{"id":137118,"date":"2026-05-23T05:06:46","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:06:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/epa-just-walked-back-hawai%ca%bbis-plan-to-retire-its-dinosaur-power-plants\/"},"modified":"2026-05-23T05:06:52","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T08:06:52","slug":"epa-just-walked-back-hawai%ca%bbis-plan-to-retire-its-dinosaur-power-plants","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ubirataonline.com.br\/en\/epa-just-walked-back-hawai%ca%bbis-plan-to-retire-its-dinosaur-power-plants\/","title":{"rendered":"EPA Just Walked Back Hawai\u02bbi’s Plan To Retire Its Dinosaur Power Plants"},"content":{"rendered":"

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By throwing a wrench in the state\u2019s Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, advocates say HECO can sidestep rules years in the making.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Hawai\u02bbi has some of the freshest air in the nation, but in some parts of the state hazy skies can impact tourism and public health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has pumped the brakes on a multi-decade effort to improve visibility and reduce fine particulates and other man-made pollutants.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the agency announced it had partially denied Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s 2024 Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, a detailed proposal that lays out the state\u2019s intention to comply with the federal Clean Air Act. The plan was designed specifically to reduce haze in two iconic places: Hawai\u02bbi Volcanoes National Park on the Big Island and Haleakal\u0101 National Park on Maui.<\/p>\n

Hawaiian Electric Co.\u2019s Kahului generating station on Maui was commissioned in 1948. (Erin Nolan\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Because the two parks are designated as \u201cClass I\u201d under the Clean Air Act, their air quality is legally entitled to the highest level of protection.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the EPA is leaving some aspects of the haze plan intact, it is jettisoning its main thrust: the state\u2019s long-term strategy, which included shutting down at least two of Hawaiian Electric Co.\u2019s oil-fired electricity generating units in the Kanoelehua-Hill and Kahului power plants by 2028. The units are the dinosaurs of the industry; the Kahului unit was commissioned in 1948<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The agency referred to the closures as \u201cunconsented\u201d and said in a press release<\/a> that they could make Hawai\u02bbi\u2019s grid less reliable and \u201cviolate the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution for the taking of private property without just compensation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The decision isn\u2019t the first of its kind for the agency; in Colorado, it rejected a similar plan<\/a> that involved closing a coal plant. But it is one of the first from the current EPA to impact Hawai\u02bbi, and part of a larger plan by EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin\u2019s to execute on President Donald Trump\u2019s executive orders to promote what he calls \u201cenergy dominance.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is one of the biggest bombs to drop in Hawai\u02bbi so far from the EPA,\u201d Isaac Moriwake, managing attorney of Earthjustice\u2019s Mid-Pacific office, told Civil Beat.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Kahului
Determining to what degree natural and man-made emissions contribute to the overall air quality in the region requires a series of complex, evolving math equations<\/a>. (Erin Nolan\/Civil Beat\/2026)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Earthjustice is part of a group of 10 national environmental advocacy groups, including The National Parks Conservation Association, Earthjustice, Natural Resources Defense Council and Center for Biological Diversity, to respond to the decision<\/a>, saying it will harm Hawai\u02bbi communities and result in dirtier air in the parks.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mike DeCaprio, vice president of power supply at HECO, describes the situation as a trade-off. He said the company still plans to retire the aging plants. But to do so by the end of 2028, DiCaprio said more biofuel plants and more solar farms and battery storage have to first come online.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe felt that having a contingency to run these units longer if needed was in our interest, and in our customers\u2019 interest, so that we don\u2019t end up in a grid reliability issue,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cReliability on an island grid is a really tough issue, right? They\u2019re very small grids. With size comes stability, and they don\u2019t have size,\u201d DeCaprio said. \u201cMaking sure that the lights stay on is the most important part.\u201d<\/p>\n

