HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-01 Maki Morinoue Support Testimony
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From: Maki Morinoue
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Bill 170 Testimony
Date: Tuesday, September 1, 2026 10:18:00 PM
Aloha Windward Planning Commission,
My name is Maki Morinoue, and I live in Holualoa. 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,
Maki Morinoue
Holualoa
Maki Morinoue
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