It’s a great day to build a wind farm on Lanai.

Actually, every day is a great day to build a wind farm on Lanai.

There is a remote wind-swept area on the west side called Garden of the Gods. This could be the most productive source of wind in the state. Castle & Cooke, owner of Lanai, hopes to generate 400 megawatts there. Depending on the size of the windmills, this is between 100 and 200 windmills.

Once the undersea cable is built, it could deliver this power to the grid connecting Oahu, Maui, Lanai and Molokai. Wind on Lanai is a visionary plan long held by David Murdock, owner of Castle & Cooke. To make it happen, you need a power-purchase agreement from Hawaiian Electric Co., approval by the state Public Utilities Commission, an environmental impact statement and a myriad of permits. These requirements are interdependent and challenging.

Although not legally required, and although it makes the project more complex, you would probably also want to get a buy-in from the people of Lanai. The hotel staff we spoke to were generally opposed to the project, but their opposition was based on misinformation. They didn’t understand the project or its benefits. Nor had they thought about the troubling consequences of stopping it. The "Friends of Lanai" oppose the project; they’re setting their sights on the profits they say Murdock will make.

This project would not damage Lanai, but save it. Murdock’s two hotels are losing millions each year. Occupancy is a fraction of what it is on other islands. So far, Murdock has covered those losses. But he’s elderly, and when he can’t continue, fiduciaries will step in. They will be less likely to cover the losses and more likely to close the hotels and sell the assets.

Without the hotels, there will be no jobs. Food and fuel on Lanai are expensive, and many if not most people will have to leave. The irony is that those who stay for the nostalgia will largely be the affluent who came from somewhere else and who have been so vociferous in opposing the project.

The people I talked with didn’t understand the ghost of that Christmas future. They thought if they opposed the project, Murdock would have to continue the status quo, covering the losses, and that they could continue in their jobs and lives without disruption.

Not true. Although plant-closing laws could delay things a little, Murdock or the fiduciaries that follow him can close the hotels, and that’ll be that. If the people of Lanai want to force that outcome, they’d be calling up a scenario that could trigger a disastrous result.

In a better Christmas future, the project goes ahead. Murdock’s operations become sustainable. The hotels stay open, and the people of Lanai stay employed. Clean energy goes on the grid, and we wean ourselves off foreign oil. Lanai looks good. Hawaii looks good. What’s not to like?

But things get twisted in the world of protest. First, protesters protested for clean energy. Now, new protesters protest against it. Can they please talk with the old protesters? We can’t have one generation of protesters protesting against what the previous protesters supported.

The protesters don’t want wind because they say Murdock won’t let hunters shoot deer under the windmills. But the land they hunt on is Murdock’s, and he could terminate their access any time. The people at the hotels don’t factor this in. Maybe it’s because most of them don’t hunt.

Murdock, with all his legendary irascibility, has cared for and preserved Lanai. He has covered the losses and continued to operate the hotels. He has built a successful photovoltaic farm that shows that clean energy can work well on Lanai. But no good deed goes unpunished. This is a protest without a cause, a regrettable expression of the destructive separatism we sometimes see in the islands.

The gentle people of Lanai should reconsider. They should reject calls to action that would cost them so dearly. They should take a closer look at the energy future of our state. They should not bite the hand of noblesse oblige that would build a clean energy future for them and our state.

Perhaps the best answer is negotiated. Although the protesters are not entitled to demand a share of Murdock’s return, I expect Murdock would negotiate a reduction in the cost of power or perhaps new recreational areas on the west end. You get so much more when you’re realistic.

The world waits to hear what the people of Lanai will do. Will they risk the end of the chapter, or will they make Lanai a shining example of clean energy? The right thing seems clear.