Where's Hawai'i in fuel economy battle?

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, insisting that it has auto fuel economy well under control, has refused to allow 17 states to demand more.

California, at least, says it will appeal. Other states can be expected to join in.

Hawai'i, arguably a state with the most to gain, is ironically not participating in this little example of “think globally, act locally.” That's despite having some of the highest fuel prices in the nation, having an economy critically dependent on fossil fuel imports, a coastline now eroding due in part to climate change, immense traffic problems, parking space issues statewide and so on.

The New York Times listed three arguments used by EPA administrator Stephen L. Johnson to support the agency's decision to ban state action.

1. The state rules are pre-empted by federal authority.

2. The new federal energy bill, which President Bush signed, makes the issue moot.

3. And furthermore, “The Bush administration is moving forward with a clear national solution, and not a confusing patchwork of state rules. I believe this is a better approach than if individual states were to act alone,” he said

Never mind that the EPA has approved virtually all previous California waivers of the Clean Air Bill, that no “clear national solution” has been described, and that the new rules, watered down to gain passage in the Senate, don't go nearly as far as some of the states wanted to go.

The Congress brought the U.S. to automotive fuel economy of 35 miles a gallon by 2020.

Auto makers say they're working hard on improvement fuel economy, but it's not as if this is going to take a monumental technological leap. In Europe, average fuel economy is 20 percent higher than that right now.

The states demanding more fuel economy in cars are Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Utah and Washington. They represent something like half the cars in the nation.

Several of those states have some of the highest fuel costs in the nation (see below for a link to state-by-state fuel costs), although emissions rather than fuel cost is the primary target of mileage standards. Hawai'i, which currently the highest-priced gasoline in the country, is notably missing in the group insisting on tough fuel economy standards.

California says it will appeal the EPA decision: "California sued to compel the agency to act on our waiver, and now we will sue to overturn today's decision and allow Californians to protect our environment," said a statement from the office of Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger.

The California fuel economy plan would have taken that state's fleet to close to the European level of fuel economy by 2016. Twelve states have already adopted the California standard.

“Let's be clear; the California standard is stronger and more effective than the 35 mpg floor established in the new energy bill," said David Doniger, climate center policy director for the National Resources Defense Council.

In a statement on the NRDC website, Doniger added: “California is suffering severe impacts from global warming. Mr. Johnson's 'policy preference' for a different approach is exactly the kind of illegal free-lancing the Supreme Court rejected in its landmark April decision on global warming.”

The auto industry earlier tried to block state-by-state fuel standards, but a federal judge in September 2007 threw out their suit, saying he wasn't convinced that they couldn't meet the California requirements.

President Bush, in a press conference, seemed committed to a national energy strategy: "The question is how to have an effective strategy. Is it more effective to let each state make a decision as to how to proceed in curbing greenhouse gases, or is it more effective to have a national strategy?”

The Association of International Automobile Manufacturers, which represents the major car makers, insists its members consider fuel economy a priority, but that the states have no right to establish fuel economy standards independent of the federal government. In a statement issued today (Dec. 20, 2007), AIAM president Michael Stanton said:

“AIAM supports efforts to reduce greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and improve fuel economy but believes strongly that it is the federal government’s responsibility to establish one uniform national fuel economy standard rather than permit a patchwork of state laws. We look forward to working with EPA and other federal agencies to develop nationwide GHG emissions regulations for motor vehicles that will more effectively address global warming and climate change concerns related to CO2 emissions from automobiles.”
© 2007 Jan W. TenBruggencate
Some numbers: According to the AAA's fuel cost report updated to Dec. 20, 2007, (www.fuelgaugereport.com/sbsavg.asp), Hawai'i's price for regular gasoline was the highest in the nation, leading California by nearly 20 cents and Connecticut by a quarter.

Life evolving in the wet darkness below

Deep in the rock of the Islands, in dark crevices where groundwater flows toward the sea, life is evolving into new forms.
(Photo: These 'ōpae 'ula from Kalaeloa on O'ahu are not as deeply red-colored as ones from Kona. Scott Santos photo.)

