THE SENATE                           S.R. NO.              63
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                    SENATE  RESOLUTION

  REQUESTING THE PUBLIC UTILITIES COMMISSION TO OPEN A DOCKET FOR
    THE PURPOSE OF CONDUCTING A THOROUGH EVALUATION OF THE
    ALLEGED NEED FOR THE HAWAIIAN ELECTRIC COMPANY'S PROPOSED
    KAMOKU-PUKELE 138,000 VOLT ELECTRIC TRANSMISSION LINE
    PROJECT IN HONOLULU. 


 1        WHEREAS, the Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc. (HECO) has
 2   proposed to conduct a 138,000 volt transmission line project in
 3   Honolulu from the Kamoku Substation on Date Street (east of
 4   Kapiolani Boulevard, Date Street and Kamoku Street
 5   intersection) to the Pukele Substation at the northwest corner
 6   of Palolo Valley by placement underground from Date Street to
 7   Dole Street, including traversing the University of Hawaii
 8   lower campus, and overhead from Dole Street along Wa'ahila
 9   Ridge (which separates Manoa and Palolo valleys and includes
10   the Saint Louis Heights residential community) to Pukele; and
11   
12        WHEREAS, the project was apparently first proposed in the
13   1971 to include overhead placement along Palolo Avenue and was
14   subsequently challenged through civil litigation by a coalition
15   of various organizations within the Palolo community; and
16   
17        WHEREAS, the lawsuit was eventually resolved in 1980 by a
18   settlement agreement between the Palolo community and HECO,
19   which directed that any new 138,000 volt transmission lines
20   constructed in Palolo Valley would be required to be placed
21   underground; and
22   
23        WHEREAS, HECO re-initiated efforts to develop the
24   Kamoku-Pukele project in 1992, and in November 1995, submitted
25   a Conservation District Use Application with the Department of
26   Land and Natural Resources for a permit to construct the
27   138,000 volt transmission line through the Conservation
28   District and State Recreation Area on Wa'ahila Ridge; and 
29   
30        WHEREAS, that application triggered the Hawaii Revised
31   Statutes Chapter 343 requirements for the preparation of an
32   environmental impact statement, and the Draft Environmental
33   Impact Statement (DEIS) was released by HECO for public comment

 
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 1   in June 1998, and more than 3,000 comments were submitted by
 2   the August 7, 1998, deadline by members of the public, all of
 3   which HECO is required to respond to; and
 4   
 5        WHEREAS, the community has expressed strong concerns
 6   including, but not limited to, the alleged need for the
 7   proposed project, the routing and manner of placement of the
 8   project if needed, long term financial and aesthetic impacts,
 9   destruction of viewplanes, scenic and recreational resources,
10   health effects of electric and magnetic field (EMF) exposure,
11   desecration of culturally significant sites, and economic
12   impacts on the visitor and film industries; and
13   
14        WHEREAS, HECO filed its Final Environmental Impact
15   Statement (FEIS) for the Kamoku-Pukele 138,000 volt
16   transmission line project on December 16, 1998, with the
17   Department of Land and Natural Resources, which subsequently
18   rejected the FEIS on January 29, 1999, as presently inadequate
19   on the basis that HECO had failed to:
20   
21        (1)  Account for rare tree species found on Wa'ahila
22             Ridge; and
23   
24        (2)  Adequately respond to all of the public comments
25             received;
26   
27   and
28   
29        WHEREAS, the need for the Kamoku-Pukele 138,000 volt
30   transmission line project has never been directly addressed or
31   evaluated by the Public Utilities Commission or though the
32   environmental impact statement process, no docket has yet been
33   opened specifically concerning the project, and it "is a
34   separate and distinct project from the construction of other
35   HECO transmission lines" (FEIS, Appendix N, Response to
36   Comments of The Outdoor Circle, page 19, question 64); and
37   
38        WHEREAS, the DEIS and FEIS contain conflicting information
39   concerning the issue of need, and HECO has implied in the DEIS
40   that the three Oahu blackouts which occurred in 1988, 1991, and
41   1993, would have been prevented by the Kamoku-Pukele line; and
42   

 
 
 
 
