HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-21 Maki Morinoue, HULI PAC Testimony
From: HULI Hawai"i
To: Planning LPC Testimony
Cc: Kimball, Heather; Inaba, Holeka; Kagiwada, Jennifer; Villegas, Rebecca; Galimba, Michelle M.; Onishi, Dennis;
Hustace, James; Kierkiewicz, Ashley; Kanealii-Kleinfelder, Matt; Alameda, Christian (Kimo);
generalpla@hawaiicounty.gov; Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Bill 170: Data Center
Date: Monday, September 21, 2026 9:11:16 AM
Aloha Leeward Planning Commission and Planning Department,
My name is Maki Morinoue, and I am representing HULI PAC. We are
addressing both the LP Commission and Planning Department today because
you are asking the community for input on the same concerns simultaneously.
I am also CCing our Mayor, the Windward Planning Commission, and our Hi
County Council members, as this is a wonderful opportunity to hear the
community and ensure continuity in our process before this comes to their
tables. Get us all in one canoe, so to speak. We want to ensure continuity and
clear communication from our side. Thank you for this opportunity.
I am asking our planning commissioners and County Council Members to reject
the Planning Department’s recommendation, which prematurely revises
regulations before defining what a data center is. Their proposal currently
lacks substantial safeguards. We must work cohesively and thoughtfully to
clarify definitions together before defining regulations.
We support the intent of Bill 170, section 1, and urge the Leeward Planning
Commission to recommend a stronger definition of "data center" that
distinguishes data-center processing before sending it back to the Windward
Planning and County Council. The original bill defines a data center using
subjective language that a developer's attorney can easily 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:
"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 under common ownership or control whose
combined electrical demand meets or exceeds 5 megawatts.
--
Watching other towns in the continental US fight for clean water, sound, and air
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 and our water to be used willy-
nilly. Please recommend the strongest possible version of this bill.
Mahalo,
Maki Morinoue
HULI PAC, a Hawai’i Island grassroots organization
"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy not on fighting the old, but
on building the new." ~ Socrates
HULI PAC - P.O. Box 168, Holualoa, HI. 96725 -www.hulihi.com