LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative has to “face up to the question of climate change,” alternate forms of energy and reduced emissions from power plants, said U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a Demcrat representing urban O‘ahu. That is regardless of
LIHU‘E — Kaua‘i Island Utility Cooperative has to “face up to the question of climate change,” alternate forms of energy and reduced emissions from power plants, said U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie, a Demcrat representing urban O‘ahu.
That is regardless of whether a 1,200-page climate-change proposal passes in Congress, said Abercrombie, giving a briefing on the proposed legislation to KIUC Board of Directors, staff and the public at the regular KIUC board meeting in the KIUC building conference room Tuesday.
Though Abercrombie and others are skeptical about the bill’s passage in the U.S. Senate (Abercrombie said prospects for the bill there are “grim”), there is still a great need for oil-dependent Hawai‘i and Kaua‘i to work aggressively toward energy self-sufficiency “or we will be absolutely colonized.”
“It can’t do anything but go up,” Abercrombie said of the price of oil, adding that developing an alternative-energy policy devoid of dependence on imported oil is “going to be tough, but it has to be ours. And everybody will have a better idea than you do.”
The KIUC board “is going to make decisions in the next two to five years that will impact Kaua‘i for the next century,” with state mandates to increase percentages of power produced from non-oil sources, and similar federal mandates expected as well, Abercrombie said.
“We have to have energy dependence as much as possible, or we’ll be victims of the world oil market,” said Abercrombie, who has announced he will run for governor of Hawai‘i next year.
He said he voted for one version of the climate-change legislation, but that doesn’t necessarily mean he will vote for the final version. How he votes, though, he said, will be totally dependent on how the legislation would impact KIUC and Kauaians.
KIUC will be the “principle element” in his decision on how to cast his vote on the federal climate-change legislation, he said.
If the bill adversely affected KIUC or the people of Kaua‘i, that would be bad, said Abercrombie, adding that the original bill was supplemented by 300 pages of amendments at 3 a.m. by the bill’s author, U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif.
Abercrombie admitted he hasn’t read the entire bill, and that he assigned staff members to read portions of it and brief him on the highlights.
Eventually, federal legislation will be enacted which will place a cap on greenhouse-gas emissions, require for-profit and nonprofit utilities to increase amounts of power generated from renewable sources (a similar state bill was signed into law by Gov. Linda Lingle earlier this week), have more energy-efficient buildings, and also increase international outreach efforts to encourage the greening of the world, he said.
“Regardless of what happens to 2454 (the federal climate-change legislation bill number), KIUC will have to come to grips with alternative-energy generation, greenhouse-gas emissions,” and other matters, Abercrombie said.
The way the legislation is currently written, KIUC as a smaller cooperative would not have to comply with some of the provisions, said Abercrombie.
“What’s best for Kaua‘i may not be good for rural Iowa,” said Abercrombie, adding that he is “very concerned” that emission-cap technology which could be required in the federal legislation isn’t available today, and might not be available in the next decade.
“There’s going to be costs involved,” as well as millions of dollars in federal funds available if the legislation passes, Abercrombie said.
There has to be help for smaller cooperatives charged with lowering emissions without putting them out of business or holding their members hostage, he said.
The KIUC board is “at the cutting edge of sustainability” moves, and Abercrombie applauded them for that.
