Legislators in the state House are advancing a bill that could boost the Big Island’s aerospace capabilities.
But no Big Island representatives are co-signers.
House Bill 2263 was introduced by Kauai Rep. Derek Kawakami and moved into conference this week. It funds a feasibility study for developing “small satellite launch and processing facilities on the Island of Hawaii.”
The bill was an initiative of the economic development committees, said Oahu Sen. Glenn Wakai, whose district includes Honolulu International Airport and Pearl Harbor. Wakai chairs the Senate Economic Development, Environment and Technology Committee and introduced a companion bill that did not cross over from the Senate.
“This was more compelled by economic development opportunities rather than lawmakers from (Hawaii Island),” Wakai said.
In an email to the Tribune-Herald, Kawakami said the main reason for introducing the bill was the chance to create “diverse industrial avenues outside the tourism industry (to) give Hawaii’s population better job opportunities.”
“Hawaii’s unique mid-Pacific, near-equatorial location … helps to provide a cost-effective site from which to launch payloads into orbit,” he said.
The interest in the Big Island stems from other aerospace initiatives located here, such as the ‘Imiloa Astronomy Center and Mauna Kea’s telescopes.
Wakai said the measure also aligned with the establishment of an aviation pilot program at the University of Hawaii at Hilo, one of the bills introduced by the late Sen. Gil Kahele.
The combined effort would “really develop an aerospace cluster on the Big Island,” Wakai said. “We want the brainpower … all in the same place.”
A dollar amount for the cost of the feasibility study has not been set. That will be determined by April 29, Wakai said.
Because HB 2263 was heard by several committees, Hawaii Island legislators were able to weigh in on the measure. Rep. Richard Onishi, D-Hilo, Keaau, Kurtistown, Volcano, heard the bill twice when it was moving through the House and twice voted in favor of it.
Onishi also introduced a concurrent resolution this session that would recognize aerospace as a “strategic and timely growth industry.” The resolution awaits a Senate hearing.
“We’re looking at how to use the technologies that are being developed by aerospace … to benefit Hawaii,” Onishi said Tuesday. “This is more of a business opportunity.”
He said the concept of doing a feasibility study was kicked around the Legislature before, but no bill was created until now.
“It’s just looking at what would be any kind of economic viability, what would be the cost of development,” he said.
Two Big Island-based organizations, the Pacific International Space Center for Exploration Systems, or PISCES, and the Hawaii Island Economic Development Board would be involved in conducting the feasibility study, along with the state Department of Business, Economic Development and Tourism and the state Office of Aerospace Development.
“The bill would be a market study to be done over the next couple of years to validate the interest,” PISCES Executive Director Robert Kelso said Wednesday.
He added the resulting study would not be based on any particular Hawaii location, although the bill’s language is specific to the Big Island.
Kelso said commercial interest in launching small-scale satellites — those weighing 100 kilograms (about 220 pounds) or less — has increased during the past few years.
“What we’re seeing is a number of groups are beginning to emerge who are building to accommodate them,” he said. “It used to be that everybody would build and launch these behemoth satellites.”
Wakai said the No. 1 group launching satellites is DirectTV.
“No longer is it NASA, no longer is it the (Russian) cosmonauts,” he said. “I would imagine (DirectTV) would be one of those interested.”
State Sen. Russell Ruderman, D-Puna, Ka‘u, voted against the bill when it came before the Senate EET committee because he thought any launches would create too much pollution.
“The other is more a principle, which I will always oppose when someone plans something for my neighborhood without talking to my neighborhood,” he said.
State Sen. Lorraine Inouye, D-Hilo, like Onishi, twice voted in favor of the bill during committee hearings but said Tuesday she requested the feasibility study include environmental impact.
In the 1990s, a rocket launch facility was proposed for Ka‘u, which was met with strong community opposition. The initiative died, but remains fresh in many people’s minds.
“I know people, especially in Ka‘u, are skittish when they talk about launching rockets … something that looked like Cape Canaveral,” Wakai said. “I totally understand why the community would be against something as obtrusive as that.”
Wakai and Kelso said the rockets used to launch satellites would not be large given the satellites themselves are small.
“There’s not a huge visual impact,” Wakai said.
He said the study, if approved, would provide a road map for next steps.
“I think that Hawaii has a great opportunity to be the world leader in aerospace,” Wakai said.
Email Ivy Ashe at iashe@hawaiitribune-herald.com.
