Anti-gasoline bill deferred by panel as DBEDT objects

A House bill that would eliminate the use of fossil fuel vehicles on Hawaii’s roadways by 2045 hit a speed bump in the Senate on Tuesday.

The Senate Committee on Ways and Means deferred HB 1580, which would establish the 2045 target. The bill also would set a short-term plan to both reduce fossil fuel use for cars by 5 percent and add more electric vehicle chargers before 2025. The bill is scheduled to be heard again by the committee Friday.

State senators deferred the bill after receiving additional testimony on the measure.

The state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism filed testimony Tuesday opposing the target, saying it was “premature” to set a date for the goal. DBEDT Director Luis Salaveria said the department supports setting the near-term target of a 5 percent reduction in fossil fuel use for ground transportation by 2025.

“DBEDT supports the ultimate elimination of fossil fuel in ground transportation and has dedicated resources to that objective,” Salaveria said in his testimony. “However, it is premature to set a target date of 2045 at this time. Effectively achieving 100 percent will require direction to, and coordination with, a variety of state agencies.”

Salaveria said he was concerned about the target because there is no entity responsible for enforcing the build-out of transportation technologies and programs that would support the 2045 goal.

The Hawaii Transportation Association joined DBEDT in saying the 2045 goal is premature.

Advocates of the bill say the long-term goal helps create a guide for the state for the next 28 years and will attract different companies to help the state achieve its goals to cut fossil fuel use.

“It helps to align our planning process with the long-term vision,” said Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Blue Planet Foundation. “It’s telegraphing from the state that this is where we want to be. … We were hoping to see the leadership from the Legislature set a vision for our clean-energy future. It is particularly important in light of the shift in federal policies brought by the Trump White House.”

Mikulina said recent trends in the state’s fossil fuel consumption make the target necessary.

In 2016, gasoline and diesel sales were up 1.9 percent to 516 million gallons, up from 506.5 million gallons in 2015, according to DBEDT’s Monthly Energy Data report.

“That’s the most we’ve consumed in nearly a decade,” Mikulina said.

Rep. Chris Lee (D, Kailua-Waimanalo), who introduced the bill, said the state isn’t looking to force residents out of their gas cars.

“We don’t want to force anyone to make that change, but we want to make sure the infrastructure is in place,” Lee said.

As part of the goal, a plan in the bill is to have an electric vehicle charging station installed every 30 miles, or 1 electric vehicle charging station for every 5 vehicles, by 2045.

While interest in alternative fuel vehicles is growing, electric vehicles still make up a small percentage of all vehicles on the road.

In February the number of electric vehicles in Hawaii was up 27.3 percent from the same month last year to 5,357, according to DBEDT.

The bill also directs the state Department of Transportation, which filed testimony supporting the bill, to collaborate with the state Energy Office, an agency within DBEDT, to create proposals to achieve other benchmarks as the state moves toward 2045.

Others that have filed support for the transportation goal include Hawaiian Electric Co. and the Hawaii Automobile Dealers Association.