HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-02 Mina Elison Support Testimony
From: Mina Elison
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Testimony re: recommending a stronger definition of "hyperscale data center"
Date: Wednesday, September 2, 2026 10:25:57 PM
Aloha Windward Planning Commission,
My name is Mina Elison, and I live in Ke'ei in South 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,
Mina Elison