In late September, the House Energy & Commerce Committee’s Subcommittee on Oversight & Investigations held a hearing on the role of electric infrastructure in the wildfire that occurred in Lahaina on Maui on August 8. Hawaiian Electric President and CEO Shelee Kimura, along with Hawaii Public Utilities Commission Chair Leo Asuncion, and Hawai’i State Energy Office Chief Energy Officer Mark Glick, provided testimony and answered questions from the committee members, who had launched an investigation into the wildfire and each entities’ response.

This hearing was a significant step in initiating a broader, national conversation about what needs to be done to make electric companies, and the communities they serve, more resilient against increasing climate risk and extreme weather events. The growing threat created by wildfires is a problem that challenges not only Maui, but the nation and the world. The hearing raised questions about how electric companies, regulators, private property owners, and other stakeholders can take a holistic, collaborative approach to address these increasing risks.

The entire hearing ran around two hours, but this episode features key audio segments, including Shelee’s responses about Hawaiian Electric's application for a grid hardening project that had been pending with the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission since last year, Hawaiian Electric’s wildfire protocols, and the obstacles to undergrounding power lines. You can watch the entire hearing on the House Committee on Energy and Commerce's YouTube page: https://youtu.be/Jc2SIl6kiY4.