HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-21 Wai'ala Ahn Support
From: Wai"ala Ahn
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Bill 170 Data Center Testimony
Date: Monday, September 21, 2026 9:54:29 AM
My name is Waiʻala Ahn, I am a mother, native Hawaiian, lineal desedants of this island
and I live in Kahuku, Kaʻū. I am writing asking for a complete veto of data centers in Hawai’i! But as we work towards that goal, I am in strong support of Bill 170 and asking
the Leeward 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."
2 data centers on our island with limited and finite resources; especially during a time of
multiple crisis on this island leaving whole communities without power and water for weeks if not months is preposterous! Any ideas of putting more data centers on island is adding
insult to injury. Our islands from Hawaiʻi to Kauaʻi need to be focusing on infrastructure that makes them less dependent on finite resources and moving away from extractive
“endeavors”.
Our island's closed water system, fossil-fuel dependent grid, and already strained
infrastructure cannot support hyperscale data centers. Please recommend the strongest possible version of this bill to the County Council.
Please make the recommendations to minimize data centers if you are unwilling to completely veto them. Out islands don’t want them or need them.
Mahalo,
Wai’ala Ahn
Kahuku, Kaʻū