Specifics of SB367 on undersea cable clarified

Viewpoint in the Maui News March 27, 2011 – By ROBIN KAYE Regarding the recent state House panels meetings on the proposed undersea cable (The Maui News, March 22), I would like to add some clarifications regarding SB367, Hawaiian Electric Co.’s premature bill: It is not just Honolulu’s electricity customers who will share the as-yet-unannounced costs of this $1 billion cable. As the legislation is currently written, all HECO ratepayers would share in these costs – including those residents of Lanai and Molokai who, while not receiving any of this wind-generated power, will share these costs as they see their home islands become an industrial wind power plant for Oahu. According to Ted Peck, the state Department of Business, Economic Development & Tourism’s recently departed state energy administrator, the 400 megawatts of wind power would provide 10 percent of Oahu’s electrical power – not 20 percent, not 25 percent. His numbers can be heard on a recent Hawaii Public Radio interview. Despite HECO’s claims to the contrary, SB367 does not balance risk. It allocates that risk – and all recovered costs – onto ratepayers. While the two House committees did approve this premature legislation, there were several representatives who voted with reservations, and it is important to know that the bill’s next stop (the House Finance Committee) is not its final panel. Given the recent slew of amendments and final edits, this bill is sufficiently different from the House bill to require a conference committee review. While it is true that Hawaii gets nearly 90 percent of its energy from imported oil, it is helpful to remember that only 30 percent of that is for electricity; the balance mostly for transportation (boats, planes, cars, etc.) It is not the Public Utilities Commission that will seek proposals from companies to build the cable, it is HECO. The PUC will review the proposal that HECO selects. There has been much confusion around project dates. It is clear that the programmatic environmental impact statement needs to be completed quickly, as it is funded by American Recovery and Reinvestment Act money, which terminates in April 2012. What is not clear is when the cable (or the Neighbor Island wind power plants) would be completed. DBEDT often suggests 2014, but its partner, the U.S. Department of Energy, has said 2020 in public meetings. * Robin Kaye is a member of Friends of Lana’i.