A bill authored by a state legislator from Kaua’i which has passed the House and moved into the Senate would temporarily exempt the leasing of certain state land at Nawiliwili Harbor from state public-auction requirements. House Bill 216 applies to
A bill authored by a state legislator from Kaua’i which has passed the House and moved into the Senate would temporarily exempt the leasing of certain state land at Nawiliwili Harbor from state public-auction requirements.
House Bill 216 applies to an area at the harbor where Shell Oil has huge fuel tanks on state land with only a revocable, month-to-month permit.
While the state Department of Transportation Harbors Division would like to issue a long-term lease for the fuel storage facility, Shell fears that it may not be the highest bidder in a public auction for the land as required under state law.
If that happened, Shell would likely have to remove its storage tanks, forcing Tesoro Hawai’i Corp., which stores jet fuel in Shell’s tanks, to develop its own facilities to store jet fuel used for various carriers at Lihu’e Airport.
The process of building new storage tanks is estimated to take around three years, and it is feared that would hamper the fueling of existing and proposed additional non-stop flights between Lihu’e and the mainland.
The bill introduced by Rep. Ezra Kanoho (D-13th District), if approved, would temporarily (to mid-2002) exempt the leasing of the Shell fuel storage facilities at Nawiliwili from the state law.
The bill would take effect upon approval and be repealed on June 30, 2002.
Staff Writer Paul C. Curtis can be reached at mailto:pcurtis@pulitzer.net or 245-3681 (ext. 224).
