HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-02 Cathy Cohen Support TestimonyFrom: Cathy Cohen
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Bill 170 CLOSING AI Datacenter LOOPHOLES!
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 4:31:09 PM
Aloha Commissioners and community,
My name is Cathy Cohen. I live in Kailua-Kona. I strongly support
Bill 170, and I am asking you to make it stronger.
This should not be complicated.
An AI data center is not an office.
It is not a little computer room.
It is a massive industrial operation that can drain electricity, water,
land, infrastructure, and public trust.
Brookings reports that a typical data center can use about 300,000
gallons of water every single day.
Large data centers can use an estimated 5 million gallons of water a
day.
Five million gallons.
A day.
On an island.
That alone should make AI data centers a nonstarter for Hawaiʻi
Island and every island in Hawaiʻi.
This is why Bill 170 matters. And this is why the wording must be
airtight.
Do not let AI data centers hide behind soft words like “data
processing.” Do not leave vague phrases that a greedy
wordsmithing lawyer can twist into permission.
We have watched wordsmithing turn immunity into impunity. We
have watched loopholes become permission. We have watched the
letter of the law twisted against the very purpose those laws were
written to uphold, protect, and defend — the Constitution,
democracy, people, land, water, and the public good.
And who pays the price?
Regular citizens.
Families.
Farmers.
Keiki.
Kūpuna.
Local businesses.
Future generations.
Bill 170 must shut that door.
Make the definition objective. Use the 20-megawatt threshold.
Include one facility or a campus under common ownership or
control. Name hyperscale, neocloud, AI data centers, and colocation
campuses directly.
Hawaiʻi Island is not the mainland. Our grid stands alone. Our water
systems depend on electricity. Our resources are limited. Our
families already carry the burden.
We need power for homes, hospitals, schools, farms, emergency
services, and small businesses — not corporate AI machines.
You cannot drink data.
You cannot eat data.
You cannot cool AI servers with broken public trust.
No loopholes.
No corporate escape hatches.
No legal word games.
Pass the strongest Bill 170 and protect Hawaiʻi Island before harm is
permitted by wording.
Mahalo for your attention to this serious threat to our islands if we
don’t make the language bullet proof to corporate greed .
Sincerely ,
Cathy Cohen
Kailua-Kona, Hawaii Island