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Lahaina in Ruins - The governor threatens to stop land sales; pols spent years prioritizing renewable energy over fire prevention.

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If the disastrous response to Covid taught us anything, it is to beware of 
politicians responding to a crisis by restricting liberty. Some pols may be 
well-intentioned and others not, but Hawaiians suffering the shock of tragic 
devastation on West Maui may still want to make their own decisions on what 
to do with their own property. An emerging policy seems designed to prevent 
them from selling.

The Journal’s Joseph Pisani and Ginger Adams Otis report:

     Wildfires destroyed Lahaina. Now Hawaii officials are trying to ward 
     off outsiders from scooping up properties on the cheap in the popular 
     tourist destination.

     Gov. Josh Green said Wednesday he is working on a sales moratorium for 
     damaged and destroyed properties. He acknowledged it may face legal 
     challenges. 

     “My intention from start to finish is to make sure that no one is 
     victimized from a land grab,” Green said at a news briefing Wednesday.

     “People are right now traumatized,” said Green. “Please don’t approach 
     them with an offer to buy land. Please don’t approach their families 
     to tell them that they are going to be better off if they make a deal, 
     because we’re not going to allow it.” 

No doubt for many property owners, reeling from tragic events, the last thing 
they want right now is to be accosted by bidders. But every individual 
circumstance is different and one can only imagine how difficult this time 
would be for someone who for any number of reasons may need or want to sell 
and cannot. The Journal reporters add:

     Hawaii’s Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs warned homeowners 
     earlier this week to be wary of unsolicited offers to buy their 
     properties, especially from people who may be trying to buy it below 
     market value. It also asked people who were contacted with offers to 
     report them to the department.

     “We learned through social media only that unsolicited offers to 
     purchase destroyed property of Lahaina survivors were occurring,” the 
     agency’s complaints office said. “To date, however, there have been no 
     reports filed with our office.”

Restricting property rights is almost always the wrong answer and there is 
also the question of priorities in the state government’s response to this 
disaster. Are there no more pressing needs?

The inability to prioritize seems to have been a contributing factor in this 
tragedy. The Journal’s Katherine Blunt, Dan Frosch and Jim Carlton report:

     During the 2019 wildfire season, one of the worst Maui had ever seen, 
     Hawaiian Electric concluded that it needed to do far more to prevent 
     its power lines from emitting sparks...

     Now, the company is facing scrutiny, litigation and a financial crisis 
     over indications that its power lines might have played a role in 
     igniting the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century...

     Hawaiian Electric has made reference in regulatory filings to the risks 
     of power-line fires, but it waited years to take significant action, 
     documents and interviews show. During that period, the company was 
     undertaking a state-mandated shift to renewable energy...

     Hawaii has been on a push to convert to renewables since 2008, when a 
     run-up in oil prices sent electrical rates at Hawaiian Electric—which 
     relied on petroleum imports for 80% of its energy supply—through the 
     roof. In 2015, lawmakers passed legislation mandating that the state 
     derive 100% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2045, the 
     first such requirement in the U.S...

     “You have to look at the scope and scale of the transformation within 
     [Hawaiian Electric] that was occurring throughout the system,” said 
     Mina Morita, who chaired the state utilities commission from 2011 to 
     2015. “While there was concern for wildfire risk, politically the focus 
     was on electricity generation.” 

Gov. Green’s biography reports that from 2008 to 2018, he served in the 
Hawaii state Senate, “including as Majority Floor Leader, Chair of the Health 
and Human Services committees, and Vice Chair of the Energy and Environment, 
and Human Services and Housing committees.”

Last year in the Honolulu Star-Advertiser, Mr. Green wrote:

     As a state senator, I sponsored Hawaii’s first renewable portfolio 
     standards that mandated a substantial portion of Hawaii’s future energy 
     production come from renewable energy sources.

Perhaps what is most needed right now is a moratorium on Green electricity 
proposals that do not prioritize fire safety.

--
Let's go Brandon!

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Lahaina in Ruins - The governor threatens to stop land sales; pols spent years prioritizing renewable energy over fire prevention. Ubiquitous <weberm@polaris.net> - 2023-08-18 04:52 -0400

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