Regulation Or \u2018Total Regulatory Taking\u2019?<\/h2>\n

In a detailed 67-page comment<\/a> on an earlier draft of the EPA\u2019s decision, the environmental advocates accused HECO of exploiting the Trump administration\u2019s fossil fuel agenda.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The advocates asserted that the Clean Air Act was written in such a way that it already allowed for contingency plans if renewable energy wasn\u2019t available. They also said that HECO had previously agreed to retire<\/a> three of its oldest oil-fired generating units in the Hill, Kahului, and M\u0101\u02bbalaea plants after it was asked by the health department to submit a plan to upgrade the technology to improve air quality.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHECO was the one coming to Department of Health and saying, \u2018Hey, we will commit to shutting down these plants in lieu of having to spend all kinds of money, which the ratepayers are going to pay for at the end of the day, to upgrade these plants to try to clean them up. It\u2019s cheaper, it\u2019s more reliable, it\u2019s more affordable for our ratepayers to just shut them down,\u2019\u201d Moriwake said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FILE
The Milky Way is seen over the Haleakal\u0101 Observatory and the lights of Kahului at the summit of the national park, which is designated as \u201cClass I\u201d under the Clean Air Act. (AP Photo\/Lindsey Wasson, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Then, last August, Karin Kimura, director of the environmental division at HECO, sent a letter<\/a> to the EPA\u2019s regional administrator saying the company had been \u201cforced under the SIP to accept enforceable retirement deadlines.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Kimura said the retirement deadlines were no longer viable because of \u201cactual or potential cancellations and delays\u201d in renewable energy sources coming online to replace the power plants. Those projects had slowed down due to permitting challenges, changes in tax incentives and supply chain changes, she added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cFollowing this notification, Hawaii \u2026. needed to provide assurances that EPA\u2019s approval of the unconsented source closure would not amount to a taking without just compensation under the Takings Clause of the U.S. Constitution,\u201d the EPA press office told Civil Beat in an emailed statement. \u201cHawaii did not provide such assurances, and EPA was therefore required to partially disapprove the state\u2019s long-term strategy.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The haze plan process had been overseen by the Department of Health, but HECO sent the letter without the Department of Health\u2019s involvement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The health department did not respond to a request for comment from Civil Beat but it noted this omission in its own letter to the EPA in April \u2014\u00a0once it was clear that EPA was responding to HECOs request by shutting down the plan. In it, the state\u2019s director of health, Kenneth Fink, said EPA\u2019s response was \u201cnot consistent with the purpose of Clean Air Act Section 169A which was enacted to protect visibility in national parks and wilderness areas\u201d and \u201cdirectly conflicts with EPA\u2019s previous guidance\u201d for developing such plans.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The company also has already signaled it is raising its customers\u2019 rates, in part to compensate for the plant closures, Moriwake noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cHECO has a pending request right now,\u201d he said. \u201cIt\u2019s sitting in front of the PUC to increase customer rates by $45 million a year for this purpose.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Jeff Mikulina, executive director of Climate Hawai\u2018i, acknowledged that renewable energy in Hawai\u02bbi is facing headwinds, thanks in large part to the Trump administration\u2019s tariffs and choice to cut tax credits and other federal support. But he believes Hawai\u02bbi will continue to lead on renewables. And he\u2019s particularly optimistic about what\u2019s happening on Kaua\u02bbi, where local lawmakers just approved two<\/a> new<\/a> solar+storage projects that could get them to 90% renewable energy by 2030.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s important to look at the long-term signal as opposed to the near-term noise, and that long-term signal tells us that this technology is getting cheaper by the day, particularly energy storage, which is really that secret sauce that\u2019s going to allow us to achieve our 100% renewable energy future.\u201d<\/p>\n

In its email, the EPA press office said it is, \u201ccommitted to working with the state of Hawaii to revise the SIP, in order to both follow the law and achieve clean air for all in the state.\u201d<\/p>\n

And yet the legal argument that the agency is using to justify its move away from a haze rule with teeth concerns the environmental advocates as much, if not more, than this one decision.\u00a0In its legal rationale, the federal agency argued that the haze plan would unfairly restrict HECO\u2019s use of its private property, in what it called \u201ca total regulatory taking.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cBy asserting that the retirement deadlines in the 2024 SIP are now \u2018forced,\u2019 EPA opens a massive loophole in the Act\u2019s requirements, allowing facilities to entirely evade compliance with the Regional Haze Program,\u201d they wrote in their comments in April. They say they are concerned\u00a0 that the agency could dismantle other parts of the Clean Air Act, such as the National Ambient Air Quality Standards Program.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey are signaling that they want to overhaul this entire regulatory scheme,\u201d Moriwake said.<\/p>\n

Not To Be Confused With Vog<\/h2>\n

When the K\u012blauea volcano is erupting, vog \u2014 volcanic smog \u2014\u00a0adds sulfur dioxide and fine particulate matter to the air, particularly on the southern side of Hawai\u02bbi island. The Hawai\u02bbi Department of Health warns <\/a>that even brief exposure can cause shortness of breath, chest tightness and other respiratory problems.<\/p>\n

Power plants and other industrial facilities \u2014\u00a0such as the Mauna Loa processing facility named in the state\u2019s 2024 SIP \u2014\u00a0also emit sulfur dioxide as well as nitrogen oxides, which has been shown to aggravate lung and heart conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"FILE
When the K\u012blauea volcano is erupting, vog adds sulfur dioxide and fine particulate matter to the air, particularly on the south side of Hawai\u02bbi island. (J. Barnett\/U.S. Geological Survey via AP\/2025)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Determining to what degree these natural and man-made emissions contribute to the overall air quality in the region requires a series of complex, evolving math equations<\/a>. EPAs under previous administrations have used specific tools to calculate the region\u2019s \u201cnatural visibility conditions\u201d while accounting for episodic volcanic events.\u00a0<\/p>\n

But when the current EPA proposed its disapproval<\/a> of the haze rule in February, it asserted that no methodology \u201chas been developed that is able to fully screen out the volcanic impacts and thus isolate the visibility impairment caused by anthropogenic air pollution.\u201d<\/p>\n

The environmental groups disagree. In their comments they called the agency\u2019s assertions \u201carbitrary and capricious.\u201d<\/p>\n

Civil Beat\u2019s coverage of climate change and the environment is supported by The Healy Foundation, the Marisla Fund of the Hawai\u2018i Community Foundation and the Frost Family Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n

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