Bill Text: HI SCR114 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Coal; Energy

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 8-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2013-03-19 - Referred to ENE/EGH/CPN, WAM. [SCR114 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SCR114-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.C.R. NO.	114
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE CONCURRENT

RESOLUTION

 

 

Requesting the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism to REQUEST the integrated resource plans of electric utilities to investigate whether coal and other natural resources should be included in their fossil fuel portfolio to address Hawaii's challenges regarding affordable electricity rates, transportation fuels, oil independence, net zero carbon footprint, food security and food self-sufficiency, and wastewater treatment alternatives.

 

 

     WHEREAS, Act 99, Session Laws of Hawaii 2012, directs the Public Utilities Commission to consider "the costs and benefits of a diverse fossil fuel portfolio and of maximizing the efficiency of all electric utility assets to lower and stabilize the cost of electricity"; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Abercrombie administration advocates the importation of liquefied natural gas; and

 

     WHEREAS, coal is cheaper than natural gas, liquefied natural gas, and oil; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States is the "Saudi Arabia" of coal with the world's largest proven coal reserves, estimated to last over two hundred years at current burn rates; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. (Hawaiian Electric), pays AES Hawaii, Inc., only 3 cents per kilowatt-hour for coal-based generation, which is much cheaper than wind, photovoltaic, and concentrated solar power feed-in tariff pricing; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaiian Electric's 2012 residential rates increased from 31.1 cents per kilowatt-hour to 34.5 cents per kilowatt-hour, making things more difficult for Hawaii's struggling working families, fixed-income retirees, and ratepayers at-large; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaii's energy independence is not achievable mid-term with the Public Utilities Commission testifying that "our best estimates show that sixty percent of electricity generation in the State will still come from fossil fuels in 2030"; and

 

     WHEREAS, oil price spikes that skyrocket jet fuel costs for airlines will devastate Hawaii's tourist industry and overall economy; and

 

     WHEREAS, carbon dioxide emissions can be captured from stationary emitters but not non-stationary emitters; and

 

     WHEREAS, non-stationary emitters now consume sixty-five percent of Hawaii's imported oil; and

 

     WHEREAS, coal-based generation is a stationary emitter whose carbon dioxide can be captured and used as feedstock to produce solar fuels and electrofuels to completely displace petrol fuels used by non-stationary emitters; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawaiian Electric does not have the latitude to study clean coal in the integrated resource planning process because of governing principles in the Public Utilities Commission that state "[a]ny attempts to add new coal based generation in Hawaii will be opposed by the parties"; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2013, the House of Representatives concurring, that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism request that the integrated resource plans of electric utilities investigate whether coal and other natural resources should be included in their fossil fuel portfolio to address Hawaii's challenges regarding affordable electricity rates, transportation fuels, oil independence, net zero carbon footprint, food security and food self-sufficiency, and wastewater treatment alternatives; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism look at the full spectrum of natural resources before approving new renewable energy generation until the integrated resource planning process has been completed to prevent locking in unnecessarily high rates; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism is requested to submit findings and recommendations to the Legislature, including any necessary implementing legislation, no later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2014; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Concurrent Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism, and Chairperson of the Public Utilities Commission.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism; Coal; Energy