Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-10-05 Emiko Okawa TestimonyFrom:Emmy To:Planning LPC Testimony Subject:Subject: Testimony on Bill 170 (PL-CCI-2026-000018) – Opposition to Large-Scale Data Centers on Hawaiʻi Island Date:Monday, October 5, 2026 10:08:13 AM Attachments:Subject Testimony on Bill 170 Opposition to Large-Scale Data Centers on Hawaiʻi Island.pdf Aloha Chair and Members of the Leeward Planning Commission, My name is Emiko Okawa, and I am a resident of Hawaiʻi Island. I am submitting testimony regarding Bill 170 and the proposed zoning provisions concerningdata centers. I want to be clear about my position: I oppose allowing large-scale data centers on Hawaiʻi Island. I understand that technology is part of our future and that data infrastructure is increasingly important. However, Hawaiʻi Island is not the mainland. We live on an island with finite land,water, energy, and infrastructure. Once those limited resources are committed to large-scale industrial development, the consequences may be difficult—or impossible—to reverse. My greatest concern is the cumulative impact. We cannot evaluate a data center only by looking at one facility and asking whether enoughelectricity, water, or land is available for that particular project today. We must ask what Hawaiʻi Island will need 20, 30, and 50 years from now. Our residents need housing. Our farmers need land and water. Our communities need reliableand affordable electricity. We need water for our residents, agriculture, wildfire protection, and future generations. At the same time, Hawaiʻi Island continues to face pressure from new housing, energy,tourism, and other development. At what point do we say that our island’s limited resources must first be protected for the people and communities who depend upon them? I support renewable energy, but renewable energy does not mean unlimited energy. If Hawaiʻi works hard to increase clean-energy production, I believe those gains should firststrengthen the resilience and energy security of the people who live here—not simply create additional capacity for extremely large industrial users. The same principle applies to water. Groundwater is not something we can simply replace if it is depleted or damaged. Beforeopening the door to resource-intensive data centers, we should understand their potential cumulative impact on our aquifers, energy grid, agricultural lands, infrastructure, and surrounding communities. Hawaiʻi Island is also home to an extraordinary natural environment that we have aresponsibility to protect. Our native forests, endemic trees, native birds, and other species are not resources that can simply be replaced somewhere else. Many exist only here in Hawaiʻi, and some are alreadystruggling to survive because of habitat loss, invasive species, wildfire, and other environmental pressures. Every major development decision should therefore consider not only its immediate footprint,but also its long-term and cumulative impacts on habitat, water, energy, land, and the ecosystems that depend on them. Once a native forest is lost, once habitat disappears, or once a species is gone, we cannotsimply build another one. Economic development can be reconsidered or relocated. Extinction cannot be reversed. There is also another question I believe we need to ask: If large-scale data centers are considered necessary for Hawaiʻi’s future, why must they be located on Hawaiʻi Island? Oʻahu is the state’s primary population, business, and technology center and already has amuch larger concentration of urban and industrial infrastructure. If facilities of this scale are truly necessary, locations with existing infrastructure and closer proximity to the primary users of that infrastructure should be fully considered before placingadditional pressure on Hawaiʻi Island’s limited resources. Hawaiʻi Island should not become the default location for resource-intensive development simply because more land appears to be available here. Open land does not mean expendable land. What may appear to be empty land can be part of a watershed, wildlife habitat, an ecosystem,a cultural landscape, agricultural land, or a resource that future generations may depend upon. This leads to the larger question that I believe we must ask ourselves: What does Hawaiʻi Island want to become? Economic development is important, but not every type of development is appropriate for every place. Hawaiʻi Island’s greatest assets are not unlimited industrial land or unlimited energy. They are our water, our native forests, our endemic species, our agricultural lands, ourcommunities, our culture, and the extraordinary natural environment that makes this island unlike anywhere else in the world. Technology changes quickly. The decisions we make about our land and natural resources can last for generations. For these reasons, I respectfully oppose opening the door to large-scale data centerdevelopment on Hawaiʻi Island and ask the Commission to take a precautionary approach when considering Bill 170. We have only one Hawaiʻi Island. We cannot create another aquifer. We cannot recreate an extinct species. And we cannot replace ecosystems that took thousands of years to become what they aretoday. Please protect our water, our land, our native forests, our wildlife, our energy resources, and the future generations who will inherit this island. Mahalo for the opportunity to provide testimony. Respectfully, Emiko OkawaHawaiʻi Island ..:*・゜ ..:*・゜ .. ..:*・゜ ..:*・゜ ...:*・゜ .