Modernizing permitting is needed for us to meet our energy goals.

Hawaii residents pay 43 cents per kilowatt-hour for electricity. The national average is 18 cents. In the way of solutions that can fix this issue is our permitting framework.

I make the case in an op-ed published recently by Honolulu Civil Beat. The single most effective thing lawmakers can do right now to bring rates down is make it faster and easier to permit and build clean energy in Hawaii. Utility-scale energy projects currently take seven to ten years to come online here, roughly double the mainland average. The situation is especially egregious with geothermal projects. Our last geothermal project was deployed 4 decades ago.

The permitting problem cost us dearly. Every extra year of delay is another year we're locked into imported fuel prices.

The article lays out what needs to happen at both the federal and state level, Read the full op-ed at Civil Beat: Hawaiʻi Pays The Highest Electric Rates In The Nation. We Don't Have To