Rep. Cynthia Thielen is unhappy with the the passage of three House bills last week relating to the environment

She has released a press release noting that the votes show that Republicans are the “‘green legislators’ advocating for the environment.” 

The bills include HB 1813 and HB 2154  — bills that exempt state and county projects from permit requirements. And HB 2523 relating to the undersea cables. 

“The Special Management Area bills essentially remove any state or county project from the environmental protections which had been steadfast law and critical to the welfare of our resources,” stated Representative Thielen.

 HB2523 (relating to interisland electric transmission cable systems) contained two key areas of language which would place the financial risk and burden on the ratepayers by entitling the electric utility company to recover capital costs for on-island transmission infrastructure, and to recover costs even if they elect not to complete the project, through an automatic rate adjustment and cable surcharge.

“This bill dips deep into the public’s pockets. If we think our electric bill is high now, just wait; this legislation will send it skyrocketing,” Rep. Thielen declared.

Testifiers from government agencies, HECO, and the PUC spoke in support of HB2523, including Governor Neil Abercrombie, however the majority of the submitted testimony was in opposition to the bill.