HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-03 Terry Tokuda Support Testimony
From: Terry Tokuda
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: SUPPORT BILL 170
Date: Thursday, September 3, 2026 6:46:42 AM
My testimony:
Aloha Windward Planning Commission,
My name is Terry Tokuda, and I live in North Kona. 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.
Mahalo,
Terry Tokuda, No.Kona 73-4599 Kukuki St. K.K. HI 96740