PUC Decision Kills 200-plus Hawaii Island Jobs Needed for the Island’s Economic Recovery
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Public Utilities Commission’s decision results in imminent layoffs of 64 current Hu Honua employees and contractors and the loss of an additional 145 positions to be filled, consisting of ancillary jobs in trucking, forestry and support services on Hawaiʻi Island.
In May 2019, the Hawai’i Supreme Court issued a ruling instructing the PUC to consider the greenhouse gas emissions of the Hu Honua project and to hold an evidentiary hearing. Hu Honua has been waiting for more than a year to demonstrate at the hearing that its plant operations will result in a significant reduction of GHG and bring numerous other benefits to Hawai’i Island.
Instead, it appears that the PUC has opted to contravene the Supreme Court’s instructions to hold a hearing and to consider Hu Honua’s evidence on the reduction of GHG. The PUC’s action essentially reverses its two prior approvals of the PPA and waivers that allowed the project to proceed and which Hu Honua relied on in spending hundreds of millions of dollars.
The PUC’s action not only forecloses the opportunity for Hu Honua to have its GHG reduction considered at an evidentiary hearing, as contemplated by the Supreme Court, but also precludes all the benefits of Hu Honua’s locally produced renewable energy, resulting in the prolonged use of imported fossil fuel on Hawai‘i Island that Hu Honua’s firm renewable energy was designed to replace.
Because the Commission’s decision has just been issued, we are studying it to determine how we will proceed. Understandably, we are disappointed by the PUC’s decision, especially considering that more than $350 million has been spent on a state-of-the-art renewable energy facility that was anticipated to be completed and ready to commence operations in 2020 and the more than 200 well-paying jobs that would have existed for the next 30 years.
Current Features and Status:
- Clean, Renewable Low-Cost Energy, 24/7
- Already More Than $350 Million Invested
- Plant is 95% Complete
What Hu Honua Means for Hawai‘i Island Residents and Businesses:
Cleaner Air Immediately
When Honua Ola begins operating, HELCO will shut down its dirtiest fossil-fuel burning plants, dramatically improving the air quality in the Hilo Bay Area and reducing CO2 emissions substantially.
Jobs
Honua Ola already has employed around 400 construction workers to build the plant. Next, it will increase the number of jobs in Hamakua, with the 64 existing jobs at the facility, along with 61 forestry jobs, 12 trucking jobs, and 72 jobs in supporting services, once the facility is operating.
$20 Million Infused Into the Island’s Economy
The money that goes to pay workers at the plant and in the forestry and transportation industries will be spent right here in East Hawai‘i, helping local businesses and increasing their ability to hire more employees.
Green Power for 14,000 Homes
Reduces Hawai‘i Island Oil Consumption by 250,000 Barrels a Year
Money that consumers and businesses have been spending to import expensive foreign oil will stay here and be invested in Hawai‘i County.
Moves the State Closer to the 100% Renewable Goal
We need to put every renewable energy technology to work, if we’re going to make Hawai‘i carbon neutral and slow down global warming.
Carbon Neutral Power
The EPA considers biomass plants, like Honua Ola, that use managed forests as fuel, to be carbon neutral.
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