Land board kills HECO pole plan for Wa'ahila
By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer
Effectively ending a nearly seven-year battle, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources yesterday rejected Hawaiian Electric Co.'s proposed $31 million power line project on Wa'ahila Ridge conservation land, saying it would deface the panorama for "tens of thousands of residents and visitors."
Richard Ambo • The Honolulu Advertiser
In a 68-page decision, the board rejected by a 4-1 vote HECO's assertion that approval should be granted because the project would benefit the public. One member did not vote on the project.
Pamela Bunn, left, attorney for Malama O Manoa, Kat Brady, assistant executive director of Life of the Land, and Aldrina Ventura, of the Outdoor Circle, celebrated the end of their fight against HECO yesterday.
The company had said the line was needed to ensure service to 54 percent of its customers and to prevent major power failures.
Environmental and historic preservation groups said the proposal was unnecessary and that placing huge towers and high-voltage lines on Wa'ahila Ridge would permanently damage the area's natural beauty.
"This project has significant impacts which cannot be sufficiently mitigated," the board wrote.
The decision is a significant setback for HECO, which could file a request for reconsideration with the Land Board or appeal to the Circuit Court. Company officials said it is "highly unlikely" they will appeal but did say they will ask the Public Utilities Commission for an opinion on the need for the new transmission line.
Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land, one of three environmental and community groups opposing HECO's application to build on Wa'ahila Ridge, was overjoyed by the board's decision and said the question now is who will pay for the estimated $13 million spent by the utility to promote the project.
Curtis said his group will oppose any move by HECO to ask the PUC to allow the utility to pass along the costs to ratepayers.
"We plan to intervene in that rate docket and say it was bad practice on HECO's part and they should not have any of it recovered by ratepayers," Curtis said. "It should all be paid for by stockholders."
HECO wanted to install a 138,000-volt transmission line to link the Pukele substation at the back of Palolo Valley to the Kamoku substation at Date and Kamoku streets 3.8 miles away. The project would have replaced 20 wooden poles, each 40 feet tall, between Dole Street and the Pukele substation with steel poles as tall as 110 feet. Eight poles were planned on conservation land.
An alternative plan to put a power line underground between the Palolo and Kamoku substations, which HECO estimates will cost $46 million, has been opposed by area residents and lawmakers.
"After eight years and many meetings with community organizations and government agencies, finding an acceptable alignment for this line has proven to be a hard thing to do," HECO spokesman Chuck Freedmen said. "Rather than continuing to seek a permit for a particular alignment for the line at this time, we will now step back and instead petition the Public Utilities Commission to make a determination of the need for the line from the standpoint of the island's overall electrical system."
Land Board Chairman Gilbert Coloma-Agaran said it was a tough decision.
"I would say the board takes seriously all applications for CDU (conservation district use) permits, but this one had a lot of people interested in it whether or not you are a resident of Manoa," Coloma-Agaran said. "When we make a decision like this, we are living up to our responsibilities as the stewards of the conservation district. We don't necessarily look to do compromises or to be fair, it is to do what we are obligated to do."
Jeremy Lam, of Malama O Manoa, another opponent along with the Outdoor Circle, said HECO reported 99.98 percent service reliability to the PUC in 2000 and that spending more than $30 million for an extra .02 percent reliability would have been wasteful.
"Opposition to the project has grown to include many elected officials, neighborhood boards and community and nonprofit organizations," Lam said. "We are extremely pleased with BLNR's decision. The issues are clear, the law is clear, the decision is clear."
City Councilman Duke Bainum, who represents the neighborhoods close to Wa'ahila Ridge and the nearby Palolo area, praised the decision. "It's great news for the residents, and it's great news for the environment, and it's great news for the tourism industry."
Bainum congratulated the community activists who helped to fight the project. He said he was surprised because in the past, the board seemed friendly to developers and corporations, but he said he believed this decision showed they "came down on the side of wisdom."
House Speaker Calvin Say, D-18th (Palolo, St. Louis Heights, Kaimuki) said he thought the board made the right decision. He also said he thinks the need for the additional power lines may have faded because hydrogen fuel cells may be an available energy source.
House Majority Whip Brian Schatz, D-24th (Makiki, Tantalus) called the decision "fantastic." He said board members saw that power lines are not consistent with land use in a conservation district.
"This is a real victory for the community organizations that have been advocating for alternatives to the current system of delivering electrical power," he said.
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1983 — An islandwide blackout on O‘ahu triggers a series of studies on Hawaiian Electric Co.’s transmission system reliability. 1984 — Stone & Webster Management Consultants recommends construction of a southern transmission corridor in the ‘Ewa area. This was the first in a series of studies that made this recommendation. 1985 — HECO begins planning and constructing the southern corridor eastward from Campbell Industrial Park. 1987 — A 15- to 45-minute power outage during the Super Bowl occurs while HECO is performing scheduled maintenance work at the Pukele substation. 1995 — A study is completed on alternatives to the Kamoku-Pukele 138,000-volt transmission line to link the northern and southern corridors. HECO applies for permission from the Board of Land and Natural Resources to place large power lines on Wa‘ahila Ridge conservation land. 1998 — An environmental impact statement on the project is completed and sent to the Department of Land and Natural Resources for review. 1999 — The department rejects the study and asks for more information on effects on dwarf koa trees. The department also requires HECO to respond to hundreds of inquiries from the public. 2000 — The land department accepts the utility’s revised impact statement. February 2002 — McConnell releases a 71-page document detailing his findings and recommending that the board deny HECO’s request to build on the ridge. June 2002 — BLNR denies HECO’s conservation district use application.
History of the HECO proposal
2001 — Retired Maui Circuit Judge E. John McConnell is appointed by the board to assess the issues and hears testimony from dozens of witnesses.
April 2002 — Final arguments from all parties heard in a public meeting at the state Capitol.
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