[§196D-2]  Findings and declaration ofpurpose.  The legislature hereby finds and declares that:

(1)  The development of Hawaii's geothermal resources,which are located principally on the island of Hawaii and possibly on theisland of Maui, represents a substantial and long-term source of indigenousrenewable alternate energy that could be used to generate electric energy tomeet the State's electric energy needs and concurrently help to reduce theState's need for imported fossil fuels;

(2)  The State has deemed it appropriate that theprivate sector should develop these geothermal resources, and, to that end, hassought to encourage private sector exploration and development of geothermalresources;

(3)  The private sector companies seeking to developgeothermal resources are, however, unable or unwilling to expend thesubstantial amounts of funds needed to develop these resources to their fullextent without an assured and sufficiently large market for the electric energyto be generated therefrom, and the present and projected electric energy demandon the island of Hawaii does not provide an assured and sufficiently largemarket;

(4)  The greatest present and projected demand forgeothermally generated electric energy is located on the island of Oahu;

(5)  The State, with the support and assistance of thefederal and county of Hawaii governments, has been exploring for several yearsthe technical, engineering, economic, and financial feasibility of aninterisland deep water electrical transmission cable system that would becapable of transmitting geothermally generated electric energy from the islandof Hawaii to the islands of Maui and Oahu, and believes that a cable system maybe feasible and desirable;

(6)  The development of such a cable system will notbe undertaken without the firm assurance that a sufficient amount ofgeothermally generated electric energy will be continuously available to betransmitted through a cable system once it becomes operational;

(7)  The fundamental interrelationship between thedevelopment of geothermal resources and a cable system and the magnitude of thecost to undertake each of these developments clearly indicate that neither willbe undertaken without the firm assurance that the other also will be undertakenin a synchronized and coordinated manner to enable both developments insubstance to be completed concurrently, thereby ensuring that revenues will beavailable to begin amortizing the costs of each of these developments;

(8)  A major and fundamental difficulty in thedevelopment of both geothermal resources and a cable system is the diversearray of federal, state, and county land use, planning, environmental, andother related laws and regulations that currently control the undertaking ofall commercial projects in the State;

(9)  These controls attempt to ensure that commercialdevelopment projects in general are undertaken in a manner consistent with landuse, planning, environmental, and other public policies, except that some ofthese specific laws, regulations, and controls may be repetitive, duplicative,and uncoordinated;

(10)  To a limited extent, the State and counties havesought to ameliorate this difficulty through the enactment or adoption ofmeasures to improve the coordination and efficiency of land use and planningcontrols and specifically to facilitate the development of geothermalresources;

(11)  Notwithstanding these efforts, the complexities,the magnitude in scope and cost, the fundamental interrelationship between thedevelopment of geothermal resources and a cable system, the inherentrequirement for the coordinated development of the geothermal resources and acable system, the substantial length of time required to undertake and completeboth developments, and the desirability of private funding for bothdevelopments require that affected state and county agencies be directed topursue and develop to the maximum extent under existing law the coordinationand consolidation of regulations and controls pertinent to the development ofgeothermal resources and a cable system;

(12)  The development of geothermal resources and acable system, both individually and collectively, would represent the largestand most complex development ever undertaken in the State;

(13)  Because of the complexities of both projects,there is a need to develop a consolidated permit application and review processto provide for and facilitate the firm assurances that companies will requirebefore committing the substantial amounts of funds, time, and effort necessaryto undertake these developments, while at the same time ensuring thefulfillment of fundamental state and county land use and planning policies;

(14)  The development of geothermal resources and acable system are in furtherance of the State's policies, as expressed in thestate plan and elsewhere, to develop the State's indigenous renewable alternateenergy resources and to decrease the State's dependency on imported fossilfuels; and

(15)  A consolidated permit application and reviewprocess for the development of the State's geothermal resources and the cablesystem should be established by an act of the legislature. [L 1988, c 301, ptof §1]