HILO — A bill aimed at giving the state sole regulatory authority over geothermal power plants died in conference committee.
HILO — A bill aimed at giving the state sole regulatory authority over geothermal power plants died in conference committee.
Sen. Lorraine Inouye, the bill’s main sponsor, said lawmakers could not come to an agreement on the measure — opposed by critics of geothermal development — after the House passed a nearly blank version.
“I had a good bill,” said Inouye, D-North Hawaii.
“We were all happy with it,” she added, referring to the Senate.
Not everyone shared the same sentiment.
Sen. Russell Ruderman, one of Inouye’s Big Island colleagues, spoke strongly against the measure for preventing counties from passing their own geothermal regulations unless delegated that power.
“This kind of facility needs monitoring,” Ruderman said in the Senate in March.
“The state has not done an adequate job and it does no meaningful monitoring of this facility,” he added.