STAND. COM. REP. NO.  595-08

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2008

RE:   H.B. No. 2159

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water, Land, Ocean Resources & Hawaiian Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 2159 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE NATURAL ENERGY LABORATORY OF HAWAII AUTHORITY,"

beg leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this bill is to appropriate funds for the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii Authority (NELHA) to prepare an environmental impact statement (EIS) to support the reclassification of an 83-acre parcel of land in the County of Hawaii from conservation to urban.

     Cyanotech and a concerned individual testified in support of this bill.  NELHA submitted comments.

     Your Committees find that the subject parcel must be reclassified to enable the continued development and expansion of NELHA and consequently the research and deployment of alternative energy resources.  During the 1980's, Hawaii Ocean Sciences and Technology Park (HOST) acquired the subject property from the then developer of O'oma, who agreed to conduct an EIS for the subject property.  The EIS was never completed.  Subsequently, HOST and the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawaii combined to form NELHA.  Your Committees find that conducting an EIS is a matter of urgency, while the matter of seeking the answer to "why" the EIS was never conducted must be relegated to a lower priority. 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water, Land, Ocean Resources & Hawaiian Affairs that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2159 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water, Land, Ocean Resources & Hawaiian Affairs,

____________________________ KEN ITO, Chair

____________________________ HERMINA MORITA, Chair