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The Honolulu Advertiser
Posted on: Thursday, October 9, 2003

HECO plans to bury lines near McCully

 •  Maps: HECO chooses route of power lines

By James Gonser
Advertiser Urban Honolulu Writer

Hawaiian Electric Co. plans to build a $59 million underground transmission line that the utility says will increase the reliability of power transmission to East Honolulu and Waikiki.

The utility's plan is to bury nearly three miles of 46,000-volt lines under streets in the McCully-Mo'ili'ili area over the next five years, a project that will require the excavation of some of the city's busiest streets. Paying for the project will raise monthly residential bills on O'ahu by as much as $1 a month.

"Hawaiian Electric Co. has been working to find a solution to these power transmission concerns for over 10 years now," said Robbie Alm, senior vice president of public affairs for HECO. "We understand there are concerns about the short-term impacts of the construction for residents and businesses along the route. We will do all we can to alleviate those concerns."

Since its plan to build a power line across Wa'ahila Ridge was rejected by the state last year, HECO has been developing alternatives. While the latest plan is designed for minimal aesthetic impact, HECO's critics say it doesn't matter what the project looks like because they believe it is unnecessary.

HECO will now submit its proposal to the Public Utilities Commission, the first step in what typically has been a lengthy review process involving public hearings. The commission will try to determine whether the benefits of a new transmission line outweigh the cost to ratepayers and ultimately will decide whether the project can proceed.

"Balancing all the issues, including the time element, this is the best choice," Alm said. "The system on O'ahu is already at risk and that risk will only increase with time."

In making the selection among three alternatives presented during a series of meetings this summer, the company avoided its Palolo Valley option, the one area where residents have formed organized opposition to the construction.

Darlene Nakayama, a member of the Palolo Neighborhood Board and the Palolo Community Council, or Ho'olaulima O Palolo, attended the public meetings and said the community is relieved by HECO's decision.

"We are going to have one big celebration at our neighborhood board meeting tonight," Nakayama said yesterday. "Palolo is a beautiful valley and we didn't want it torn apart. There are so many elderly people and houses. I think it is a good thing."

HECO plans to build in two phases, with the first mile of line laid from the Makaloa substation to the McCully substation, with work targeted for completion in 2006. That work would also include short segments at Date and Pumehana streets, across Date Street in front of the Kamoku substation and along Winam Avenue from Ho'olulu Street to Mo'oheau Avenue.

The second phase would include an additional 1.9-mile line from HECO's Archer Street substation along King Street to Young and McCully streets. That work would take another two years.

The project would be the largest for the utility since the West O'ahu transmission line project and substation was completed in 1995. That project included two 14-mile,

138-kilovolt lines running from Campbell Industrial Park to HECO's Waiau power plant and to a connecting substation at Ewa Nui.

HECO has 3,000 miles of transmission lines on O'ahu.

John Breinich, chairman of the Ala Moana/Kaka'ako Neighborhood Board, has been concerned with the traffic congestion and disruption to businesses in the area.

"My comments earlier are still our concerns about the traffic disruptions construction will cause, particularly on Makaloa, which is already very congested and has several construction projects on properties from Kalakaua to Ke'eaumoku and the superblock," Breinich said. "It will be a challenge to do this work without causing even more traffic gridlock, particularly at rush hour when there is no left turn on Kapi'olani going 'Ewa and traffic is using Makaloa."

Alm said HECO contractors are conscious of business activity around construction sites and public meetings will be held to discuss how to reduce the effect on commercial and residential life.

"What we have tried to do in all the other projects is get together with the business folks and figure out what their specific needs are," Alm said. "The construction supervisors we've used have been very good about trying to accommodate business interests as much as we can. To minimize the disruptions."

Henry Curtis, executive director of Life of the Land, an environmental watchdog group that has consistently opposed the line, said HECO has never demonstrated the need for the project or looked seriously at distributed generation, in which small power generation facilities are established near the area where power is demanded.

"We are amazed that the utility is moving forward with a project that has so much opposition," Curtis said. "We are wondering if they are just trying to overwhelm the PUC. The PUC is about to open a docket on distributed generation, which will examine on-site generation for O'ahu. HECO is about to file application before the PUC dealing with on-site combined heat and power systems. These discussions on where the power is located close to the demand need to occur first."

Last year, the Board of Land and Natural Resources rejected HECO's earlier plan for a $35 million transmission line along Wa'ahila Ridge. Opponents said the line was not needed and would scar a historic area.

Curtis said the $18 million HECO spent designing and promoting that project will be wrapped into the cost of the current project and passed along to ratepayers. Alm acknowledged that is the case.

"We would consider it a continuation of the project," Alm said.

Nakayama said charging ratepayers for the failed Wa'ahila project is inappropriate.

"Don't you think that should be a business expense, not a ratepayer expense?" Nakayama said. "We didn't want it from the get-go. If they listened to everybody and heard their concerns they wouldn't have had that expense in the first place. But no, they wanted to ram it down everyone's throats."

Reach James Gonser at jgonser@honoluluadvertiser.com or 535-2431.

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