We Believe What Billionaires Say

Hulopoe Beach, Lanai (McClatchy photo)

Three months after his purchase of Lanai from Castle & Cooke / Dole Food was revealed, Oracle billionaire Larry Ellison discloses a few of his plans:

Based on his remarks in a CNBC interview at Oracle OpenWorld, Ellison sees the 141-square-mile island as a “laboratory for experimenting with more environmentally sound ways of living,” per AP, and “hopes to convert sea water into fresh water” — a currently limited commodity. “He also wants more electric cars on the island” — where most roads require four-wheel-drive, visitors rent pricey Jeeps and locals tend to prefer big pickups — and “hopes to increase its fruit exports to Japan and other markets.”

If he wanted to do research on electric cars and desalination, Larry Ellison could have done it in the Bay Area (near Oracle headquarters) without spending a half a billion dollars for a Hawaiian island.

Building a large-scale environmental laboratory may be part of the plans for Lanai, but there has to be more to it than that. And he'll be able to do fruit exports better than Dole? Please.