Among them are tiny red shrimps, which come into the light only in the rare ponds and anchialine pools where caves and cracks open up to the sunlight. But they are also found in wells dug around the islands, indicating that they inhabit the dark areas as well.

These little crustaceans, less than a half-inch long, are known as 'ōpae 'ula in Hawaiian and Halocaridina rubra to science. They graze on the bacteria and algae that line the walls of their watery habitats. They have been mainly found in lava areas, but have also been located in pools in limestone, like the once-common sinkholes of the 'Ewa plain.

They are generally found near the coast, living in waters that are close enough to the ocean to sometimes have some salt content. The shrimps seem to tolerate a range of salinities.

Researchers say Hawai'i is the perfect place to study these creatures, which some folks keep as aquarium pets, because it has the most extensive anchialine habitats in the world. Auburn University shrimp researcher Scott Santos said he and his team are looking into the origins of some of the shrimp being sold on the internet and in stores as aquarium curiosities.

Earlier this year, researchers Jennifer Ivey and Santos of Auburn University, reported the complete mitochondrial DNA of the shrimps. They reported, in the genetics journal Gene, that this is a step in making it easier to study the population structure of the shrimps and for planning for their conservation.

More recently, researchers looking into the genetics of the shrimp have found that while they are located throughout the Hawaiian underground world, the 'ōpae 'ula do not appear to mix much once they're established.

A study, to be published in 2008 in the journal Limnology and Oceanography, looked at the genetics of 573 shrimp found at 34 different sites on three islands—Hawai'i, Maui and O'ahu.

As you might expect, they found that the ones nearest to each other were likely to be closely related, and those on different islands or far away on an individual island are likely more distantly related. They appear to form geographically isolated breeding groups.

The research found 13 genetic groupings, which were associated with eight “lineages.”

On the Big Island, the shrimp of west Hawai'i are distinct from the ones on the east side of the island, and there's another group in east Ka'u. On Maui, the ones at south Maui and different from the ones near Hāna. On O'ahu, the windward side's shrimps are distinct from those off Wai'anae and the ones at 'Ewa are different still.

The only multi-island lineage was that the shrimp of west Hawai'i are closely related to shrimp found at O'ahu's Kapapa Island in Kāne'ohe Bay.

Clearly, in order to take up residence on a new island, the shrimps must have some ability to disperse across the ocean. But they apparently don't do so often, and the ocean seems to represent a significant barrier. Metaphorically speaking, the ocean for them is a wall you might be able to climb in extraordinary circumstances, but which you seldom do.

Researchers suggest that the Kapapa Island 'ōpae 'ula manage to remain genetically distinct from the ones nearby on O'ahu because they are protected by the ocean barrier.

Within an island, the researchers identified mechanical barriers to transport—essentially features in the rock of the islands that prevent shrimps from one region from communicating with shrimps from another.

The 'ōpae 'ula, thus, are trapped between oceanic and geological barriers, and left to evolve independently in their subterranean domain.

An extensive team of researchers has been studying these cryptic critters. The co-authors of the Limnology and Oceanography article will include among them Jonathan Craft of Auburn University, Atlantis Russ of the University of Hawai'i at Hilo Tropical Conservation Biology and Environmental Sciences Program, Mike Yamamoto of the state Division of Aquatic Resources (DAR), Thomas Iwai Jr. of DAR's Anuenue Fisheries Research Center, Skippy Hau of DAR, John Kahiapo of DAR, Charlie Chong of Lanakila Learning Center in Hilo, Sharon Ziegler-Chong of UH-Hilo's Pacific Aquaculture and Coastal Resources Center, Cam Muir of UH's Biology Department, Yoshihisa Fujita of the University of the Ryukyus, Dan Polhemus formerly of Bishop Museum and now head of DAR, Robert Kinzie III of the Hawai'i Institute of Marine Biology and Santos of Auburn University.

© 2007 Jan W. TenBruggencate

November was wet, but on annual basis, Hawai'i still dry

While most of the state still has below-average rainfall on an annual basis, as anyone living in Hawai'i knows, November was a pretty wet month almost everywhere.

Is the drought of the middle of the year over? It would appear so, from data supplied by National Weather Service senior hydrologist Kevin Kodama. That, and December continues to be plenty wet over much of the state.

