HomeMy WebLinkAbout2026-09-03 Vanessa Floyd Support Testimony
From: Spider Woman
To: Planning WPC Testimony
Subject: Large Scale Data Centers
Date: Thursday, September 3, 2026 8:11:32 AM
Aloha kakou,
I live in rural Puna and am writing to express support for amending GP 2045 to update the
definition of and ban large scale AI data centers such as are being fought in communities all over mainland America. Our island's electrical infrastructure barely serves its growing
population during severe weather and other disruptive events, with close to the most expensive power bills in the country. The geology and culture of the islands will never accommodate
such centers without massive destruction of its unique ecosystems and the hard work its residents have accomplished to build a sustainable future. There is zero positive tradeoff
possible to bring these centers to our island. The mandate to achieve 100% renewable energy by 2045 would be rendered impossible.
The resources needed to safely power such centers would create water shortages for farmers, residents and other existing elements of our beloved aina.
Policy 13.36 of GP 2045 sets a high bar: Special Permit approval requires clear community benefit OR consistency with sustainability objectives. AI data centers fail both tests. They produce few permanent jobs, extract more water than the community can spare, and contradict the plan’s own climate and renewable energy goals. There should be ZERO option or pathway for conditional approval of these hyper-scale centers.
Large scale AI data centers are extractive and so far have never rendered the long term jobs
that are always promised by their billionaire beneficiaries. This is the opposite of the vision for
a local economy based on local inputs, jobs, and long term sustainability. They essentially
surrender local control of resources and an insatiable need for electricity, land, and water to said billionaires who have no interest or stake in the well being of our island's diverse
population and ecosystems. NOW is the time to create a legal fortress against the wholesale
takeover of our island's resources, land, and local culture. We can see the havoc these centers
wreak on communities and ecosystems all over America, and should just say no now and forever.
Others have testified to the specific numbers around water usage, noise, and other ill effects of
large scale AI data centers, and these data are readily available from ongoing direct impacts in communities that are already dealing with these destructive, insatiable behemoths.
Please amend the old definition of large scale data centers with appropriate language that
reflects the known realities of today's AI computing, and boldly BAN these centers with zero pathway to future permitting. No data centers using over 20 MW should ever be considered
for permitting. This includes a pathway that breaks up such centers over multiple parcels. Our
collective island community has made clear these centers have no place in our community.
The following updated definition of these centers reflects the issues at hand:
"Large-scale digital infrastructure facility" 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 hyperscale data centers, AI data centers, cloud computing
facilities, and colocation campuses. This term does not include telecommunications facilities regulated under Section 25-4-12, hospital or
government data systems, university computing facilities, or business offices in which servers are incidental to the primary use.
Likewise, a proposed outright ban on these centers could be amended as:
Large-scale digital infrastructure facilities, as defined in Section 25-1-5,
are prohibited in all zoning districts in Hawaiʻi County. No building permit, use permit, plan approval, special permit, or other discretionary approval shall be issued for the construction, establishment, or operation of a large-scale digital infrastructure facility.
Thank you for your thoughtful consideration and proactive decision to protect our island.
Sincerely,
Vanessa Floyd
Hawaiian Paradise Park
Puna
"It's hell being a visionary." --Hope Springs