Honolulu Committee on Energy, Environment and Sustainability Meeting - February 3, 2026
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Honolulu Committee on Energy, Environment and Sustainability Meeting - February 3, 2026
The Committee on Energy, Environment and Sustainability of the Honolulu City Council met remotely on Tuesday, February 3, 2026, at 1:02 PM. Chaired by Councilmember Wire, the committee discussed three resolutions related to the Office of Economic Revitalization (OER) and received an informational briefing on renewable fuels from Par Pacific. No members of the public provided oral testimony on any of the agenda items.
Resolution 26-22 (OER Travel – Economic Recovery Corps)
Director Asselbai of the OER presented the resolution authorizing travel for an OER staff member to attend the Economic Recovery Corps Conference. The director stated the conference would strengthen engagement with federal partners and help align grant opportunities, noting the OER has hosted an Economic Recovery Corps fellow for over three years. The resolution was reported out for adoption without objection.
Resolution 26-23 (OER Travel – NACo Workforce Development)
Director Asselbai presented Resolution 26-23, authorizing travel for the OER Workforce Development Program Manager to attend the National Association of Counties (NACo) "Counties for Career Success" meeting in Omaha, Nebraska. The meeting focuses on strengthening career pathways for underserved populations and supporting local economic growth. The resolution was reported out for adoption without objection.
Resolution 26-12 (Reappointment of Deborah Louis Anderson)
Reappointee Deborah Louis Anderson, a 31-year Kailua small business owner, testified on her background and the challenges small business owners face. Committee members engaged in a substantive discussion on the role of the Economic Revitalization Commission.
- Councilmember Tupola expressed the view that the commission should focus on city-specific operational inefficiencies that the council has direct purview over, such as permitting, and should provide concrete legislative remedies to the council rather than duplicating the work of other organizations.
- Councilmember Dos Santos questioned the commission on its work regarding vacant city-owned real estate. Noting that the city owns 40% of Chinatown's footprint, he suggested the commission should explore making recommendations on activating these spaces for small businesses and startups. Ms. Anderson noted the commission has discussed the concept generally but has not performed a deep dive into specific city properties.
- Councilmember Dos Santos further remarked that related legislation (Bill 35 and Bill 10) has stalled at the council level, suggesting the council itself may be a barrier to progress on these issues. The resolution was reported out for adoption without objection.
Informational Briefing: Par Pacific Renewable Fuels
Marky Noi from Par Hawaii and Nahe Parsons from the Hawaii Renewable Fuels Coalition presented on the company's renewable fuel projects. Par Hawaii is investing over $100 million to convert a unit at its Kapolei refinery to produce up to 60 million gallons of renewable fuels annually, including Sustainable Aviation Fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel. These "drop-in" fuels require no changes to existing engines or infrastructure. The presenters noted that airline consumption of jet fuel in Hawaii amounts to approximately 600 million gallons annually, making decarbonization of the aviation sector critical.
The Hawaii Renewable Fuels Coalition is advocating for a state Renewable Fuel Production Tax Credit to bridge the current $2–$4 per gallon cost gap. Ms. Parsons emphasized the project's potential to create a local circular economy involving farmers, crushers, trucking, and animal feed production from the camelina seed byproduct, reducing greenhouse gas emissions by up to 80%.
In the committee's discussion:
- Councilmember Tupola inquired about the status of crop trials (which aim to scale up to over 20,000 acres), the timeline for scaling, how local farmers can connect with the project to access the animal feed byproduct sooner, and questioned what the city currently does to support the industry. She stated the city provides little direct support and expressed a strong desire to change this to create local jobs.
- Ms. Parsons requested the city's help in connecting the coalition with local businesses and supporting related state policies.
- Councilmember Dos Santos noted the city has a policy of procuring renewable fuel vehicles for its bus fleet and a property tax exemption for renewable fuel production that could be expanded, and stressed the need to avoid losing the economic benefits to other states.
- Chair Wire expressed strong support for the project's comprehensive approach to local farming, job creation, and decarbonization, and committed to continuing the conversation.
Key Outcomes
- Resolution 26-22: Reported out of committee for adoption by the full council. Vote was unanimous.
- Resolution 26-23: Reported out of committee for adoption by the full council. Vote was unanimous.
- Resolution 26-12: Reported out of committee for adoption by the full council. Vote was unanimous.
