In a letter on Thursday, House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.) and other committee leaders Jeff Duncan (R-S.C.) and Morgan Griffith (R-Va.) asked Hawaiian Electric about its risk management procedures.
Specifically, they asked for information about the utility’s last decade of fire-prevention efforts, as well as any moves by Hawaiian Electric, the state Public Utilities Commission and state Energy Office to address the fire risk from invasive grasses.
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The lawmakers asked for the sequence of events that occurred on Aug. 8 involving the fire, including actions taken by Hawaii Electric.
- In addition to the utility, the lawmakers wrote to Hawaii’s Public Utilities Commission and chief energy officer pressing for answers.
- “We seek a fuller understanding of the role, if any, of the electric infrastructure in this tragic event,” the lawmakers wrote.
A lawsuit from Maui County blamed the utility, saying it mismanaged power lines. However, the utility has said that its lines only contributed to a morning fire that was later extinguished, not the afternoon fire that killed more than 100 people.
In response to the committee’s letter, Hawaiian Electric said that it “received the letter from the U.S. House Energy and Commerce Committee, and look[s] forward to working with the committee.”
The power provider also stated that it was “working with a number of different entities to keep our communities safe, as climate issues rapidly intensify here and around the globe.”
Read more in a full report at TheHill.com.
