HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.R. NO.	161
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

HOUSE RESOLUTION

URGING THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH, DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION, AND DEPARTMENT OF LAND AND NATURAL RESOURCES TO TAKE ACTION TO REDUCE THE CARBON EMISSIONS ARISING FROM AIRPLANE TRANSPORTATION TO AND FROM THE STATE.

WHEREAS, the Hawaiian islands are the most remote inhabited archipelago from any continental land mass, to and from which air transportation is the only means of rapid travel; and

WHEREAS, a Honolulu Civil Beat article written by Stewart Yerton and published on August 27, 2019, states that airplane flights between the State and the western continental United States produced 2.3 million tons of carbon in 2017, while all global flights to or from the State totaled 6.3 million tons of carbon during the same year; and

WHEREAS, a presentation at the Hawaiʻi Tourism Futures Colloquium by University of Hawaiʻi researcher Andrei Shkvorov added water vapor, particulates, and nitrogen oxides to Yerton's analysis and thus determined that the annual carbon contribution of visitors entering and leaving the State is 24.6 million tons yearly; and

WHEREAS, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has calculated that each individual must remain within a yearly "carbon budget" of 2.7 tons, in order to keep human-made global warming below 1.75 degrees Celsius and reach zero net emissions by 2050; and

WHEREAS, a paper written by Tawn Keeney, MD, and published in October 2020 in the Climate Emergency Digest, an online journal, found that the average round-trip flight to the State creates 1.8 tons of carbon emissions, which is two thirds of a person's 2.7-ton annual carbon budget; and

WHEREAS, multiple possibilities exist to address carbon emissions caused by air travel to and from the State, which include but are not limited to offsetting the carbon contributions from visitors, adjusting the number of visitors coming to the State, and requiring airlines operating in the State to use technology which has a lower carbon output; and

WHEREAS, some governmental action to curb emissions from airplane travel requires legislative instruction, while other governmental action to curb such emissions can be taken by departments and agencies without the need for legislative instruction; now, therefore,

BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, that the Department of Health, Department of Transportation, and Department of Land and Natural Resources are urged to take action to reduce the carbon emissions arising from airplane transportation to and from the State; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health, Department of Transportation, and Department of Land and Natural Resources are urged to develop a set of legislative proposals, whether in coordination with each other or independently, and submit this set of proposals to the Legislature and Governor, forty days or more prior to the beginning of the Regular Session of 2025; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Department of Health, Department of Transportation, and Department of Land and Natural Resources are requested to consult scientific research which has already been published when taking action to reduce emissions and when developing their set of legislative proposals; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Director of Health, Director of Transportation, and Chairperson of the Board of Land and Natural Resources.

OFFERED BY:

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Report Title:

Department of Health, Department of Transportation, Department of Land and Natural Resources, Emissions, Airplanes