- Par Pacific Briefing: No formal action was taken. The committee agreed to continue exploring how the city can support the renewable fuels industry through policy, procurement, and community connections.
Meeting Transcript
Good afternoon. It is 102 on Tuesday, February 3rd, 2026. Will the Committee on Energy Environment and Sustainability please come to order? I'd like to welcome committee members to Pola and Tolba and also Dos Santos TAM joining us pursuant to Section 92-3.7, whoever vice statutes, this meeting will be conducted as a remote meeting by an interactive conference technology with the following procedure in effect for the meeting. Members of the public will be allowed to provide oral testimony on all items on the agenda in two ways, remotely and in-person in the council chamber. Remote and in-person oral testimony will be allowed when the agenda item is taken up. As both English and Hawaiian are the official languages of the state of Hawaii, pursuant to Article 15, Section 4 of the Hawaii State Constitution and Section 1-13 of the Hawaii revised statutes. Members of the public may testify in either language. For oral testimonies offered in Olelo Hawaii, additional time as may be necessary will be allowed for the testifier to provide an English translation of their testimony if they so wish. Before testifying, each person shall state their name, and each speaker may not have anyone else read their statements and is limited to a one-minute presentation on each item. All persons who have registered to testify remotely by video conference or phone will be called upon first. When your name is called, please monitor your screen and activate your audio feed when prompted. Some friendly reminders and tips. I believe we have Director Asselbai here. If you want to just come up, I'll just ask some preliminary questions about the RESO. Maybe if you could just describe a little bit more. I know everyone's familiar with NACO, maybe just what the Economic Recovery Corps is and uh or any thoughts you have on how this would bring value to the office. Thank you, Chair Wire and Committee members. Um I have a little draft from our grants innovation and performance director on the travel. And this opportunity to travel will help strengthen engagement with our federal partners regarding his role as our grants coordinator in the office and our federal funding processes, priorities, as well as working and learning more about the compliance requirements. The conference provides a valuable opportunity to meet with members of Hawaii's congressional delegation and their staff to discuss county and OER priorities, align upcoming grant opportunities, and meet with members of the delegation and their staff to secure and manage federal resources. In addition, as you um asked about, we are we have received an economic recovery corps fellow for over three years as a part of an economic development administration grant. And so there are 65 members across the country in the Economic Recovery Corps. One of them works with us here in our office, and this is one of their annual gatherings. So they bring together not just the fellows, but um the host and the person who is their supervisor in our office is also our grants innovation and performance director. It's nice that these conferences are aligned and that they're basically sharing their resources to allow us to participate. So at these conferences, um, the fellows and their hosts share best practices. They help to deepen the cross county and um across the United States and the Pacific learning, and so we can apply some of those lessons to our local economic development and grant strategies. These convenings will help to improve OER's capacity to effectively work with the federal government and maximize resources for our island. Well, appreciate that. Sure. Thank you, Director. Seeing no questions for the director, we'll go ahead and go to testimony. Thank you. No registered in-person or online. Anyone in chamber wanting to testify that's unregistered may come forward. Um, seeing none also online, anyone online that wants to do so can signal with their raised hand feature. But seeing no testifiers, we'll go ahead and close testimony, and members go into the discussion. See no discussion from the committee. Chair's going to recommend the resolution 26-22 be reported out for adoption. Any additional discussion objections or reservations, hearing none so ordered. Thank you again, Director. And that brings us now, members to agenda item number two, resolution 26-23, accepting gift to the city valued at 1,975 for the Metropolitan Community College Travel, Lodging, Ground Transportation, and Rated Materials for the Workforce Development Program Manager to attend the National Association of Counties, Counties for Career Success, building a work-ready future meeting from March 2nd to 4th, 2026 in Omaha, Nebraska. I'll go ahead and turn it back over to you, Director Asselbai. Thank you, Chair and Committee members. OER has appreciated being a part of the National Association of Counties, Counties for Career Success Cohort. Our cohort partners are the University of Hawaii, PCAT, as well as our work Hawaii Division Administrator, Lei Nakamura. So they invited us back again to focus on this strengthening of career pathways for underserved populations while supporting our local economic growth and diversification goals. This upcoming in-person convening brings together the funders, community partners, and participants in the ECMC Foundation funded initiatives, this counties for career success program that they funded to share lessons learned and compare implementation strategies. Participation will allow OER to exchange practical insights and engage in facilitated sessions to explore cross-county partnerships that can enhance Oahu's workforce development efforts.
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