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Meeting at HCC in Hilo, Friday, May 16, 2025, sums up Waika’s $2.76M of geothermal ‘community outreach’ efforts bought by campaign contributions to Senator Donovan DelaCruz.
VIDEO: $4000 Dela Cruz Campaign Contribution buys Shouting Match in Hilo
by Andrew Walden
“Bull shit!”
With those words, Mililani Trask sums up Waika’s $2.76M geothermal ‘community outreach’ effort bought by campaign contributions to Senator Donovan DelaCruz.
Was it worth it?
Senate Ways and Means Chair Donovan Dela Cruz got $4,000 in campaign contributions from convicted Unity House felon Roberta Cabral. Thanks to Dela Cruz, Cabral’s IDG/Waika is currently being paid $2.76M by UH via HTDC for ‘community outreach,’ on behalf of geothermal energy, under an HRS 103D-102 no-bid sub-contract with no purchase order number dated October 24, 2024. The IDG/Waika sub-contract, #MA2123, is funded by a line-item from the 2024 State Supplemental Budget inserted in Conference Committee as a compromise after a $6M geothermal allocation bill was killed.
“Shut up!”
Waika’s ‘community outreach’ boiled down to their state lobbying effort for passage of SB1269. But that bill died in Conference Committee when the House refused to appoint conferees. Now Cabral’s minions are obligated to go through the motions, checking boxes on so-called contact deliverables, to justify receiving the rest of their payout.
Cabral and Trask have been raking in money from geothermal schemes for years. It's why no geothermal has been built since PGV. It's also one reason why we're paying so much for electricity.
Here is the background:
Here is video of the complete community outreach meeting paid for with your taxpayer dollars held at Hawaii Community College in Hilo, May 18, 2025.
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