STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1643

                                   Honolulu, Hawaii
                                                     , 1999

                                   RE:  S.C.R. No. 148
                                        S.D. 1




Honorable Norman Mizuguchi
President of the Senate
Twentieth State Legislature
Regular Session of 1999
State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred
S.C.R. No. 148, S.D. 1, entitled:

     "SENATE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION REQUESTING THE PUBLIC
     UTILITIES COMMISSION, UPON RECEIPT OF HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC
     COMPANY'S APPLICATION FOR APPROVAL OF THE PROPOSED KAMOKU-
     PUKELE 138,000 VOLT TRANSMISSION LINE PROJECT IN HONOLULU,
     TO BIFURCATE THE DOCKET IN ORDER TO FIRST CONSIDER THE ISSUE
     OF NEED,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this Concurrent Resolution is to request that
the Public Utilities Commission, upon receipt of Hawaiian
Electric Company's application for approval of the proposed
Kamoku-Pukele 138,000 volt transmission line project in Honolulu,
to bifurcate the docket in order to first consider the issue of
need.

     In addition, this Concurrent Resolution requests the
Commission to place a ninety-day recess in the docket proceedings
if it determines that the need exists for the project, before
consideration of the specific design, routing, placement, cost,
and other issues, to allow the community to prepare its response
to Hawaiian Electric Company's proposal before the Commission.
The Concurrent Resolution further requests that consideration of
the issue of need is to include such items as a review of the
Oahu-wide electrical transmission system; an analysis of how the

 
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project by itself may improve "reliability"; an evaluation of
other system-wide improvement alternatives and technological
alternatives to the Kamoku-Pukele project; and an analysis of the
total costs of the project for the planned life of the project,
including construction costs, maintenance costs, revenue
requirements, debt servicing, and non-pecuniary costs.

     Your Committee finds that the community has expressed strong
concerns regarding the Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc.'s proposed
Kamoku-Pukele 138,000 volt transmission line project in Honolulu,
including the need for the proposed project, the routing and
manner of placement of the project if needed, long term financial
and aesthetic impacts, destruction of viewplanes, scenic and
recreational resources, health effects of electric and magnetic
field exposure, desecration of culturally significant sites, and
economic impacts on the visitor and film industries.  Your
Committee further finds that the need for the project has never
been directly addressed or evaluated by the Public Utilities
Commission or through the environmental impact statement process,
and that the docket before the Commission should therefore be
bifurcated to first consider the issue of need independently of
and prior to all other issues raised by the proposed project.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your
Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your
Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of S.C.R. No. 148,
S.D. 1, and recommends its adoption.

                                 Respectfully submitted on behalf
                                 of the members of the Committee
                                 on Ways and Means,



                                 ________________________________
                                 CAROL FUKUNAGA, Co-Chair



                                 ________________________________
                                 ANDREW LEVIN, Co-Chair

 
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