HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-01 Kuuipo Raquel Support Testimony
From: Kuuipo Raquel
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Bill 170
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2026 10:37:19 AM
Aloha,
My name is Kuuipo Raquel and I live in East Hawaii, in the subdivision of Ainaloa. I am
writing in strong support of Bill 170 and asking the Windward Planning Commission to recommend one additional strengthening change before sending it back to the County Council.
The original Bill 170 language uses subjective phrases like "industrial-scale operation" and
"beyond that typically accessory or incidental to office, commercial, or public institutional uses" that a well-resourced developer's attorney can argue around. The definition below
replaces that subjectivity with objective physical criteria and a clear 20 megawatt threshold that cannot be disputed.
The specific language I am asking the commission to recommend:
"Hyperscale data center means any facility or campus of facilities whose primary purpose is
the housing, operation, or co-location of computer servers, networking equipment, and associated cooling, power, and support infrastructure, including but not limited to servers,
network equipment and appliances, telecommunications equipment, data storage systems, systems for monitoring and managing infrastructure performance, environmental controls, fire
protection systems, security systems, electrical substations, generators, and redundant power supplies; and which requires or is designed to require 20 megawatts or more of electrical
capacity at full build-out. This definition includes a single facility and any campus of multiple facilities on contiguous or adjacent parcels under common ownership or control whose
combined electrical demand meets or exceeds 20 megawatts. This term includes facilities commonly described as large-scale, hyperscale, neocloud, and artificial intelligence data
centers and colocation campuses. This term does not include telecommunications facilities regulated under Section 25-4-12, hospital or government data systems, university educational
and research facilities, or business offices in which servers are incidental to the primary use."
Hawaiʻi has a finite freshwater system.
It is an island ecosystem. There is no neighboring state from which Hawaiʻi can simply import freshwater when an aquifer becomes depleted or a watershed is damaged.
And water doesn't exist independently of the ecosystem.
It supports:
drinking water agriculture
kalo native ecosystems
streams wetlands
fisheries groundwater recharge
cultural practices subsistence
future generations
The state itself has recognized that water decisions must balance community needs,
agriculture, stream resources, and Native Hawaiian traditional and customary rights. As recently as August 2026, Hawaiʻi's Board of Land and Natural Resources reiterated that future
East Maui water decisions must consider Maui communities, agriculture, stream resources, and Native Hawaiian traditional and customary rights.
That principle should apply when evaluating data-center development as well.
Our island's closed water system, fossil-fuel dependent grid, and already strained
infrastructure cannot support hyperscale data centers. Please recommend the strongest possible version of this bill to the County Council.
Mahalo,
Kuuipo Raquel Pahoa HI