Hawaii Geothermal Plant/Inter-Island Cable Project

Abstract

Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund, Inc. letter and report regarding the 500 megawatt geothermal plant\inter-island cable project in Hawaii. In the early 1980s, the federal and Hawaii state governments began jointly pursuing development of this geothermal project. The state enacted laws granting favorable excise tax treatment to sellers of geothermal energy, designating geothermal subzones for development purposes, and granting agency authority to set geothermal royalty rates. In conjunction with these state actions, the u.s. Department of Energy began providing funding for research, design, construction and routing of an undersea cable specifically designed to transmit geothermal-based electricity from the Big Island to Oahu