The break began with heavy rains over Kaua'i early in the month, which dumped 8 to 10 inches over parts of O'ahu when it got there, then drenched Moloka'i and Maui. Another system brought heavy rain to the southern Big Island, and a statewide storm pounded all the islands at the end of the month.

Kodama's report for Kaua'i: “While wet conditions pushed a couple of sports into the near normal range, most of the available totals for 2007 through the end of November remain in the below normal range. Mount Wai'ale'ale's 291.17 inches leads all totals statewide and is 77 percent of normal.”

For O'ahu: A number of locations are near normal for the year. “However, many gage totals remain below normal in the range of 50 to 80 percent. The Oahu Forest NWR gage leads all Oahu totals with 162.06 inches (87 percent of normal) and has passed Maui’s West Wailuaiki for third highest in the state behind Mount Wai'ale'ale and Pu'u Kukui.”

For Maui: Most rain gages remain below normal for the year. “The wet conditions of November helped push the Kaunakakai total into the near normal range after being below normal all year. Pu'u Kukui’s 174.43 inches (50 percent of normal) leads all Maui County totals and is second highest in the state behind only Mount Wai'ale'ale.”

Kodama said his data come from a range of sources, including National Weather Service weather station network, the Hydronet automated network, sites run by cooperative observers, and automated stations operated by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, the U.S .Geological Survey, the U.S. Bureau of Land Management, the National Park Service, the U.S. Department of Defense, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

© 2007 Jan W. TenBruggencate

Table of statewide rainfall data: www.prh.noaa.gov/hnl/hydro/pages/data_tbl_11.html

Comet missing! Hawai'i telescopes aided in search

The comet 85p/Boethin, which normally passes near the sun every 11.8 years, has disappeared.

Did the mile-wide comet explode due to volatile gases inside it? Did something crash into it and cause it to vaporize? Are little bits of it still on the comet's orbital path, too small to be detected from Earth? Or is it something else?

Astronomers don't know. “It's an intriguing mystery,” said University of Hawai'i astronomer Karen Meech, in a telephone conversation.

(Photo: Artist's conception of Deep Impact spacecraft flying by Earth. Credit: NASA, University of Maryland.)

"We were confident we could find the comet, and we were astonished when it wasn't there," said Meech, of the university's Institute for Astronomy and co-investigator for the mission of the Deep Impact spacecraft. That's the vehicle that in July 2005 crashed a big chunk of metal into Comet Tempel 1 to find out what it was made of.

The Deep Impact team had hoped to redirect their spacecraft to check out Boethin when it arrives near Earth next year. But after a search by an international team of observatories, it seems to be gone.

Deep Impact, whose mission is named EPOXI*, will be redirected to a backup comet, Hartley 2. It should pass by that comet in October 2010.

Boethin was scheduled to be visible within the inner solar system in fall 2008. While Boethin is normally visible from Earth only during the six months when it is closest to the sun, astronomers went looking for its infrared radiation signature when it was still out of sight. They'd expected it could be detected by October 2007.

When they couldn't find it, they enlisted 10 of the world's biggest telescopes, as well as NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope. Among the Earth-bound scopes were two on Mauna Kea, the 8-meter Subaru Telescope and the 3.6-meter Canada-France-Hawai'i telescope

“Their combined international observations constituted the most intense search for an astronomical object every undertaken,” the astronomy institute said in a press release.

Michael A'Hearn, principal investigator for the Deep Impact and EPOXI missions, said researchers feel there may be remnants of the comet, even if it exploded. They say blasts big enough to destroy a comet are rare.

"The last time we saw comet Boethin, we estimated it was at least a mile across. If we can't see it, it must have broken into pieces no more than a quarter-mile across," he said. Astronomers around the world will be watching late next year to see if pieces are visible, and whether remnants form a visible tail.

Meech said the situation is compounded by the fact that astronomers were not confident about their estimate of Boethin's location. It normally takes three comet passes to get an accurate comet orbital assessment. Boethin was only first spotted in 1975, and was viewed again in 1986. But its 1997 pass was on the other side of the sun from Earth, so only two passes have been measured.

