Senator Roz Baker and Senator Gabbard are holding an informational briefing of the Energy & Environment and Commerce & Consumer Affairs committees to get an update on the status of the interisland wind and undersea cable project. The hearing will take place on January 11th from 1:30pm to 4:00pm in Rm. 229 at the State Capitol.

If you're not familiar, the state has plans to work with developers to locate two 200 MW wind farms, one on Lana‘i and one on Moloka‘i, and have that electricity sent to Oahu through an undersea cable. Castle & Cooke is planning to build the wind farm on Lana‘i and First Wind is supposed to do the one on Moloka‘i. Both companies would sell the electricity to HECO.

There are many questions and concerns from the community that Senator Baker and Senator Gabbard want to get out in the open at the hearing, such as the impact it will have on those residents' quality of life and what "community benefits" they will receive. There will be two community groups from Lana‘i, Lanaians for Sensible Growth and Friends of Lanai, which will make presentations. Senator Baker and Senator Gabbard will also have Hui Ho‘o Pakele Aina and Moloka‘i Community Service Council giving their perspective on the planned project. Read More

Thursday, December 30, 2010

Health and Energy & Environment Committees to Get Answers on Water Quality

Senator Josh Green and Senator Gabbard will be co-chairing an informational briefing of the Senate Health and Energy & Environment committees on January 5th at 1pm at the State Capitol. The purpose is to get some answers on a study that questions the safety of our drinking water.

The study, which came out in December, analyzed the drinking water in 35 cities around the country and was conducted by the Environmental Working Group. The study found that 31 of those 35 cities had a toxic chemical called hexavalent chromium in their water supplies. Hexavalent chromium came to the nation's attention with the movie, Erin Brockovich, which detailed the story of a lawsuit that was brought against a water utility in California which ended in a $330 million settlement because of the presence of this very same chemical in their water supply. What is alarming is that Honolulu had the second highest concentration of hexavalent chromium of the 35 cities that were tested. Read More

Friday, December 3, 2010

Mock Hearing for UH Environmental Law Students

The Senate Energy and Environment Committee and House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee held a mock hearing for the students of UH Professor Denise Antolini's Advanced Environmental Law Class at the Capitol on November 18th. This is the second time that current ENE Chair, Mike Gabbard, has had the opportunity to co-host this event.

This year the students prepared actual bills dealing with energy and environmental issues, such as plastic bags, Styrofoam, energy efficiency, cultural impacts, and environmental justice. During the mock hearing, legislators asked the students pointed questions to give them an opportunity to get the flavor of a real legislative hearing and to defend their work.