October 18, 2019
Hawaii

Opponents of Kahuku wind farm project block access road in Kapolei as police begin arrests

By Mark Ladao | Honolulu Star-Advertiser | Oct. 17, 2019 | www.staradvertiser.com

Update 11:21 p.m.

Three protesters have been arrested so far, with the first at 11:16 p.m. All have been carried from the spots where they were sitting.

All three arrests have been of women, and although protesters called for female officers to carry them away, police have ignored those requests.

Update 11:07 p.m.

21 protesters duct taped and zip tied to each other sat in the middle of the access road for about half an hour, but police have moved to begin arresting them.

Officers and protesters asked bystanding protesters to leave the road.

Police said through a megaphone that the protesters are unlawfully occupying the road, but protesters drowned out the warnings by chanting and singing. Officers gave them until 11 p.m. to move from the road.

20 of the 75 or so officers present used their bicycles to block the protesters being arrested from those standing by.

Update 10:10 p.m.

About two dozen protesters who duck taped and zip tied themselves to each other cut the police tape blocking them to block the road where the wind turbines would be carried out.

Another 20 or so walked around them for support. They are singing, chanting and carrying Hawaii state flags.

Police officers have gathered near the human blockade but have not acted.

Previous Coverage

At least 60 protesters against the Na Pua Makani wind farm project have gathered at both Kalaeloa in Kapolei and near the Kahuku wind farm on the North Shore, where trucks carrying wind turbine parts will leave from and be built, respectively.

The group is at the intersection of Malakole and Hanua Street, less than a mile from AES Hawaii. Police have blocked off the road the trucks will be leaving from.

Protesters are duct-taping and zip-tying themselves to each other.

The Virgina-based developer AES Corp. has been contracted to build the wind farm in Kahuku.

Protesters have protested the installation of the turbines since Sunday but have opposed the project for about a decade.

Kahuku residents say the turbines lead to health problems, which include migraines, nausea and other physiological symptoms caused by both constant audible and visual noises and lights as well as imperceptible emissions from turbines such as infrasound.

AES Corp. has continued to say that the wind turbines will have no health effects.


URL to article:  https://www.wind-watch.org/news/2019/10/18/opponents-of-kahuku-wind-farm-project-block-access-road-in-kapolei-as-police-begin-arrests/