First they want to cut down decades-old eucalyptus trees on Hawaii island. Then they want to truck the logs on ill-maintained county roads, up to 60 miles per trip, and up to 72 round trips per day. Then they want to burn the timber, and spew air pollution 24 hours a day, seven days a week, all year, for 30 years.

Then, to add insult to injury Hawaii island energy rates would rise.

In the next few days, the Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will decide whether to approve Hu Honua Bioenergy’s plan to burn trees for power.

Hu Honua describes its operation as “renewable” and “carbon neutral.” T

hey claim that replanted keiki trees will absorb close to the same amount of carbon dioxide from the air that the company releases. This is false. That’s because the carbon emissions of the much older trees being burned are far greater than the keiki trees’ capacity to absorb carbon. So it’s a carbon increase, not “carbon neutral.”

The company wants to harvest the young trees after eight years’ time.

Those young trees won’t provide a fraction of the BTU found in the older logs, so from an energy perspective, it’s just not practical.

Trucking the logs to the incinerator, day in and day out, would impose a burden that Hawaii County cannot bear. The county’s coffers and infrastructure have been left in shambles by the outgoing administration.

Wells are collapsing in Kona. Sewers are barely functioning in Hilo, Kona and throughout the county. Our coastal waters are pilau with raw sewage. And there is no money to fix things.

The county had to ask Oahu for a fleet of public buses because it couldn’t afford to fix its own buses. Hawaii County simply cannot support the impacts of Hu Honua’s heavy trucks on its roads — let alone the additional diesel exhaust in the air.

Labor unions, and the politicians they influence, celebrate the jobs that Hu Honua will provide. But it will generate far fewer jobs than would construction of a state-of-the-art facility that would be truly renewable.

In a public meeting last June, one of Hu Honua’s labor-union proponents claimed that the only emissions would be “water vapor.” Not true. But no one from Hu Honua bothered to correct him. In fact, Hu Honua filed an Application to Add Greenhouse Gas Emission Provisions with the state Department of Health.

The application reveals the potential for emissions of 288,920 tons of carbon dioxide, as well as 22 tons of methane and 11 tons of nitrous oxide annually.

Clearly, Hu Honua’s plan flagrantly disregards two Hawaii state bills and an agreement signed by all the mayors to support the goals of the Paris climate accord to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

During the time frame of Hu Honua’s 30-year commitment, global energy prices are expected to drop significantly. What a shame if we in Hawaii could not benefit from these future savings because we had signed on to a 30-year commitment to burn trees.

Even the state Division of Consumer Advocacy has warned that Hu Honua “may displace more cost effective future renewable energy projects.”

The biggest shocker is Hu Honua’s anticipated water usage.

The company has applied for permits for four cooling water wells that would produce a whopping 33 million gallons of cooling water per day. This is an immoral abuse of water resources.

In service to a healthy energy future for Hawaii, the PUC is obligated to deny approval of Hu Honua.

Koohan Paik is a resident of Hawaii island and is the development director for the Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action (HAPA).