On February 20, 2001, the board of directors of the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai`i Authority (NELHA) held a regularly scheduled meeting. One agenda item was a letter from the Keahole Point Tenants’ Association, expressing concerns about the sequestration experiment.
The tenants “have come to believe that there is some risk as with all research experiments and that the impact could be direct in the form of changed pH and indirect in the form of negative environmental publicity that would decrease the value of their products,” they state in their letter, dated February 15. The tenants “would like PICHTR to consider another location within the research corridor, as far as possible from the intake pipelines.” At the same time, the tenants distanced themselves from the more strident opponents of the experiment: “Tenant representatives have spoken with the most ardent community opposition. Tenants have expressed their reservations about the project and adamantly indicated they would decline as a group to be used publicly by the community opposition.”
Although the published agenda did not include discussion of the sequestration experiment, the subject was nonetheless taken up by the board. According to the minutes, the board went into executive session to discuss “proprietary issues.” After voting to return to open session, the minutes say, there was a “recap” of the reasons for the executive session, which added Chapter 92 – the Sunshine Law – as another item discussed in the closed meeting. Following that, board members consulted with Deputy Attorney General John Chang, who advised them that they could add items to their agenda with a two-thirds majority vote. A motion was put forward to add a new business item, “CO2 Sequestration,” and it passed unanimously. The minutes do not report if any discussion followed; NELHA staff say they have reused tapes they made of the meeting in recording meetings since then. Questions for details about the discussion submitted to executive director Jeff Smith were not answered by press time. In any event, a motion was made to rescind its 1999 authorization of staff to work out an agreement with PICHTR for the use of NELHA’s facilities and ocean research corridor to conduct the carbon dioxide sequestration experiment. The motion passed with nine “ayes.” The only director not to vote in favor was the representative of the University of Hawai`i, who abstained. In an article in West Hawai`i Today, executive director Smith was quoted as saying concerns about the science behind the experiment plus objections from the local community and NELHA tenants were behind the board’s decision to rescind the permit.
On the face of it, the NELHA board’s decision to add consideration of the CO2 experiment to the agenda was probably unlawful, however popular the vote to expel it from Keahole may have been with the some of sectors of the community. NELHA is a state-run facility, and under Chapter 92, state boards and commissions may not make additions to published agendas when the items proposed to be added are of substantial public interest. Furthermore, the vote on the added agenda item meant that the parties most affected by the board’s decision had no opportunity to defend the experiment.
–Cynthia A. Berger and Patricia Tummons
Volume 12, Number 3 September 2001
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