Posted on 08/25/2023 9:19:48 AM PDT by matt04
Maui County filed suit Thursday against Hawaiian Electric, alleging the utility caused the Lahaina wildfire and failed to take appropriate actions to maintain the grid.
It’s the latest suit against Hawaiian Electric connected to the blaze — now the deadliest U.S. wildfire in more than a century — but a new wrinkle in the story given that previously the utility had only faced litigation from residents for its operations before, during and after the blaze.
John Fiske, one of several attorneys representing the county in the civil suit, says investigators have already documented evidence that “the ultimate cause and origin of the fires from a legal and factual standpoint is lines and phases that were slapping on the ground.”
Fiske says a de-energization program should have been in place to cut off power and adds HECO should have taken more action to prepare its equipment with approaching powerful winds.
“Not only should these types of poles and lines and equipment and insulators all withstand these large wind events, but there is now a standard in the investor-owned utility world to de-energize or power down lines in the aftermath of these high wind events because fires can be started,” he said.
...
At a news conference last week, company President Shelee Kimura said it does not have a de-energization program, but added cutting off power would have impacted water systems in a fire.
She also said powering down the grid puts vulnerable populations at risk.
“Even in places it has been used, it is controversial and not universally accepted,” she said.
(Excerpt) Read more at hawaiinewsnow.com ...
Yep, deep pockets, until there are no pockets.
I watched a video where the guy said the electric company had been trying to do controlled burns on that grass for years, but the environmentalists stopped them.
I watched a video where the guy said the electric company had been trying to do controlled burns on that grass for years, but the environmentalists stopped them.
and guess who it is that’s the largest shareholder....
(snip)
Investors should note that institutions actually own more than half the company, so they can collectively wield significant power. Hedge funds don’t have many shares in Hawaiian Electric Industries. Looking at our data, we can see that
******* the largest shareholder is BlackRock, Inc. with 11% of shares outstanding.**************
In comparison, the second and third largest shareholders hold about 10% and 3.0% of the stock. Additionally, the company’s CEO Constance Lau directly holds 0.6% of the total shares outstanding.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/kind-shareholders-own-hawaiian-electric-083210542.html?guccounter=1
Don’t we long for the days when bad things really were an Act of God.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Act_of_God
In legal usage in the English-speaking world, an act of God or damnum fatale (”loss arising from inevitable accident”)[2] is a natural hazard outside human control, such as an earthquake or tsunami, for which no person can be held responsible. An act of God may amount to an exception to liability in contracts (as under the Hague–Visby Rules)[3] or it may be an “insured peril” in an insurance policy.[4] In Scots law the equivalent term is damnum fatale,[5] while most Common law proper legal systems uses the term act of God.[6]
By contrast, other extraordinary man-made or political events are deemed force majeure.[7]
You’re correct on both points.
The propagation of stupidity and lies within a utility company is tremendous.
Promotions are being given to undeserving women and minorities.
Every single timeline stated is not even remotely accomplishable.
The cost overruns will also be huge.
The amount of overlapping designs, and thus costs, between electric and fiber is huge.
Imagine one electric utility, and three comm companies wanting work done in the same area.
The electric company can have different work being designed for New Business, Regional Engineering, and DER calling for replacement of the same poles of three differing sizes and times.
Then the outside engineering firms are calling for the same poles to be designed and replaced for new comm attachments.
Now you also have the IBEW and CWA unions having discussions about not taking each other’s work.
Timelines and costs…
These are only some of the issues before getting into environmental and governmental…
Uh, yes. That way all outages can be blamed on someone besides the politicos.
As to this being caused by a power line, BullS**!..
So what if a power line caused a fire? So could a car’s exhaust, careless smoker, arsonist, lightening, etc. The source of flame is totally irrelevant. The problem is lack of water to fight a fire and lots of brush around to feed it.
And, THAT, is right out of the CaCaLand playbook.
agree..read there was some connection to water flow...pump stations??
I’m shocked! The utility wanted to make things safe but were stopped by locals/bureaucrats.
In CT/Western MA, basically north of I-84 and all the way up to Holyoak MA area was had 100% power outages for several days in late October 2011. I was out for just about 9 days. It was a warmer fall and most of the leaves were still on the trees then we got hit with a 12+ in very, very, very, heavy snow fall that took down trees, poles, power lines and even transmission lines.
Even after that, people still protested when the utility wanted to cut/trim trees near the lines. Can’t fix stupid.
“damnum” a word I can use in place of damn it when I hit my thumb with a hammer.
Except that it was Maui Fire that declared the fire 100% contained and left the scene...(presumably to fight a different fire).
If it was true, the county emergency director should have ordered it. Note that all the government cretins are trying to blame others for what they should have done. That was their only job and they failed miserably.
Hawaii electric should immediately DISCONNECT from ALL Transmission Lines and put them up for sale on Ebay for $1, let the new Owners then assume all liability and they just provide electricity to someone else’s transmission lines.
Crisis Update: Maui’s Children - Smart Cities And Sex Trafficking
💥School cancelled
💥Water turned off
💥Overhead cables remained powered
💥Police used fallen cables as a reason to block escape routes
💥Sirens not sounded
💥Emergency officials off the island
💥Since the fire, officials have blocked food, medicine, and water supplies
💥FEMA and Coastguard intercepting charities like Hungry Heroes of Hawaii
💥Cell service limited, drones jammed, media banned
💥Governor says the State will buy property. Plans for Smart City already drafted
https://moneycircus.substack.com/p/crisis-update-mauis-children-smart
Maui County, why the hell was there a FIVE HOUR delay for allowing the water to flow? Some entity needs to sue the hell out of Maui County.
I physically live on the big island of Hawaii.
Been here 23 years.
The problem is that this is a single party state beholden
to the “party”.
It is that simple. You get ruled by Democrats,
you are no better than Jews going to Auschwitz.
Only reason I’m still alive is the 2A.
I shoot back.
“Tom Hanks Exposes Oprah’s Evil Real Estate Plan In Maui Hawaii”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rFXDktQgeP4
Interesting video, even though the narrator can’t pronounce, “Lahaina”.
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