Astronomers calculated the possible errors in their positions, and searched all the likely locations for the comet, with no luck.

“We searched that whole area very deeply,” Meech said.

Meanwhile, the Deep Impact/EPOXI spacecraft will have a longer voyage before its next cometary contact. Getting to Comet Hartley 2 will take two years more than a visit to Boethin would have, but Meech said the comet study effort is yielding lots of new information.

"Up to now we have seen only four comets close up, and each was different. Since comets tell us about the chemistry and physical conditions of the early solar system, the more we learn about comets, which delivered some of Earth's early water and organic compounds, the more we may learn about how life began on Earth," Meech said.

© 2007 Jan W. TenBruggencate .

* EPOXI is a blending of the acronyms for two space missions. During the next six months or so, Deep Impact's spacecraft will use one of its two telescopes to search for Earth-sized plans around five stars, a project called Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh). The second mission, to fly by and use telescopes and other gear to inspect Comet Harley 2, is the Deep Impact eXtended Investigation (DIXI).

Hawai'i's most energy self-sufficient school: Ni'ihau

Tiny Ni'ihau School, one of the smallest public schools in the state, is now perhaps Hawai'i's only school that is entirely off the grid.

It is hooked up to a new 10.4 kilowatt photovoltaic power system.

(Photo: Niihau School buildings to left, solar array and battery building at right. Kiawe and tamarind forest all around. Photo courtesy Kaua'i County.)

Ni'ihau School, with 30 students from kindergarten through high school, has never been a power hog. For many years, it used no electric power at all. There is no islandwide power grid on the small, privately owned island off Kaua'i. When electricity was needed, it came from batteries, or someone fired up a fossil-fuel-powered generator.

That's the way it is in the hamlet of Pu'uwai, with its dirt streets and scattered wood-frame homes enclosed by rock walls—to keep the livestock out.

Horses are far more common than motor vehicles. And pigs, sheep and an array of other wildlife wander the countryside.

Only a couple of hundred people live here.

There are no phones, except for cell phones that residents can use to call relatives on Kaua'i. Those cell phones don't work in Pu'uwai, which is on the far side of the island from Kaua'i. Ni'ihau folks have to go miles from home to a high spot from which they can view Kaua'i in order to get a cell signal.

There's no running water, and folks collect the scant rain that falls on their roofs. When it's been dry a long time, they can resort to a well. Some have small solar systems to provide them with juice for lights and small electric appliances.

Residents move regularly back and forth to Kaua'i, and students switch occasionally between Ni'ihau School and one of the several public schools and charter schools on the west side of Kaua'i.

Niihau Ranch manager and island co-owner Bruce Robinson said the installation of the new solar system at the school was a community-wide effort, with the help of the county, the state Department of Education, Gay & Robinson, Niihau Helicopters, Niihau Ranch, Ron's Electric, Seattle-based DPK Inc, and U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development.

“This project shows that renewable energy self-sufficiency can be achieved in our DOE schools through the cooperative efforts of community, government and business,” Robinson said.

The new system will provide power for computers and other technology in the school building, and will provide the school with refrigeration for food in its cafeteria. Until now, the school could make only limited use of fresh produce, dairy products, and other food requiring cooling.

“The basic need for electricity at Ni'ihau Island School has been one of many challenges for the community,” said Bill Arakaki, the Department of Education's Kaua'i district chief, and a former principal at Ni'ihau School and Waimea High School.

A field of 80 Kyocera solar panels with peak production of 130 watts each is linked to a bank of 72 deep cycle marine batteries. Those and the associated electronics cost $207,000, which came from a $150,000 USDA grant, $32,000 from the county Energy Extension Service and $25,000 from the Department of Education. Niihau Ranch built the buildings, a stone wall windbreak and did other work.

A county press release said that Ron Sakoda of Ron's Electric and Charlie Cowden of Hanalei Solar provided training, and thanked for their help former Kaua'i DOE chief Daniel Hamada, Randall Higa of the department's safety and security division, Ronald Ho & Associates electrical engineering consultant Tim Higa, and county energy coordinator Glenn Sato.

© 2007 Jan W. TenBruggencate