The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has partially rejected Hawaiʻi’s updated Regional Haze State Implementation Plan, slowing a long-running effort to improve visibility and reduce pollution in some of the state’s most protected landscapes. The move directly affects the state’s push to retire aging oil-fired power units that still support the grid in Maui County and on Hawaiʻi Island.
The decision leaves part of the haze plan in place, but it strips out the central retirement strategy that had called for shutting down at least two Hawaiian Electric Co. generating units by 2028. Those units sit at the Kanoelehua-Hill and Kahului power plants, and the Kahului facility dates to 1948.
Why the plan mattered
The state built the plan to protect visibility in Hawaiʻi Volcanoes National Park and Haleakalā National Park, both of which have “Class I” status under the Clean Air Act. That designation gives the parks the highest level of air-quality protection and places strict attention on fine particulates and other man-made emissions that can blur the view.
Regional haze rules also matter beyond the scenery. Pollution linked to power plants and other industrial sources can worsen respiratory and heart conditions, while hazy skies can hurt tourism and public health.
EPA said the retirement deadlines were “unconsented” and warned that forcing the shutdowns could make the electric grid less reliable. The agency also argued that the plan could violate the Constitution’s Takings Clause by requiring the use of private property without just compensation.
HECO says the plants are still on the way out
Hawaiian Electric Co. says it still intends to retire the aging units, but the company says that depends on replacement power coming online first. Mike DeCaprio, vice president of power supply at HECO, said more biofuel generation, solar farms and battery storage would need to be in place before the company can safely end the use of those plants.
“We felt that having a contingency to run these units longer if needed was in our interest, and in our customers’ interest,” DeCaprio said, adding that reliability is especially hard to manage on island grids. He said keeping the lights on remains the top priority.
The company also argued in a letter to EPA that the retirement deadlines were no longer workable because renewable projects had faced cancellations and delays tied to permitting problems, tax incentive changes and supply chain disruptions. That letter, sent by Karin Kimura, director of HECO’s environmental division, said the company had been “forced under the SIP to accept enforceable retirement deadlines.”
Environmental groups see a much bigger threat
Advocates say the federal ruling goes well beyond Hawaiʻi’s power system. In comments to EPA, a coalition of 10 environmental groups argued that the agency was using the Trump administration’s fossil fuel agenda to weaken long-settled clean air rules.
Isaac Moriwake, managing attorney of Earthjustice’s Mid-Pacific office, said the state plan had already accounted for contingencies if clean energy resources were delayed. He said HECO had earlier agreed to shut down some of its oldest oil-fired units instead of paying for expensive upgrades that ratepayers would ultimately cover.
Earthjustice and other groups said the EPA’s reasoning could create a wider loophole in the Clean Air Act by letting facilities avoid compliance with the Regional Haze Program. They warned that the logic could spill into other pollution rules as well.
A dispute over air quality math
Part of the fight also centers on how to separate volcanic pollution from industrial emissions in Hawaiʻi’s air. When Kīlauea erupts, vog adds sulfur dioxide and fine particulate matter, especially on the south side of Hawaiʻi Island.
The state and federal agencies have used complex methods for years to estimate how much of the haze comes from natural sources and how much comes from human activity. But EPA said in its February proposal that no method can fully screen out volcanic impacts and isolate the visibility harm caused by anthropogenic pollution.
Environmental groups rejected that view and called the agency’s reasoning “arbitrary and capricious.” The Hawaiʻi Department of Health also said EPA’s response did not fit the purpose of the Clean Air Act section meant to protect visibility in national parks and wilderness areas.
What comes next for Hawaiʻi’s clean-air plan
EPA says it remains committed to working with Hawaiʻi to revise the plan so it follows the law and still delivers cleaner air. For now, though, the ruling removes the state’s main long-term path for retiring some of its oldest oil-fired plants while keeping the haze program alive in part.
The decision also arrives as HECO faces pressure on another front, with Moriwake noting a pending request before the Public Utilities Commission to raise customer rates by $45 million a year in part to help cover the plant closures. Climate advocates say Hawaiʻi’s broader shift to renewables is still moving forward, even if federal policy has made the near-term path more difficult.
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