PRESS RELEASE
 

Dr. Ted Shaneyfelt, engineer and candidate for Mayor of Hawaii Island is running a zero-dollar campaign. He accepts no donations nor spends any money on campaign items to become trash after the election. He gave up over $1 million in salary to move from Honolulu to teach Computer Science and Engineering at UH Hilo in 2000. Since then, that is mostly what he's been doing professionally.

 

But while helping people evacuate during the eruption in Leilani Estates, where he grew up, he saw that many people were prohibited by authorities for weeks from evacuating any of their items or even livestock and other animals left to burn. In the expressed opinion of Dr. Shaneyfelt, this was depriving people of a fundamental constitutional right of security of houses and effects guaranteed by the fourth amendment. As a result he decided to run for mayor, to be sworn in to protect, defend and preserve the Constitution.

 

Despite having advanced degrees in Engineering, Dr. Shaneyfelt credits much wisdom to his father Robert "Bob" Shaneyfelt, who told many stories. He listened to stories about difficult economic times of the Great Depression and how to make wise investments with frugal spending. Combining that with higher degrees in engineering and professional training in effective management and optimizing systems, he intends to make our county more efficient and effective. He listened to stories of how Kapoho was evacuated in 1960 and residents removed everything of value from their homes and even dismantled windows and roofing before being there to photograph their homes catching fire for insurance purposes. Afterward the government allocated new land in Nanawale Estates to victims and many came out "smelling like a rose", with no deaths caused by that eruption. The Leilani Estates Community Association, where they were active members in the 1970's and 1980's, had plans for evacuating if lava were to come, and none of those plans included being prohibited from doing so by county leadership. Robert Shaneyfelt taught that this country was founded at its inception on three basic God-given rights of life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness. He taught that the order in which they are listed is important because one must be alive to have liberty, and they must be free to pursue happiness. Robert Shaneyfelt also taught that people are individuals, not just members of classes or groups, and as such each should be understood and helped individually by individuals. Government should not get in the way of that. Dr. Shaneyfelt intends to govern according to the ways he learned.

 

Dr. Shaneyfelt seeks to combine his engineering background with a close connection to the land and sustainable way of life. Dr. Shaneyfelt is perhaps the only candidate who drives an electric vehicle powered by his own rooftop generated electricity. He is the only candidate who raises so many edible plants - having had over 100 different kinds of fruits, nuts, spices, and other edible plants growing for his ohana. He has been known for sharing macadamia nuts, bananas, and other fruits with his students at the University where he himself was the first Computer Science graduate. Dr. Shaneyfelt advocates for rooftop solar, but opposes clearing land by the utility company for solar farms. The reason is that there is already enough rooftop solar that HELCO is severely limiting customers' ability to sell their excess power to the grid. If that is the case, it makes no sense to strip clear valuable land that could be used for farming or kept natural for future generations. Dr Shaneyfelt does not advocate for wind because after doing his own research and listening to others, he found that they not only have a very short life with high maintenance costs, but while they are operating they are notorious for endangering and killing flying wildlife, as well as requiring land below them to be stripped and fenced off where keikis used to roam freely. Finally in the end, there are huge non-recyclable parts such as the propellers that end up being buried in acres and acres of landfills. While it seems at first to be the icon for renewable energy and sustainability, the grid scale windmill brings more harm than good, contrary to its reputation. Like the compact fluorescent light bulb, the public was led to believe it was harmless and sustainable. In the end, many fluorescent bulbs contained poisonous mercury and had a short life expectancy quickly polluting our landfills. Another misunderstood resource that requires deeper study to understand is geothermal, but while on the surface it appears to be problematic with stories of pentane being dangerous. Dr. Shaneyfelt recommends giving up fossil fuel powered cars before complaining about pentane used in geothermal operations because gas stations are full of the same chemical mixed with much worse chemicals that get burnt and release dangerous fumes into the air. The pentane used in geothermal plants on the other hand is not pumped into the ground as misunderstood, but rather is kept in a closed system of pipes to convert between temperature and energy, like a refrigerator running in reverse. This is the same principle used by the Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion project to generate energy from the ocean. Geothermal does not strictly need to use pentane in its operations, but does so to help the environment by improving its efficiency. The energy collected through this process is an optimization on top of turning steam turbines. That means we need fewer wells for the same power, less land to be cleared, and it's better for the environment than running without pentane. Dr. Shaneyfelt learned this from Mr. Kaleikini, executive of PGV, who gave a presentation on how PGV works and honest evaluation of its biggest risk factors for Dr. Shaneyfelt's Computer Science Students. Having lived in Leilani Estates, Dr. Shaneyfelt observed that complaints made by people near PGV are generally made by those who chose to settle near it. It never bothered his family while they were living there. His suggestion is that PGV should provide free electricity to its nearest neighbors so that living nearby might be considered a privilege rather than a burden.  A few geothermal plants could provide all of our island's electrical grid needs with minimal land use. Among alternatives, nuclear is generally not advised for Hawaii. Geothermal is better for our carbon-free needs than that. The reason is that a nuclear accident affecting DNA could affect not just the generation of the accident, but DNA damage could be passed down from generation to generation.

Dr. Shaneyfelt says the oath of office is the most important part of any job. Our leaders must protect the constitutional rights of Hawaii's families and clear away unnecessary regulatory burdens and wasteful government expenses that hinder them from pursuing happiness.