Bill Text: HI SR144 | 2013 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: DOT; Honolulu International Airport; Taxis; Hybrid Vehicles; Rules

Spectrum: Moderate Partisan Bill (Democrat 9-1)

Status: (Passed) 2013-06-07 - Certified copies of resolutions sent, 06-07-13. [SR144 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2013-SR144-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	144
TWENTY-SEVENTH LEGISLATURE, 2013
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

REQUESTING THE DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION TO ADOPT RULES TO ENCOURAGE TAXIS TO USE HIGH EFFICIENCY VEHICLES, INCLUDING HYBRID ELECTRIC VEHICLES, AT HONOLULU INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

 

 

     WHEREAS, the State of Hawai‘i and the United States Department of Energy established the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative designed to accelerate the transformation of Hawai‘i into one of the world's first economies based primarily on clean energy resources; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative's stated goal is to achieve seventy percent clean energy by 2030, with thirty percent from efficiency measures, and forty percent from locally generated renewable sources; and

 

     WHEREAS, Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative recognizes that transportation accounts for more than sixty percent of the energy consumed in Hawai‘i; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Hawai‘i Clean Energy Initiative's overall goal for the transportation sector is to reduce consumption of petroleum in ground transportation by seventy percent, or approximately 385 million gallons per year, by 2030; and

 

     WHEREAS, the United States Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy established and administers the Honolulu Clean Cities Coalition, a non-profit voluntary government and industry partnership, designed to achieve a cleaner environment in Hawai‘i and reduce dependence on imported oil by increasing the use of alternative fuels and alternative fuel vehicles; and

 

     WHEREAS, SustainableHNL is the first airport sustainability initiative and pilot for the airport system sustainability program of the Department of Transportation Airport Division (Airport Division); and

 

     WHEREAS, SustainableHNL, in its efforts to align the Airport Division's commitment to airport sustainability with local initiatives and legislation, has identified four major elements or areas of focus:  carbon, water, waste, and energy; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Airport Division recognizes that as the main leaseholder, it can significantly influence users of Honolulu International Airport facilities through the development of sustainability initiatives and policies; and

 

     WHEREAS, the Airport Division has found that ground access vehicles, including public passenger and taxis, and other forms of non-renewable fossil fuel based transportation that travel between Honolulu International Airport and the rest of Oahu account for approximately 18,182 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent (mtCO2e), or 21.58 percent, of Honolulu International Airport's total emissions of carbon; and

 

     WHEREAS, other jurisdictions such as the City of San Francisco with 1,500 taxis have similarly found that the taxi industry is a major user of non-renewable fossil fuels and a major emitter of carbon dioxide, emitting 75,000 mtCO2e per year; and

 

     WHEREAS, in 1999, San Francisco initiated policies and regulations, including subsidies and priority at airport taxi stands, to increase the use of high efficiency vehicles by the taxi industry; and

 

     WHEREAS, San Francisco has reported that as of March 2012, ninety percent of its taxi fleet consisted of clean cabs (eighty-five percent hybrid electric vehicles and five percent compressed natural gas), resulting in an annual greenhouse gas reduction of 35,000 mtCO2e; and

 

     WHEREAS, San Diego International Airport in 2011 launched an airport clean cab program of subsidies and priority at airport taxi stands that resulted in a thirty percent adoption rate of hybrid electric vehicles (117 hybrid electric vehicle cabs) among all cabs serving the airport in just ten months, resulting in an annual greenhouse gas reduction of 2,736 mtCO2e with each hybrid electric vehicle producing sixty-two percent less greenhouse gas than the typical airport taxi vehicle, a 2008 Ford Crown Victoria; and

 

     WHEREAS, the City of Boston in 2009, through the assistance of the United States Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, launched Boston's ClearAir CABS program of tax credits and priority airport taxi stands to incentivize the taxi industry to convert to hybrid electric vehicles in clear recognition of the environmental and tourism market benefits to Boston's overall economy; now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Twenty-seventh Legislature of the State of Hawai‘i, Regular Session of 2013, that the Department of Transportation is requested to adopt rules to encourage taxis to use high efficiency vehicles, including hybrid electric vehicles, at Honolulu International Airport; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the Airport Division, in its effort to align its commitment to airport sustainability with local initiatives and legislation, review the rules to encourage taxi cabs servicing Honolulu International Airport to use high efficiency vehicles such as hybrid electric vehicles; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the rules of the Department of Transportation encourage the use of high efficiency vehicles for taxi cabs at Honolulu International Airport through incentives including, among others, the establishment of a separate taxi stand for high efficiency vehicles; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Director of Transportation, United States Department of Energy's Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, Honolulu Clean Cities Coalition, and Mayor of the City and County of Honolulu.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

Report Title: 

DOT; Honolulu International Airport; Taxis; Hybrid Vehicles; Rules