Thanks to Government, Maui's Lahaina Fire Became a Deadly Conflagration\
https://mises.org/wire/thanks-government-mauis-lahaina-fire-became-deadly-conflagration
Connor O'Keeffe (16 August 2023)
[...]
To review,
a power company shielded from competition by the state placed electrical infrastructure among highly flammable state-owned grass fields above the historic city of Lahaina, which the government was twice warned were highly susceptible to fire. And once a fire broke out, a combination of defective water infrastructure, terrible communication by government officials, and only one escape route doomed the people of Lahaina to the worst wildfire experienced in this country in over a hundred years.
This was government failure through and through. [...] Government immunizes itself from the profit and loss system, and therefore from much of the need to weigh risk. Sure, some county officials may resign because of this. And
the share price of Hawaiian Electric may dip ["In the wake of the fires, the utility was given a junk rating by S&P as stocks plunged to 49 percent", per the article below - OB]. But the people of Maui will be forced to keep compensating the very organizations that have failed them. And there’s nothing natural about that disaster.
https://twitter.com/RealSpikeCohen/status/1692415162702053651
Hawaiian Electric focused obsessively on renewable energy while only spending $245,000 on wildfire safety
- Hawaiian Electric knew about the threat of wildfires but waited for years to act
- They focused energy on renewables - only investing $245,000 on wildfire safety
- The company said it would investigate any role its infrastructure may have played in the Maui wildfires and would cooperate with a separate probe
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar...-energy-spending-245-000-wildfire-safety.html
[archive link:
https://archive.li/RKbel]
Aneeta Bhole (17 August 2023)
Hawaii's largest electricity supplier prioritized its pursuit of renewable energy over wildfire prevention, regulatory filings show.
In the wake of the devastating Maui wildfires that killed at least 111 people in Lahaina and left hundreds more unaccounted for, questions are swirling around the role the island's major utility company played in the disaster.
Hawaiian Electric, which provides power to 95 percent of locals, concluded during the 2019 wildfires that it needed to do more to prevent its power lines from emitting sparks.
It vowed to conduct drone surveys to identify areas vulnerable to wildfires and determine how to help keep residents and infrastructure safe.
But four years later, very little had followed and only $245,000, between 2019 and 2022, had been invested on wildfire-specific projects on the island,
The Wall Street Journal reported, citing regulatory filings.
Hawaiian Electric instead focused on a push to convert to renewables after a 2008 spike in oil prices as it relies on petroleum imports for 80 percent of its energy supply.
In 2015, lawmakers passed legislation mandating that the state derive 100 percent of its electricity from renewable sources by 2045, the first such requirement in the U.S.
Hawaiian Electric revealed in 2017 that it would reach the goal five years ahead of schedule but that focus may have come at the cost of fire mitigation according to some experts.
Their dedication to the cause has been linked to the fires and why they may face financial ruin and stare down the barrel of pending litigation.
Crews are still scouring the charred remains of the more than 2,000 burnt homes and businesses, according to Maui Police Chief John Pelletier.
'Realize that the responders that are going out there are recovering their loved ones and members of their families,' Pelletier said.
Though the cause of the blaze is still unclear, Hawaiian Electric is facing a bulk of the scrutiny for not shutting down power lines when high winds created dangerous fire conditions.
They've agreed to investigate their role and said they would cooperate with a separate probe into the fire launched by Hawaii's attorney general last week.
'We all believe it's important to understand what happened. And I think we all believe it's important to make sure it doesn't happen again,' Hawaiian Electric's chief executive, Shelee Kimura said.
Hawaiian Electric also told the WSJ that routine utility work, including trimming or removing trees and upgrading, replacing and inspecting equipment is how they kept wildfire risk at a minimum.
It said it has spent about $84 million on maintenance and tree work in Maui County since 2018.
DailyMail.com has contacted Hawaiian Electric about its current spending on renewables to date and questioned what proportion of the work force are dedicated to reducing emissions by their 2045 goal.
In the wake of the fires, the utility was given a junk rating by S&P as stocks plunged to 49 percent
Proposed
class action lawsuits were filed on Saturday in state courts to represent thousands of Hawaii residents affected by the fires that left thousands homeless and Lahaina in ruins.
Lahaina residents in one of the lawsuits claimed Hawaiian Electric is responsible for the fires after failing to shut off power lines despite warnings from the National Weather Service that high winds could blow those lines down and spark fast-spreading wildfires.
Several reports have surfaced detailing allegations that the company's failure to maintain its grid properly resulted in the disaster. Videos have also surfaced on Facebook which purport to show powerlines entangled with overgrown trees and vegetation.
Footage of a powerline downed during a storm has also emerged in the wake of the tragedy.
A video, captured at the Maui Bird Conservation Center, near Makawao, appears to show a bright flash in the woods at the exact time ten sensors recorded a significant incident in Hawaiian Electric's grid on August 7.
While the Makawao fire had nothing to do with
the inferno that devastated the historic town of Lahaina, it was the first of several reported on Maui on August 7.
Whisker Labs, a company that uses a sensor network to monitor electric grids across the United States, told
she Washington Post the bright light was probably an 'arc flash,' which happens when a power line 'faults.'
'This is strong confirmation — based on real data — that utility grid faults were likely the ignition source for multiple wildfires on Maui,' Bob Marshall, the founder and CEO of Whisker Labs, told
The Washington Post.
PG&E, the Northern California utility giant, sought bankruptcy protection in 2019 after power lines ignited a series of major fires.
Hawaiian Electric officials have been in talks with PG&E counterparts according to the WSJ seeking legal advice on how to manage the fall out.
Despite vowing not to make the same mistake as PG&E, Hawaiian Electric took years to take significant action on wildfires and during that period had focused their attention on a state-mandated shift to renewables.
The risk of wildfires has been known for years with 39,000 acres scorched in 2019 compared to 150 in 1999, according to data compiled by the Hawaii Wildfire Management Organization.
The group released several reports noting the increased dangers because of invasive plants that have taken over and nearly a quarter of the island covered in invasive grasses and shrubs.
In 2018, Hurricane Lane helped fuel fires that burned more than 2,000 acres on Maui, the year after, 9,000 acres were reduced to ash prompting hundreds of evacuations.
At the back of the 2019 fires, Hawaiian Electric released a statement saying it would install heavier, insulated conductors on Maui and Oahu to minimize the risk of sparks when winds picked up.
It added that it would install technology to detect disruptions when the conductors came into contact with vegetation or each other.
It also said it would apply fire retardant on poles in risky areas and consider installing cameras and other devices to monitor weather conditions during fire season.
Over the next two years, filings with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission, which approves utility projects and spending, only heard of wildfire mitigation in passing.
Mina Morita, who chaired the state utilities commission from 2011 to 2015 said while 'there was concern for wildfire risk, politically, the focus was on electricity generation.'
Doug McLeod, a consultant who served for several years as the Maui county energy commissioner said the drive to reach renewable goals was also felt by private energy companies working with Hawaiian Electric.
'Looking back with hindsight, the business opportunities were on the generation side, and the utility was going out for bid with all these big renewable-energy projects,' he told WSJ.
'But in retrospect, it seems clear, we weren't as focused on these fire risks as we should have been.'
A 2020 management audit found its enterprise risk analysis was largely focused on financial risk and had limited business and operational risk consideration.
It also found that the division which oversaw power line operations had 'significant management problems.'
It wasn't until 2022 that Hawaiian Electric sought regulatory permission to raise rates to fund plans to prepare the grid for climate change-related stresses, including wildfires.
It said it planned to spend about $190 million across Hawaii on protective measures - but said it wouldn't start work until the state had approved the proposal to recoup costs from customers.
In a filing in June, the commission said: 'In light of the asserted urgency of these transmission and distribution resiliency upgrades, why did Hawaiian Electric not begin to initiate some of these projects sooner?'
