honoluluadvertiser.com

Sponsored by:

Comment, blog & share photos

Log in | Become a member
The Honolulu Advertiser
Updated at 3:18 p.m., Wednesday, May 21, 2008

Lingle signs bill to encourage biofuel production

Advertiser Staff

Gov. Linda Lingle yesterday signed into law a bill designed to make it easier for biofuel producers to directly lease public lands.

The measure is part of the Lingle-Aiona administration's efforts to increase Hawai'i's energy independence by encouraging the use of alternative renewable energy sources such as biofuels.

A law passed in 2002 authorized the Board of Land and Natural Resources to lease public land to renewable energy producers through direct negotiation. The law, however, did not take into consideration that biofuel production does not require its production facility to be located at the same location as the fuel source. Due to different requirements for industrial and agriculture zoned districts, it is often advantageous to have biofuel production facilities in a different location from where the crops and other organic materials are grown.

The new law expands the definition of renewable energy producer to include growers and producers of organic materials used primarily for the production of biofuels. That allows the energy producer to enter into direct negotiations to lease public lands where they may grow their crops or raise livestock, then transport the materials to a biofuel conversion facility located in an industrial or commercial zone.