, I am going to work just as hard for them and their family.' The biggest challenge of Green's first year in office came in the aftermath of the Aug. 8, 2023, Maui wildfires, which killed 102 people, nearly obliterated Lahaina and caused $13 billion in damage. Many controversial decisions had to be made in response to the fires, notably Green's signing of a bill this month—one month before the second anniversary of the wildfires—to approve the state's $807.5 million share of a $4.037 billion settlement that avoids protracted litigation and will resolve an estimated 17, 000 claims. The other parties to the settlement are Hawaiian Electric, Kamehameha Schools, Spectrum Oceanic LLC and Hawaiian Telcom. A Hawaiian Electric power line that blew down in high winds was determined to have ignited the fire on dry, overgrown land owned by Kamehameha Schools, then raced makai to the heart of Lahaina. Hawaiian Electric provided the largest share of the settlement, at $1.99 billion. Green, America's only sitting governor who is also a medical doctor, has testified against the confirmation of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to become Health and Human Services secretary while privately meeting with President Donald Trump and members of Trump's administration to protect federal funding and support for Hawaii.
Associated Press
08-07-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
Is HECO's monopoly over? New law could change power market
Hawaiian Electric Co.'s century-long hold on Hawaiʻi's electricity market soon will change in a major way, creating a potential path to lower rates for businesses and residents. Starting in 2027, HECO will be required to let independent electricity producers use its grid to deliver electricity directly to customers for a fee, potentially ending the utility's standing as the sole choice for most electric consumers in the state. Under the current system, producers must sell electricity at a wholesale price to HECO, which pools it to sell to customers at a higher rate. Gov. Josh Green signed the groundbreaking bill on Thursday, despite having previously signaled his intent to veto the measure. It remains to be seen to what extent the new system will lead to significant savings for residential customers. A previously passed law allowing renters to buy power from community solar farms, for instance , has gone nowhere, hampered by what critics say are untenable rules. But even critics of the new law have said it could generate savings for some customers. State Sen. Glenn Wakai, who chairs the Energy and Intergovernmental Affairs Committee and sponsored the bill, said the measure was meant to introduce competition in Hawaiʻi's electricity market and reduce costs in a state where customers pay the nation's highest costs for electricity — more than three times the national average. 'We have for more than 100 years been at the mercy of HECO for our electricity needs, and we've seen in recent times that the delivery of that electricity has been very unreliable and very, very expensive,' Wakai said. 'In the next two years, come 2027, all HECO's customers will have an option of buying from someone other than HECO.' 'I think this is a game changer to benefit the consumers,' Wakai said. Green's office also expressed optimism. 'We believe that the provisions contained within the bill will allow for greater energy choice and hopefully a reduction in costs for Hawai'i's consumers,' Green's spokeswoman, Makana McClellan, said in a written statement. HECO spokesman Jim Kelly declined an interview request. Law Could 'Really Open Up Our Grid' The law includes several provisions to break HECO's hold on Hawaiʻi's electricity market, but the most important involves what energy experts call wheeling. Under the current system, developers build big wind and solar farms and sell the power to HECO under long-term contracts. HECO pays as little as 8 cents per kilowatt hour for electricity from these independent power producers, said Jeff Mikulina, a renewable energy consultant who was an architect of the law requiring Hawaiʻi to produce all of the electricity sold in the state from renewable resources by 2045. Meanwhile, HECO charges residential customers on Oʻahu almost 43 cents per kilowatt hour. Big Island residents pay 48 cents. Wakai said a goal of the law is to enable customers to pay closer to what the renewable electricity costs HECO to buy and to encourage smaller players to get in the game. The wheeling provision does this by letting independent electricity producers pay a set fee to use HECO's grid to deliver power to customers. Although wheeling has long been allowed on the mainland, it's been prohibited by law in Hawaiʻi. The PUC had been investigating a proposal to allow wheeling between government entities only, and Green's intent-to-veto statement pointed to that as a reason to veto the broader bill. Green decided to sign the broad bill after the PUC said it would cancel the intra-governmental wheeling inquiry, McClellan said. Hawaiʻi's previous prohibition against wheeling has played out on the ground at places like Green Homes Hanalei, a cluster of seven homes in west Oʻahu built in 2017 around the idea of using solar and storage to make the subdivision as energy self-sufficient as possible. Developer R.J. Martin powered each home with photovoltaic solar cells combined with two Tesla Powerwall batteries. Each home had garages with chargers for electric vehicles. Martin wanted to go further and link the homes with a small power grid that would let homeowners share surplus power with each other. But he quickly learned that would be illegal. Homeowners would have to become regulated utilities to share surplus electricity with their neighbors. 'No one in their right mind is going to go through that exercise,' Wakai said. 'So now, it just simplifies what has been all these walls and impediments put up by the government as well as by HECO.' Martin hopes the new law will enable him to do something more innovative in the near future: use renewables and perhaps a microgrid to power a larger, workforce housing subdivision he's planning for West Oʻahu. But much will depend on how the Hawaiʻi Public Utilities Commission implements the law, Mikulina said. 'If the PUC does it right, it can really open up our grid to some innovative renewable solutions,' Mikulina said. 'This could catalyze renewable growth and really help folks who need access to this.' Critics Say Some Could Be Left Out Critics point to potential unintended consequences. A major issue involves equity. The concern is that HECO customers with the money and wherewithal to partner with an independent power producer will defect from HECO, leaving those less well-off to still deal with higher rates. Testifying against the bill, the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 1260, which works on utility infrastructure, argued the long-term technical effects of wheeling on HECO's grid are unknown. 'Further,' the union wrote, 'the fixed-cost of operating and maintaining the system will remain unchanged and passed on to those left in the system, essentially increasing the cost of electricity to those who can least afford it.' Given this risk, it will be key to make sure lower-income residential customers can benefit as the commission creates rules governing the program, said Michael Colón, director of energy for the Ulupono Initiative, which supports the use of renewable energy. To address such concerns, Wakai said, the law limits the size of a wind or solar farm allowed to use the wheeling provision to two megawatts, the size needed to power about 3,000 homes. 'We're not talking about, you know, large 50- to 60-megawatt plants going and selling to all the Waikīkī hotels,' Wakai said. 'That's not going to be possible under this scenario.' 'What is possible under this scenario,' he said, 'is, if you have let's say 10 acres of land that can create two megawatts of power, you are free to go and sell to the nearby residents or wheel it across the island to someone who's willing to take it.' That's promising news to people like Steve Mazur, director of commercial business development for RevoluSun, one of Hawaiʻi's largest solar companies. Mazur said he's encountered business owners with energy hogging cold storage systems but small rooftops located near businesses with huge rooftops but little electricity needs. If implemented well by the PUC, Mazur said, the new law could make way for solar panels on the large roof to power the neighboring business. 'These rooftops are sitting there empty,' he said. 'There has to be something to entice them.' ___ This story was originally published by Honolulu Civil Beat and distributed through a partnership with The Associated Press.
