By: Leah Barkoukis
During an interview on “Face the Nation,” Democrat Gov. Josh Green of Hawaii discussed the deadly wildfires that destroyed parts of Maui and some of the mistakes officials made regarding the disaster, which he agreed were “amplified” by climate change.
Video recorded from Aug. 8 appears to show a power line in Lahaina emitting sparks, which ignites dry grass, hours before the fire wreaked havoc on the city. That’s put intense focus on Hawaiian Electric, which knew since at least 2019 that more needed to be done to strengthen its equipment to prevent such a disaster. But according to the Wall Street Journal, not much happened in the years afterward, with only $245,000 spent on wildfire prevention projects. Instead, the company was focused on renewable energy.
Referring to Hawaiian Electric, host Margaret Brennan wondered if Green knew why the company proposal for a rate hike to upgrade the grid didn’t happen and if it possibly contributed to the fire.
“I don't know personally, whether or not the power lines were the primary reason the fire occurred. That's why I asked for a comprehensive review," he said. "We have to ask the question on every level of how any one city, county, state could have done better and the private sector. This is the world that we live in now. In this case, and I've seen footage of it from some of the survivors, I've seen footage of how it looked during the fire and how things were exploding and what the fierce winds looked like. They were 80 miles per hour gusting and the fire, I'm now told, was as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. It just destroyed everything. It's not to excuse anything else from any company. It's just to explain what the world should prepare for and I humbly asked all of the cities and states to spend that money now to prevent disasters like we are seeing here.”
https://townhall.com/tipsheet/leahbarkoukis/2023/08/21/hawaii-gov-blames-climate-change-for-fires-n2627288