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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.R. NO. |
190 |
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TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2014 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE RESOLUTION
urging the public utilities commission to end consideration of an interisland high-voltage undersea electric transmission cable system and industrial wind facilities on the island of lĀna‘i.
WHEREAS, Act 165, Session Laws of Hawai‘i 2012 (Act 165), authorized the construction and development of an interisland high-voltage undersea electric transmission cable system to link the electricity consumers of the island of O‘ahu to the wind energy generation facilities located on other islands of the State; and
WHEREAS, Act 165 explicitly stated that nothing in the Act "is intended to require the construction of an interisland cable from any particular island"; and
WHEREAS, notwithstanding Act 165, the initial placement of hundreds of industrial wind turbines was targeted for placement in historic Ka‘a ahupua‘a, on the island of Lāna‘i; and
WHEREAS, residents and community groups on Lāna‘i and around the State have strongly and consistently opposed the construction of industrial wind energy facilities on Lāna‘i; and
WHEREAS, in May 2012, ninety-eight percent of Lāna‘i was purchased by Lanai Island Holdings, LLC; and
WHEREAS, Pūlama Lāna‘i and its parent company Lanai Island Holdings, LLC, have expressed no desire or plan to place industrial wind turbines in Ka‘a ahupua‘a; and
WHEREAS, H.C.R. No. 189, H.D. 1, Regular Session of 2013, requested the Governor to engage and work with Lāna‘i, Moloka‘i, and the other neighbor island communities when formulating energy policy and identifying energy projects for the State of Hawai‘i; and
WHEREAS, in May 2013, the Hawaiian Electric Company publicly stated it no longer needed industrial wind energy from Lāna‘i to meet the renewable portfolio standards set forth in section 269-92, Hawaii Revised Statutes; and
WHEREAS, the State Energy Office of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism thereafter publicly also stated that energy from industrial wind turbines on Lāna‘i is not needed for the State to meet its energy goals; and
WHEREAS, the Governor also publicly stated that an industrial wind energy facility on Lāna‘i would interfere with the vision of Lanai Island Holdings, LLC, to make the island of Lāna‘i a world-class model of energy self-sufficiency; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i, Regular Session of 2014, that the Public Utilities Commission is urged to terminate consideration of an interisland high-voltage electric transmission cable system and the construction of industrial-scale wind energy generation facilities on the island of Lāna‘i; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Chairperson of the Public Utilities Commission; Mayor of Maui County; Lanai Island Holdings, LLC; Castle & Cooke Hawai‘i, Inc.; and the Executive Directors of Friends of Lāna‘i, Lanaians for Sensible Growth, Lāna‘i Community Association, Lāna‘i Cultural and Heritage Center, and Kupa‘a nō Lāna‘i.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Public Utilities Commission; Interisland High-Voltage Electric Transmission Cable System; Industrial Wind Energy Generation Facilities; Island of Lāna‘i