Hu Honua Update: Proceedings before the Public Utilities Commission in the case involving the Hu Honua power plant, being built just north of Hilo, are gaining steam. In September, parties in the case filed prehearing testimonies.
The state Consumer Advocate, Tawhiri Power (owner of a wind farm), and Life of the Land all filed statements opposed to the PUC’s approval of the power purchase agreement between Hu Honua and Hawaiian Electric (HELCO). One objection all three statements have in common is to the high price of power that HELCO has agreed to pay. As Tawhiri Power stated, in the first year, HELCO is to pay about 22 cents per kilowatt hour, with the rate increasing to 44 cents in the 30th (final) year of the agreement. “Both of these rates are drastically higher than the rates that HELCO obtained” in more recent agreements, Tawhiri Power’s testimony states.
Tawhiri also raised concerns about the claimed sustainability of the fuel supply: “In order for biomass to be sustainable the rate of harvest must not exceed the rate of forest growth. This rarely happens. Further complicating this issue is a recent five-year review from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service noting that harvesting of trees greater than 4.6 meters (15 feet) tall when Hawaiian hoary bats are present ‘continues to be a threat’ to the species. The U.S. FWS and Hawai‘i Department of Fish and Wildlife [sic] recommend not cutting trees above 4.6 meters tall between June 1 and September 15 of each year, the typical pupping season for the bat. Given this 31⁄2 month window, it is unclear how a 37-day supply [of fuel] would be sufficient to bridge this time period of curtailed timber harvesting.”
Parties to the proceeding now have the opportunity to submit their responses to the testimony and supporting exhibits. By December 9, all parties should have filed their final prehearing statements of position. The actual hearing itself won’t start until sometime next January. In the meantime, public comments have been pouring in, many of them from the workers at the plant and officials in the union representing them, the ILWU.
The Pacific Tsunami Museum also commented in favor of Hu Honua; its president, Marlene Murray, noted that Hu Honua “has been a great corporate partner and has financially supported many organizations on Hawai‘i Island, including the Pacific Tsunami Museum.”
Red Hill Update: Under an Administrative Order on Consent with the EPA and Hawai‘i Department of Health, the Navy and the Defense Logistics Agency must complete a variety of tasks to address a large release of fuel that occurred in 2014 at the Navy’s Red Hill fuel tank facility and to prevent future releases.
Attached to the order is a statement of work covering eight subject areas, i.e., tank upgrade alternatives (TUA), corrosion and metal fatigue practices, and a risk/vulnerability assessment.
In August, the Navy submitted a 500-page supplement to its TUA document. The EPA and DOH had found the original document, submitted in 2019, deficient.
In the supplement, the Navy proposes to line the Red Hill fuel tanks with the same kind of system used in natural gas tanker ships.
“There’s a lot of information in it. It’s taking us a while to go through it and make sure we have the information that we need,” the DOH’s Joanna Seto told the state Commission on Water Resource Management last month.
The DOH and EPA are also reviewing the Navy’s recently submitted plan regarding the need for and scope of modified corrosion and metal fatigue practices.
The two agencies recently completed their review of Phase 2 of the Navy’s Risk/Vulnerability Assessment scope of work, submitted last December. Phase 1 addressed internal risk events. Phase 2 will address fire and flood initiating events, seismic initiating events, and other external initiating events.
On September 2, the DOH and EPA informed the Navy and DLA that they found the document to be deficient.
With regard to a fuel spill at Red Hill on May 6, Seto said the Navy is still conducting an investigation and “causative research studies.” The DOH is waiting for the Navy report, she said.
These issues and more will likely be discussed at the DOH’s Fuel Tank Advisory Committee Zoom meeting on October 28, from 9-12.
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