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Honua Ola Bioenergy filed an appeal Wednesday with the Hawaii Supreme Court to reverse a state Public Utilities Commission decision rejecting its plans to open
a biomass plant on Hawaii island.
On May 23 the PUC denied Hawaiian Electric’s
request to purchase electricity from Honua Ola Bioenergy’s biomass facility in Pepeekeo, saying it is expected to release a net amount of carbon dioxide, resulting in long-term environmental and public health costs for the island.
The company was formed in 2008 to transform the old Hilo Coast Processing Co. plant into a biomass plant that would burn eucalyptus trees, generating enough energy to power 14,000 homes. The plant formerly burned sugar cane waste material and coal.
Last week the PUC denied motions for reconsideration from both Hawaiian Electric and Honua Ola.
Honua Ola filed the appeal with the high court to reverse what it called “another erroneous ruling” by the commission. The project had already been sent to the Supreme Court twice — in 2019 and 2021 — and the court ruled against the PUC’s decisions both times.
The court’s 2021 opinion reversed two PUC orders that it said were the result of a “misreading” of the court’s 2019 opinion on the project. The 2019 opinion said the PUC did not properly consider the greenhouse gas emissions the project would produce and did not allow Life of the Land, an environmental nonprofit, to participate in project hearings as required by Hawaii law.
Honua Ola in a docketing statement in Wednesday’s
appeal said the PUC disregarded the court’s first two opinions, leading to its latest decision to deny the power purchase agreement between Hawaiian Electric and the company.
“Unfortunately, but unsurprisingly, the PUC has now disregarded the Court’s mandate and applicable law for the third time in three years,” Honua Ola said in the appeal.
The company claimed the PUC has worked “tirelessly” to ensure that its project, which is 99% complete, does not go online.
“As a result of the PUC’s misguided (and illegal) campaign, the future of the Project once again hangs precariously in the balance, as do the myriad environmental and economic benefits that the Project is (and has been) ready to provide to the state of Hawaii,” the appeal said.
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