Hawaiian Electric CEO expected to testify at U.S. House hearing on Maui fires
GEORGE F. LEE / AUG. 14
Hawaiian Electric Co. President and CEO Shelee Kimura speaks to reporters at a news conference in Wailuku last month days after the Aug. 8 Maui wildfires. Kimura is expected to testify later this month before a U.S. House committee that is investigating the wildfires.
The U.S. House committee investigating the deadly Aug. 8 Maui firestorm said it expects the heads of Hawaiian Electric Co., the Hawaii Public Utilities Commission and the State Energy Office to testify at its first hearing on the disaster.
House Energy and Commerce Committee chair Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, R-Wash., along with Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations chair Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Va., said in a news release today that the hearing is scheduled for Sept. 28 in Washington.
Shelee Kimura, president and CEO of Hawaiian Electric, Leodoloff R. Asuncion, Jr., chairperson of the PUC, and Mark B. Glick, the state’s chief energy officer, have been invited to attend the hearing and the committee expects them to testify, according to the release.
Rodgers and Griffith, along with Energy, Climate, and Grid Security Subcommittee chairperson Rep. Jeff Duncan, R-S.C., announced the House investigation last month.
“In our capacity as Chairs of the Committee on Energy and Commerce of the U.S. House of Representatives and its respective energy policy and oversight subcommittees, we are empowered to oversee energy supply, reliability of all power, and regulation of energy resources throughout the country,” they wrote in a letter announcing the investigation. “To that end, we seek a fuller understanding of the role, if any, of the electric infrastructure in this tragic event.”
HECO officials did not immediately return a Honolulu Star-Advertiser request for comment this morning, but a company spokesperson confirmed to the Wall Street Journal that Kimura has agreed to testify.
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RELATED STORY: HEI board accused of skimping on safety
In addition to the House investigation, the company is facing an onslaught of lawsuits claiming its downed poles and electrical equipment sparked the Aug. 8 Maui fires that killed at least 115 people; destroyed or damaged an estimated 2,200 buildings, mostly homes; and incinerated much of the historic town of Lahaina.
The plaintiffs have included families of people who died, residents who lost their homes, Maui County, and investors in the company’s publicly traded stock, which has been pummelled on Wall Street in the aftermath of the fires.