 
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 1        WHEREAS, section 2 of the FEIS states that the three
 2   blackouts in 1988, 1993, and 1991 led HECO to accelerate its
 3   program to strengthen the 138-kV transmission line system on
 4   Oahu, culminating in the Kamoku-Pukele line (FEIS, pg 2-10),
 5   while at the same time, the FEIS admits that the proposed
 6   Kamoku-Pukele line would not have prevented these blackouts
 7   (FEIS, Appendix N, Response to Comments of the Safe Power
 8   Action Network, page 19, question 2-35); and
 9   
10        WHEREAS, the economic forecast for Oahu and the actual
11   demand for electrical energy is dramatically different today
12   than in 1971 and 1992; and
13   
14        WHEREAS, according to the FEIS, the revenue requirements,
15   which are defined by HECO as "the estimated amount of revenues
16   that HECO has to collect to recover the cost" of the project
17   needed to construct the Kamoku-Pukele 138,000 volt transmission
18   line project as proposed is $145,871,000 dollars (FEIS,
19   Appendix N, Response to Comments of the Safe Power Action
20   Network, page 112, questions 3-440 & 3-442) and the cost of the
21   proposed project is approximately $30,000,000; and
22   
23        WHEREAS, HECO's cost estimate for the proposed project
24   does not include the reasonably identifiable costs of land,
25   water, air quality, oil spill, economic and native
26   Hawaiian-related impacts (FEIS, Appendix N, Response to
27   Comments of The Outdoor Circle, page 8, question 30); now,
28   therefore, 
29   
30        BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twentieth Legislature
31   of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 1999, that the
32   Public Utilities Commission is requested to open a docket for
33   the purpose of thoroughly evaluating the alleged need for the
34   Hawaiian Electric Company's proposed Kamoku-Pukele 138,000 volt
35   transmission line project in Honolulu, and to complete
36   consideration of this "need docket" prior to the opening of a
37   docket to determine whether the project may be granting
38   approval for implementation; and
39   
40        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the need docket shall include:
41   
42        (1)  A review of the Oahu-wide electrical transmission

 
 
 
 
 
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 1             system;
 2   
 3        (2)  An analysis of how the project by itself may improve
 4             "reliability" (a term thus far undefined in its
 5             application to the proposed project and criteria for
 6             measurement in the context of the electric utility);
 7   
 8        (3)  An evaluation of other system-wide improvement
 9             alternatives and technological alternatives to the
10             Kamoku-Pukele project;
11   
12        (4)  An analysis of the total costs of the project for the
13             planned life of the project, including construction
14             costs, maintenance costs, revenue requirements, debt
15             servicing, and non-pecuniary costs; and
16   
17        (5)  A comparison of these costs to the anticipated
18             benefits of the Kamoku-Pukele 138,000 volt
19             transmission line project;
20   
21   and
22   
23        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Public Utilities
24   Commission in conducting this need docket shall consult with
25   appropriate governmental agencies and private entities, and
26   shall consider the opinions of independent experts, such as the
27   Rocky Mountain Institute and the Natural Resources Defense
28   Council, in addition to the experts provided by HECO; and
29   
30        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Public Utilities
31   Commission is requested to submit a report concerning the
32   status of this need docket and any findings and recommendations
33   to the Legislature not later than twenty calendar days prior to
34   the convening of the Regular Session of 2000; and
35   
36        BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this
37   Resolution be transmitted to the Public Utilities Commission,
38   Hawaiian Electric Company, Inc., the Governor, the Lieutenant
39   Governor, the Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu, all
40   members of the Honolulu City Council, each oahu Neighborhood
41   Board, the Consumer Advocate, the Department of Land and
42   Natural Resources, the Director of the Office of Environmental

 
 
 
 
 
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 1   Quality Control, the Board of Regents and the President of the
 2   University of Hawaii, the President of the Associated Students
 3   of the University of Hawaii, Life of the Land, The Outdoor
 4   Circle, Malama o Manoa, Saint Louis Heights Community
 5   Association, Ho'olaulima o Palolo, Safe Power Action Network,
 6   `Ilio`ulaokalani Coalition, Sierra Club, Honolulu Chapter,
 7   League of Women Voters of Honolulu, Historic Hawaii Foundation,
 8   Natural Resources Defense Council, and Rocky Mountain
 9   Institute.
10 
11 
12 
13                         OFFERED BY:  ____________________________