Hilo teen reported missing

Police looking for missing 15-year-old

Hawaii Island police are searching for a 15-year-old Hilo girl who was reported missing.

Trilyn Saladier was last seen on Dec. 29 at her Hilo residence, according to the Hawaii Police Department, She is described as being 5 feet, 4 inches tall, weighing 125 pounds with black shoulder-length hair, brown eyes and a tan complexion.

Anyone with information on her whereabouts should call the department’s nonemergency line at 935-3311.

Suspect in custody in fatal Maui stabbing

WAILUKU — Police say a man is in custody following a fatal stabbing at a Maui mall.

Police went to the Kahului shopping center Sunday afternoon for reports of a male victim who had been stabbed. The victim was pronounced dead at the scene and his name has not yet been released.

Maui police spokesman Lt. Gregg Okamoto said officers took a male suspect into custody later in the afternoon.

The man was arrested but has not been charged. He matched the description witnesses gave of a man who fled the scene.

Okamoto said that the investigation is still in its preliminary stages.

Tank upgrades could cost $2B

HONOLULU — The Navy has estimated that the least expensive method of double-walling its fuel tanks that in 2014 spilled 27,000 gallons of fuel could cost between $500 million and $2 billion.

The costs are part of an agreement entered into by the Navy, Defense Logistics Agency, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Health to upgrade the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility, the Honolulu Star-Advertiser reported Monday.

The facility, with 20 giant underground tanks that cumulatively hold 250 million gallons of fuel, is deemed by the military to be an essential facility for operations. In December, the Navy submitted a tank upgrade study that examines three single-wall options and includes improved repair and restoration as the most basic option, as well as two double-wall designs and one tank-within-a-tank design.

The most expensive tank-within-a-tank option, with carbon steel and full interior and exterior coating, is estimated at between $2 billion and $5 billion. The cheapest single-wall option is projected by the Navy to cost between $180 million and $450 million, the Star-Advertiser reported.

At a Red Hill public information meeting last week, Waianae resident Kapua Keliikoa-Kamai said, “If we can spend billions of dollars in a war in somebody else’s country, we need to spend billions of dollars for national defense here in my home.”

Keliikoa-Kamai favors secondary containment — double-walling the tanks — in five years. The Sierra Club of Hawaii has a similar stance. The consent agreement requires that whatever upgrade is selected needs to be completed by September 2037.

The Navy last month also completed a Red Hill study that looks at 12 potential relocation sites for what it said would be an “extraordinary project” to duplicate in 40 tanks the same 250 million gallon capacity that exists now.

Ige nominates energy specialist to PUC

KAILUA-KONA — Gov. David Ige on Monday nominated University of Hawaii energy specialist Jennifer Potter to the Public Utilities Commission.

Potter is an assistant specialist with the University of Hawaii at Manoa’s Hawaii Natural Energy Institute.

The nomination is subject to Senate confirmation. If confirmed, Potter would begin her six-year term on July 1. She will replace Lorraine Akiba, whose term expires June 30.

Prior to joining HNEI, Potter was a senior scientific engineering associate in the Electricity Market and Policy group at Lawrence Berkeley National Lab. While there, she was the project lead on the 2025 California Demand Response Potential Study for the California Public Utilities Commission. Potter also worked at the Sacramento Municipal Utility District in various positions, including enterprise performance data manager, principal market analyst, and project manager. She was also an electric analyst for the City of Roseville in California.

Potter earned her bachelor’s degree in international studies and economics from Southern Oregon University, and her master’s degree in public policy and management from Carnegie Mellon University.

The three-member commission regulates all chartered, franchised, certificated and registered public utility companies operating in the state. It also reviews and approves rates, tariffs, charges and fees, among other duties including acting on requests for the acquisition, sale, disposition or other exchange of utility properties, including mergers and consolidations.

Monster home ban in place temporarily

HONOLULU — Honolulu Mayor Kirk Caldwell has approved a temporary ban of up to two years on building permits for “monster” houses, giving the city Department of Planning and Permitting time to come up with permanent rules.

“How do we preserve the quality of life in our neighborhoods but also meet the growing demands for more affordable housing on this island, which becomes less and less affordable every year?” Caldwell told reporters last week.

The department will not approve building permit applications during the moratorium for houses that cover more than seven-tenths of a lot. But the ordinance allows the department to consider exceptions for larger dwellings if they meet a very specific set of requirements.

Kathy Sokugawa, the department’s acting director, said she expects to have a draft set of rules sent to the City Council by the end of the year.

The bill, introduced by Councilman Ikaika Anderson, was prompted by concerns by residents of older Oahu neighborhoods who are troubled that their communities are being inundated by buildings so large that they are out of character with their neighborhoods.