Next Level Solutions Group, Inc., would like to use waste that H-POWER doesn’t process to create energy that doesn’t foul the environment, while reducing the waste stream. In theory, that sounds like a win for the planet, this state and its people — but without access to enough information to prove it, we can’t buy in.

Next Level, just incorporated in August, has asked the state to authorize $50 million in special-purpose revenue bonds to finance its proposed project: a gasification plant converting waste to energy. House Bill 1682, authorizing bonds in a now-unspecified amount for Next Level, has been working its way toward passage. The bill seems headed to conference committee — but it’s mired by too many questions.

State approval to issue special-purpose bonds is a form of endorsement for a private project that provides a “public benefit.” This type of bond is sold to private investors, and the debt would belong to Next Level, but raising money in this way costs less than borrowing in the private market. Meanwhile, Next Level hasn’t shown the public benefit required truly would result.

In presenting their project to the Legislature, Next Level’s leaders Anthony Hong and Danny Kim said their project will use technology developed by South Korean company Hwa Seong B &Tec to build a waste conversion plant.

A video created by Hwa Seong and presented to legislators says its technology can process household, industrial and medical waste and sewage sludge for energy, while releasing one-tenth of the carbon monoxide and nitrogen oxides released by other processes.

Hwa Seong also says its technology generates 25% or less of the ash generated from burning waste than a plant such as H-POWER.

The project would supplement H-POWER by focusing on recycled waste, medical waste and other waste that is now sent off island, Hong and Kim say, while also diverting more waste from Oahu’s landfill in Kapolei, Waimanalo Gulch.

But here are some things we don’t know:

>> How the efficiency of gasification proposed here compares to H-POWER’s stats.

>> What the volume of emissions and residue might be.

>> Where Next Level’s plant might be on Oahu.

Oahu has more garbage than it can handle, and there is an urgent need to reduce our waste streams. Just last week, the Landfill Advisory Committee rejected all six locations under consideration for a new dump site. Despite a looming deadline of Dec. 31 to choose a site, solutions seem as far away as ever.

A private project that diverts waste and produces energy with “clean” technology could be a valuable part of Oahu’s strategy, if the numbers add up.

In forwarding the bonds bill, the Senate Ways and Means Committee stated that Next Level “will benefit Hawaii by reducing the amount of waste that enters landfills, operating in a manner that does not release toxins and other harmful emissions into the air, and providing residents with new, well-compensated jobs in the clean-energy sector.” But how do we know that?

As Ted Bohlen of Climate Protectors Hawai‘i said in written testimony, “Whether this project will benefit or harm the climate should be determined by a careful lifecycle greenhouse gas analysis.”

Without specifics about the company’s investors and its finances, we don’t know how Next Level stacks up there, either.

If HB 1682 is enacted, the state Department of Budget and Finance would have final approval over issuing the bonds, considering factors such as Next Level’s experience and finances. That still doesn’t justify sending this project forward without more consideration of the company’s qualifications. Without that intelligence, it’s difficult to support this project.