Ka Wai Ola - Office of Hawaiian Affairs, Volume 4, Number 12, 1 December 1987 — Ute Indians, Mauna Kea Power are Partners in Hydroelectric [ARTICLE]

Ute Indians, Mauna Kea Power are Partners in Hydroelectric

Mauna Kea Power Company and its Native Hawaiian pre'sident, Albert Hee, have successfully forged a partnership with the Ute Indian tribe of Utah in the Honoli'i Stream Hydroelectric Project, Ka Wai Ola O OHA has learned.

The Utes, utilizing revenues from its oil and eoal resources, have invested the initial risk capital necessary to complete environmental and engineering studies. Mauna Kea Power Company, with the supporting testimony of the Office of Hawaiian Affairs, was able to secure State authorization for the issuance of a special purpose revenue bond to finance the construction of the Honoli'i Stream hydroelectric power plant.

The Ute Indian tribe, with the support of the Bureau of Indian Affairs and the Senate Select Committee on Indian Affairs, invested funds to complete the studies necessary before government permits ean be issued for the construction of the hydroelectric power plant. This partnership of the Native Hawaiian and Native Ameriean Indian will hopefully lead to other productive and profitable eeonomie relationships between native peoples in the future.

Although there have been other companies within the last five years attempting to build hydroelectric plants in Hawaii, including one on the same Honoli'i Stream, Mauna Kea Power Company is the only one that is controlled by a Hawaii resident. As president of Mauna Kea Power Company, Hee brings with him a sensitivity to the Hawaiian culture and environment, and subscribes to the OHA position for "responsible

alternate energy development, fully cognizant of the broader concerns regarding the total environment, eultural resources, engineering competence and eeonomie impact on the community and the Native Hawaiians." Despite the fact that the other hydroelectric development companies have gotten authorization for speeial revenue bonds, they have no record of financing and building any hydroelectric plants. Mauna Kea Power Company's partner, Synergics ine., has financed and built eight hydroelectric plants throughout the United States.

The Honoli'i Stream Hydroelectric Project, located north of Hilo, will generate jobs in that area, whieh has been facing hard times because of the contraction in sugar plantation activities within the last decade. The East Hawaii population, whieh is 17 percent Hawaiian, will also benefit from the generation of electricity without pollution of the environment. The project will save 65,000 barrels of oil anually and will alleviate problems Big Island residents faced this summer with brownouts caused by inadequate available power generation eapacity. Mauna Kea Power Company has negotiated a preliminary agreement with Hilo Electric Company to purchase the power generated from its Honoli'i Stream hydroelectric plant and has received written permission from the Bishop Estate to file for a Conservation District Use Application permit. Completion of the project is anticipated by 1991.