Current Page - West Hawaii Today

ECHO CITY
KNOCKOUTS HOST
DOUBLE-HEADER
SPORTS, 1B
MONDAY, APRIL 20, 2015
WESTHAWAIITODAY.COM
75¢
Time to
respond
to claims
waning
Kanikapila on the lawn
LAWSUIT ALLEGES
PGV OWNER ORMAT
INDUSTRIES
DEFRAUDED FEDERAL
GOVERNMENT
BY COLIN M. STEWART
HAWAII TRIBUNE-HERALD
Darlene Ahuna and her band sing Hawaiian classics at the second annual Kailua Kanikapila Community
Concert and Picnic Saturday at Hale Halawai.
CROWD GATHERS FOR AN AFTERNOON OF SONG, FOOD AND FELLOWSHIP
M
ore than 100
people settled
on Hale
Halawai’s lawn Saturday
afternoon for the second
annual Kailua Kanikapila
Community Concert and
Picnic. The lawn was filled
with Hawaiian music
lovers relaxing on their
chairs, mats, the grass
and a rock wall while
listening to classic songs
sung by multiple Na
Hoku Hanohano Award
winner Darlene Ahuna
and her band. As the
sun approached setting,
traditional Hawaiian
music floated over Kailua
Bay to the delight of the
lounging array of picnic
goers who either brought
or bought their food
for an informal sunset
dinner. This community
event was sponsored by
Kailua Village Business
Improvement District,
Hawaii Tourism Authority
and County of Hawaii.
The crowd relaxes to the music of Darlene Ahuna
at the second annual Kailua Kanikapila Community
Concert and Picnic Saturday at Hale Halawai.
PHOTOS BY LAURA SHIMABUKU/WEST HAWAII TODAY
Bean counting, corrections and nominees await Legislature
BY CATHY BUSSEWITZ
ASSOCIATED PRESS
HONOLULU — The
Hawaii Legislature has three
weeks left to wrap up all its
business for the 2015 session,
and most of the major legislation remains undecided.
Lawmakers in both chambers have passed bills that
would set up a system of
medical marijuana dispensaries, solve problems at
Hawaii’s financially troubled
INDEX
health insurance exchange
and allocate all of the state’s
spending. But they have yet
to agree on their versions
for most of the bills. They’ll
begin hashing out their differences in conference committees this week.
Here’s a sampling of the
hearings planned for the
days ahead:
BEAN COUNTING
Where will all of the $26
million in the two-year state
budget go? A conference
Annie’s Mailbox . . . . . . 4B
HI
83 LO 73
committee will begin combing through the latest draft of
the state budget on Tuesday
afternoon.
CORRECTIONS
Dozens of corrections officers have repeatedly called in
sick on holidays, leading the
prison system to cancel visits
to inmates and to have officers work overtime. A House
resolution calls on the state
auditor to investigate. That
resolution will be heard in a
Senate committee Monday
Classified . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6B
Comics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5B
afternoon.
GOVERNOR’S NOMINEES
Senate committees will
hear testimony on dozens
of Gov. David Ige’s nominees to various boards and
panels. The full Senate
may take a vote on William
Balfour, a nominee for
the Commission on Water
Resource Management, who
was approved by a Senate
committee Friday. Some
environmental groups have
opposed the nominee.
Nation & World . . . . . . . . .3A
The owner of Puna Geothermal Venture
has two weeks remaining to file an answer
to a complaint alleging it defrauded the
federal government of $13.8 million in
stimulus funds to cover an expansion at
the plant.
Ormat Industries, the parent company
of Hawaii Island’s only geothermal power
plant, “engaged in a scheme to obtain
federal grant money under (the American
Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009)
for geothermal energy projects which did
not qualify for payment, and have misused and abused the federal funds they
have received in order to falsely support
geothermal energy projects that the government never intended, or would allow,”
according to an amended complaint filed
in May 2014.
The civil suit, which was filed in Nevada
District Court, alleges PGV’s original
30-megawatt capacity plant was advertised as generating 30 MW of electricity,
but in actuality was producing “no more
than 17 MW and that this inhibited production was causing Ormat’s revenues to
decline by $1 million per month.”
In an effort to staunch those losses,
the complaint reads, Ormat undertook
an 8 MW expansion of the geothermal
plant, which it then misrepresented as a
standalone plant in order to qualify for the
federal stimulus funds.
The $787 billion stimulus package was
designed to spur economic growth while
creating new jobs and saving existing ones.
The suit also claims Ormat has sought
to “artificially inflate” the value of its energy assets in order to “maintain the appearance of viability” of its geothermal ventures, creating the appearance, “on paper,”
of profit.
The two complainants, Tina Calilung
and Jamie Kell, are both former employees
of Ormat. Calilung served as the company’s
asset manager, and Kell was an administrator in the Business Development
Department.
In the complaint, Calilung says she participated in drafting the grant application
for the Puna plant’s expansion.
“As part of that process she spoke
with a Paul Spielman, Ormat’s Manager
of Operations Support for Resources,
who confirmed that the Expansion was
SEE GEOTHERMAL PAGE 5A
Opinion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .4A
VOL. 47, NO. 109 14 PAGES
WEATHER, PAGE 6A
Dr. Ng, Board-Certified Ophthalmologist, and
Johns Hopkins and Harvard trained Retina Specialist
warmly welcomes all patients to his practice.
808-356-3820
888-776-0855 (Toll Free)
Please Call
at
convenient
BigBig
Island
Locations
at three
convenient
Island
Locations
75-170 Hualalai Road, Suite B-105, Kailua Kona
Sports . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1B
For Appointments.
899 Ululani Street, Unit 2, Hilo
Specializing in the
treatment of:
• Diabetic eye disease
• Macular degeneration
• Epiretinal membrane
• Retinal detachment
• Ocular Inflammation
& trauma
• Complex eye disorders
• Pediatric retina care
Hale Ola Pono Medical Center.
65-1267 Kawaihae Road Kamuel