HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-08-31 Cameron Conable Support TestimonyFrom: Cam
To: Planning WPC Testimony; testimony@hawaiicounty.gov
Cc: camc@sent.com
Subject: Testimony — Bill 170, Windward Planning Commission, September 3, 2026
Date: Monday, August 31, 2026 4:35:35 PM
Aloha Windward Planning Commission,
My name is Cameron Conable, and I live in Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi. 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.
I live on Kauaʻi, where tourism already strains our water supply, and I already pay some of the highest electricity rates in the nation. Hawaiʻi Island's water is not abundant — the aquifers recharge slowly, and residents, farmers, and visitors already compete for the same limited supply. Recent disasters have made that worse. Hurricane Lala in August 2026 damaged water pipelines and storage tanks in Nāʻālehu, leaving residents without water for days. The 2018 Kīlauea eruption severed roads and disrupted water systems in Puna. These were island-specific disasters, and each one showed how fragile our water infrastructure is. A hyperscale data center — one that draws 20 megawatts or more — would strain the same grid and water that all of us depend on, and it would set a precedent for every island in this state.
Our state's closed water systems, fossil-fuel dependent grids, and already strained infrastructure cannot support hyperscale data centers. Please recommend the strongest possible version of this bill to the County Council.
Mahalo, Cameron Conable Kauaʻi, Hawaiʻi