HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-21 Laura Hughes Support
From: Laura Hughes
To: Planning LPC Testimony
Subject: Written testimony in support of Bill 170
Date: Monday, September 21, 2026 1:00:39 AM
My name is Laura Hughes and I am a marine biologist and alumni of the University of
Hawaii at Manoa. I am writing in strong support of Bill 170 and am asking the
Windward Planning Commission to recommend one additional strengthening change
before sending it back to the County Council.
Bill 170's current language uses subjective phrases like "industrial-scale operation"
and "beyond that typically accessory or incidental to office, commercial, or public
institutional uses." Those phrases don't set a clear line, and a well-resourced
developer's attorney can argue around them either way. I'm asking the Commission to
recommend a clear, objective definition of "data center," distinct from the county's
existing "data processing facility" definition. 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 adopt is:
"Hyper-scale 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, hyper-scale, neocloud, 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'm also asking the Commission to reject the Planning Department's recommendation
to add smaller data centers as a permitted use. That change would open a legal
pathway for data centers here rather than close one, with no discretionary review of
grid impact, water, noise, or anything else.
It has been well documented that data centers gulp down fresh water while producing
enormous quantities of heat creating their own small scale heat islands heating the
area surrounding them by up to 16 degrees Fahrenheit in addition to the strain they
add to an already strained electricity grid. Additionally, the noise pollution from data
centers has been having severe health consequences on domestic animals as well as
wildlife, leading cows to have stillborn calves and confusing and disorientating bees as
well as other wildlife with the nonstop low frequency noise pollution. Equally
important is the impacts these hyper-scale data centers have been having on human
health, a well documented example is the town of Granbury Texas when in 2024
residents began to have serious cardiovascular complications as a result of the low
frequency noise pollution produced by a bitcoin mining data center, due to lack of
strict regulations on data centers these residents have been left to deal with the
impacts on their health without any recourse from the company responsible (source:
https://time.com/6982015/bitcoin-mining-texas-health/). It is my grave concern that
big tech will take advantage of regulatory loopholes in the Hawaiian islands to build
hyperscale data centers, it is already an ongoing issue that many big tech CEOs such
as Mark Zuckerberg, Larry Ellison, and Peter Theil together with 8 other billionaires
own roughly 11% of Hawaii's valuable terrestrial land. Tech CEOs have been using
much the same playbook as former colonial powers did in the early 20th century,
except instead of colonizing sovereign nations their goals are to conquer sovereign
minds the consequences of which will be absolutely catastrophic for society as deep-
fakes are already eroding peoples perception of fact from fiction blurring the lines of
what is real and what is not.
As the impacts of climate change continue to accelerate our planet simply cannot
afford to support the AI arms race. As the Big island is still recovering from the
impacts of hurricane Lala it should be made quite clear that any additional strain on
the electrical grid should be met with the utmost scrutiny, data centers threaten
already strained electrical grids.
Our island's closed water system, fossil-fuel dependent grid, and already strained
infrastructure cannot support hyper-scale data centers. Please recommend the
strongest possible version of Bill 170 to the County Council.
Mahalo,
~Laura Hughes