HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-02 Susan Bambara Support Testimony
From:
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Support Bill 170 w/addendum
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 9:05:46 AM
Aloha Windward Planning Commission,
I am submitting testimony in strong support of Bill 170 and urging the Windward
Planning Commission to recommend a stronger definition of "hyperscale data
center" before sending it back to the County Council.
The original bill defines a data center using subjective language that a
developer's attorney can argue around in court. I am asking the commission to
recommend an objective, airtight definition grounded in what the facility
physically contains and how much power it draws.
Specifically, I am asking the commission to recommend this language:
“Hyperscale data center” means a facility used for the industrial-scale operation
of computer systems and associated equipment for the processing, computing,
transmission, or dissemination of digital data that requires supporting
infrastructure beyond that typically accessory or incidental to office,
commercial, or public and private institutional uses[.], including 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 and is described as a large-scale, hyperscale,
neocloud, and/or artificial intelligence data center, but not including data
processing facilities as defined in Section 25-1-5, telecommunications facilities
regulated under Section 25-4-12, hospital or government data systems, and
university computing educational and/or research facilities, and those utilizing
artificial intelligence as a support to information systems and business offices in
which servers are incidental to the primary use.”
Watching other towns in the continental US fight for clean water and sound
pollution after a hyperscale data center was built in their community is
becoming more common as people experience the impacts of AI hyperscale
data centers. Other states have pushed back because of severe environmental
and physical impacts on rural communities. Our land is young and cannot filter
contamination. Current land use significantly impacts our reefs; this would be
catastrophic.
Our island cannot afford to allow legal loopholes. Please recommend the
strongest possible version of this bill.
Thank you,
Susan Bambara
Kurtistown