LANA'I CITY, Lana'i - Plans to build the largest wind farm in the state on Lana'i are part of a vision to make the island a model of renewable energy, but the project is encountering some headwinds in the form of community concern.
Not all Lana'i residents are pleased with the plans of David Murdock, the billionaire who owns 98 percent of the island, to develop a $750 million wind farm for exporting power to O'ahu via undersea cable.
The proposed wind farm, envisioned with as many as 125 turbines spread over 10,000 to 12,000 acres on Lana'i's remote and unpopulated northwest end, was announced last year with the intention to supply up to 20 percent of O'ahu's electricity demand.
Concern over the plan stems from fears that it could cut public access to hunting and fishing on the northwest end of the island. For some, it's also a matter of trust.
Many residents were upset with Murdock, who has owned nearly all of Lana'i since 1985, when he ended pineapple farming in the early 1990s and used drinking water from the island's main aquifer to irrigate a golf course.
Some residents resent Murdock, the owner of Castle & Cooke Inc., because they say his control of the land and employment of more than a third of the 3,000 people who live on the island amounts to a monarchy.
"The man on the big, white horsey," is what Lana'i postmaster Bradford Oshiro calls Murdock, making a reference to the bosses, or luna, that often exercised rule of plantation life on horseback.
If successful, the plan by Murdock would re-establish, in one sense, a green industry on Lana'i, Hawai'i's sixth-largest island, and transform what was known for nearly 70 years as the "Pineapple Island" into the "Power Island."
The plan also stands to diversify Lana'i's limited economy, which has suffered recently from the downturn in tourism and a near shutdown in Castle & Cooke's other major revenue source, resort home development.
Murdock also is developing a 10-acre solar photovoltaic farm slated for completion next month that would supply 10 percent of Lana'i's electricity demand.
More tentative initiatives Murdock is exploring include developing an energy lab on the island, and growing biofuel crops on some of the 20,000 now-fallow acres once planted in pineapple.
Applause and criticism
Murdock's energy plan has been called visionary by supporters, some of whom also talk about the vision as a potential legacy for Murdock, who is 85.
The corporate raider with diverse holdings from transportation equipment leasing to biotechnology park development is passionate about renewable energy. "I like the environment," he said during a July meeting with The Advertiser. "I guess you could say I'm a tree-hugger. I'm a greenie. I would like to do our total island green."
Still, concerns about Murdock's plans led 32 Lana'i residents to sign a letter published by The Advertiser on Aug. 10 in which the author, Robin Kaye, questioned how the plan would affect access, the environment and whether it would benefit Lana'i residents.
Murdock doesn't need a vote of approval from residents to develop the wind farm, but opposition could delay or derail his plans.
At a community meeting Aug. 15 in the Lana'i High and Elementary School cafeteria, Murdock expressed frustration over why some people wouldn't support his renewable energy plan.
"Why don't we all get together, do the same thing, make this island into something really spectacular?" he said to the audience. "I ask you with all sense of urgency: Start voting once in a while for the things we (Castle & Cooke) want to do. They are all for you one way or another. I'm not making any money on the island. I don't think in my lifetime I will ever make any. So I'm not taking anything away from you. I am giving far more to everyone in this room than you are giving to me."
Murdock estimated that he will lose $17 million to $20 million this year on Lana'i, which compares with what he said was a $19 million loss last year and a $31 million loss in 2006.
"I am trying to get us to economic stability," he said. "You be my benefit, and I'll be yours."
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