STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1242

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2005

RE: H.B. No. 1331

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Third State Legislature

Regular Session of 2005

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy, Environment, and International Affairs, to which was referred H.B. No. 1331, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO THE ISSUANCE OF SPECIAL PURPOSE REVENUE BONDS FOR JACOBY DEVELOPMENT INC,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the issuance of special purpose revenue bonds not exceeding $100,000,000 to assist Jacoby Development, Inc., a Georgia corporation, with the planning, designing, constructing, and equipping of, and the acquisition of lands for a plasma municipal solid waste processing system.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Jacoby Development, Inc., Waianae Valley Homestead Community Association, Nanakuli Hawaiian Homestead Association, Hokupili Foundations, State Council of Hawaiian Homestead Associations, Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs-Oahu Council, and four individuals. Testimony in opposition was received from one individual. Comments were received from the Department of Budget and Finance.

The plasma municipal solid waste processing system converts solid waste into electricity, and chemically and biologically inert slag. The facility is to be built on Oahu.

This measure addresses the critical problems of waste disposal from industrial sources. Oahu generates about 1.5 million tons of waste annually from residential, commercial, and industrial sources. Currently, most of Oahu's residential and commercial municipal solid waste is disposed of at the H-Power plants located in Campbell Industrial Park. H-Power cannot eliminate entirely the huge amount of municipal solid waste and ash residue that ends up in the Waimanalo Gulch landfill.

According to testimony, a major business activity of Jacoby Development, Inc., through its subsidiary, Geoplasma, LLC, is the development of plasma arc technology for the remediation of waste materials. Plasma technology is an emerging technology, which uses high power levels of electricity to create a plasma arc (a form of artificial lighting), which is three times hotter than conventional fossil fuels. The technology has opened the door to a wide range of applications not previously possible, including the processing of municipal and industrial waste, medical waste, hazardous and toxic waste, and radioactive waste.

Your Committee finds that plasma arc technology has been successful thus far in its limited use in Japan. However, your Committee is also concerned that the technology is still somewhat unproven and has yet to demonstrate long-term reliability. Nonetheless, your Committee finds that plasma arc technology has the potential to successfully address solid waste concerns in Hawaii. The result would be a lessened dependence on landfill disposal of waste, which would be the ideal alternative to the Waimanalo Gulch landfill.

Your Committee has amended this measure to change the effective date to upon approval.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy, Environment, and International Affairs that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 1331, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 1331, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Ways and Means.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy, Environment, and International Affairs,

____________________________

J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair