An effort to burn a regenerative supply of trees to produce electricity on Hawaii island has fueled a pitched five-year battle at the state Public Utilities Commission, in court and, more recently, on a third, relatively indirect front.

As environmental group Life of the Land has clashed with biomass power plant developer Hu Honua Bioenergy at the PUC and at the Hawaii Supreme Court, state lawmakers have been considering several bills that could affect the company, also known as Honua Ola Bioenergy.

One bill that has attracted opponents and proponents of wood-fueled power proposes to require at least 55% of all renewable energy on each island be firm, as opposed to intermittent like solar and wind power.

This measure, Senate Bill 2510, also intends to limit the share of any one type of renewable energy source to 45% for each island and create incentives for developing firm renewable power to replace fossil fuel generation.

Several testifiers on the bill claim it would benefit biomass power projects, such as the plant Honua Ola has developed in Pepeekeo on the Hamakua Coast at a cost of over $500 million, only to have it sit idle while regulatory and legal challenges play out.

“This bill, on the surface it looks like something good for the environment, but I think if you were to just take the technology that we have now, this bill is basically just a benefit to those who want to burn wood here in Hawaii to generate energy,” Matt Geyer, told a joint hearing of the Senate Committee on Water and Land and the Senate Committee on Energy, Economic Development and Tourism on Feb. 11.

Geyer, an environmental justice task force representative for the nonprofit Faith Action for Community Equity, suggested excluding wood-fueled power from the bill.

On the flip side, Gary Kam praised the bill for trying to establish a comprehensive energy plan for Hawaii that supports a project like Honua.

“I like that the bill addresses various forms of renewable energy: wind, water, solar, geothermal,” Kam said in written testimony. “I especially like that the bill supports fuel and energy producing crops. Eucalyptus trees, planted along the Hamakua Coast of the Big Island, were planted for bioenergy and can help achieve the goals of this bill.”

Richard Rocheleau, director of the Hawaii Natural Energy Institute, told the joint committee that it would be premature to limit any type of renewable energy, or amount of intermittent renewable energy, because it’s not known how much variable renewable energy can power electrical grids in Hawaii given evolving technology.

Hawaiian Electric, the regulated utility for every county except Kauai, expressed a similar view.

Honua Bioenergy didn’t testify on the bill, and neither did Life of the Land.

Another bill stirring passions over Honua would change PUC rules pertaining to certain power purchase agreements between utility companies and power producers.

“You all know this an illegal special law, written to help only one company Hu Honua,” Hawaii island resident Mark Koppel said in written testimony on Senate Bill 2057.

Robert Culbertson described SB 2057 as a “nakedly transparent” effort to benefit Honua, while David Hunt called the measure “an underhanded good-ol-boy GIFT to Hu Honua” and criticized lawmakers who have accepted campaign contributions from the company.

Warren Lee, Honua Ola president, has contributed to the campaigns of six lawmakers since 2018, giving between $150 and $500 in individual instances, according to state Campaign Spending Commission data.

Lee’s contributions include $200 given in 2020 to the campaign committee for Sen. Bennette Misalucha (D, Pearl Harbor-Pearl City-Aiea), who co-introduced SB 2057 and SB 2510 and is vice chair of the energy committee. Sen. Donovan Dela Cruz (D, Wahiawa-Whitmore-­Mililani Mauka), who led the introduction of SB 2510 and three other bills that could benefit Honua, received $500 for his campaign committee in 2020.

Fourteen senators have weighed in at the PUC, criticizing a 2020 commission decision to reject a competitive bidding waiver and power­-purchase agreement with Hawaiian Electric, a decision that was overturned in court. These senators included Misalucha, energy committee Chair Glenn Wakai (D, Kalihi­-Salt Lake-Aliamanu) and Lorraine Inouye, a Democrat who represents the Hamakua area and was the lead introducer of SB 2057, pertaining to power-purchase agreements.

Dela Cruz, who wasn’t among the 14, said claims that the bills were drafted to benefit Honua lack merit.

Dela Cruz said the genesis of SB 2510 stemmed from a trip members of the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which he chairs, took in 2021 to each county to learn about how utilities were progressing toward meeting a state goal to produce all energy from renewable sources by 2045.

The situation on Kauai seemed like it could be a model for other counties, according to Dela Cruz. The Kauai Island Utility Cooperative plans to have 48% renewable firm power by 2025 — 37% hydroelectric and 11% biomass — with the balance being 42% solar power and 10% fossil fuel.

Kauai’s plan envisions no growth in solar or biomass, with all additions through 2025 being hydroelectric.

“We need to have a better strategic approach to how we’re achieving our renewable energy goal,” Dela Cruz said, referring to counties other than Kauai.

Dela Cruz also said SB 2510 doesn’t aim to favor any type of firm renewable power. “It doesn’t have to be biomass,” he said. “It can be any kind of firm.”

Two other bills pending at the Legislature and introduced by Dela Cruz would reinstate or expand tax credits that could benefit Honua as well as other power producers.

SB 2511 would expand a renewable energy technologies income tax credit to include firm renewable energy systems.

SB 2478 would reinstate a renewable fuels production tax credit that expired in 2021, and would apply to fuel from feedstock that includes biomass, oil crops, used cooking oil, water, municipal solid waste and other things.

Ron Reilly of Volcano village on Hawaii island suggested in written testimony that SB 2478 be amended to exclude biomass projects fueled by trees.

“The Hu Honua wood- burning project will ‘crowd out’ other renewable projects already proposed for Hawaii Island that offer decades of far less expensive energy,” he said.

Jon Miyata, Honua Ola’s director of finance, testified in support of the two tax credit bills and on a bill pertaining to competitive procurement for renewable energy projects.

The bill related to competitive bidding, SB 2513, was introduced by Dela Cruz and several other lawmakers and would make utility companies seek proposals for firm or intermittent renewable energy separately, thus avoiding competition between the two project types subject to PUC approval. The bill was recently amended to require that intermittent power projects deliver a typical amount of energy for up to four days when power can’t be generated due to weather.

Hawaiian Electric said in written testimony the amended bill “has the capability to significantly harm if not kill Hawaii’s ability to reach its renewable energy goals.”

Dean Nishina, executive director of the state Department of Commerce and Consumer Affairs’ Division of Consumer Advocacy, said in written testimony that SB 2513 could have unintended consequences that adversely affect Hawaii’s ability to meet customer and grid needs in a cost-effective way.

In contrast to the handful of bills that could benefit Honua, one bill is perceived by some as thwarting the biomass project.

This measure, SB 2617, would prohibit the state Department of Health from issuing permits for commercial green waste burning within 1,000 feet of a residential property, which applies to Honua. The Health Department said the bill could negatively affect 80 of 89 such permits that are largely held by farms and are tied to hardly any complaints.

Richard Wallsgrove, a professor at the University of Hawaii’s William S. Richardson School of Law whose coursework includes energy law and policy along with other business law and environmental law, said he understands how a highly divisive and publicized issue such as Honua’s regulatory case can surface at the Legislature.

But he questions the need for much of the proposed legislation this year over renewable energy.

“Nobody’s yet convinced me that these bills are necessary,” Wallsgrove said.

The prognosis for six bills potentially affecting Honua is mixed.

Dela Cruz indefinitely deferred SB 2513, which would impose the four-day power requirement for intermittent renewable energy and separate procurement for firm and intermittent renewable energy projects.

SB 2057, related to power-­purchase agreements, was deferred by the energy committee, led by Wakai.

The two bills related to tax credits, SB 2511 and SB 2478, were passed by the energy committee and Ways and Means.

The commercial green waste burning restriction bill, SB 2617, was deferred by the Senate Judiciary Committee and Committee on Agriculture and Environment.

SB 2510, which would impose limits on firm and renewable power, was passed by Ways and Means after being advanced by two other Senate committees.

Meanwhile, the PUC on Tuesday began its latest trial-like hearing to consider whether the Honua project is worthwhile given its anticipated costs and benefits that include reliability, rates, greenhouse gas emissions and other things.

Some observers expect the losing party, whether it be Honua or Life of the Land, to appeal the commission’s forthcoming decision in state court.