Kauai Electric cleared
By Anthony Sommer
to use site for plants
Star-BulletinLIHUE -- By a single vote, the Kauai Planning Commission late yesterday approved Kauai Electric's request to use a 15-acre site north of Hanamaulu for all power plants to be built on Kauai at least through 2030.
The vote followed nearly four hours of testimony, much of it from environmentalists opposed to the fossil fuel plants to be built there and some Hanamaulu residents who don't want the generating stations built near their town.
Other Hanamaulu residents supported the plant, telling the commission it will provide new jobs for skilled workers.
Opposition to the plant did not appear until after a public hearing in June at which no one testified against the plant.
Kauai Electric had conducted seven community meetings over a two-year period at which there had been no opposition.
The island receives the vast majority of its electricity from Kauai Electric facilities at Port Allen on the island's west side. The new site is centrally located, eliminating the need for transmission lines running as far as 70 miles from the power plants.
The commission approved only the first two phases of the facility. At full build-out in 2030 it will be producing 150 megawatts.
Commission Chairman Ramon de la Pena voted against the permits because of the 280,000 gallons of fuel that will have to be trucked to the plant daily from Nawiliwili Harbor in 2030.
Commissioner Abby Santos cast the deciding vote for the plant, although she was clearly unhappy with the task.
"Today was the final day we could have acted," she explained. "If I had voted against the plant it would automatically have been approved without any of the limitations we imposed."
Phase 1 is scheduled for completion in July 2002.
