Chants of “clean energy now!” and “local jobs for local families!” rang out in front of the State Office Building in Wailuku, Maui, on June 15, as 60 ILWU Local 142 members were joined by a dozen Honua Ola Bioenergy employees and other union representatives to protest the Public Utilities Commission’s 2-1 majority decision rejecting Honua Ola’s power purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric.
PUC Commissioner Jennifer Potter – a resident of Maui – and PUC Chair James Griffin, who leaves his position on June 30, have denied Honua Ola’s power purchase agreement. PUC Commissioner Leodoloff Asuncion disagrees with the majority decision noting that Honua Ola has met its burden for approval based on the requirements the Hawaii Supreme Court conveyed to the PUC.
Chris West, President of ILWU Local 142, commented, “We are supporting our brothers and sisters on the Big Island and even more than that, clean firm energy, and future jobs for local families so they don’t have to move away. This is about all of us standing together and holding our policymakers responsible for the decisions they make.”