The Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) will hold two meetings this month on an offshore import facility tied to Hawai’i’s first planned gas-fired power plant.
The Longboard LNG project would consist of three miles of underwater pipeline and a floating storage and regasification unit off the southern coast of O'ahu. The facility would store gas from ships delivering liquified natural gas (LNG), which would then be transported by pipeline to a power plant planned by a subsidiary of JERA, Japan’s largest power producer.
The project is meant to provide roughly one-third of O’ahu’s electricity, with JERA executives claiming it would save costs and help provide alternatives to the oil-fired power supplied by the island’s only utility, Hawaiian Electric Company.
However, critics say the LNG project and power plant would end up undermining Hawai’I’s climate goals. In 2001, the state became the first in the U.S. to pass renewable portfolio standards meant to wean the country’s power system off fossil fuels. Hawai’I’s updated mandate calls for 40 percent of electricity to come from renewables like wind and solar by 2030 and 100 percent by 2045.
A report from the University of Hawai’i’s Economic Research Organization said the project would raise cumulative greenhouse gas emissions from the state’s power sector by about 34 percent and would cost $3 billion more than building no new fuel-burning plants.
“O’ahu does not need to build any new fuel-burning power plant beyond what is already committed,” the report states.
Building the floating LNG import and storage facility would also disturb about 270 acres of land and seabed, according a FERC notice. This includes 27.3 acres that will be used for permanent operations, with the rest of the acreage planned to be restored. The project is next to Tripod Reef, a military training area for undersea mines, and the Pearl Harbor National Wildlife Refuge, home to four of Hawai’i's endangered waterbirds.
FERC will hold two meetings to receive feedback on the project:
• Nov. 18, 5-7 p.m., at the Imin International Conference Center at 1777 East-West Road in Honolulu.
• Nov. 19, 5-7 p.m., at the Kroc Center Hawai'i at 91-3257 Kualaka'i Parkway in Ewa Beach.
The agency will also accept public comments until Nov. 27. See the public notice for details on how to comment.
— Research by Paul MacGillis-Falcon
