{"id":487,"date":"2026-05-23T06:05:03","date_gmt":"2026-05-23T06:05:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487"},"modified":"2026-05-23T06:05:03","modified_gmt":"2026-05-23T06:05:03","slug":"japanese-company-seeks-first-permit-to-import-liquefied-natural-gas-to-oahu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487","title":{"rendered":"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\n

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – Japanese energy company JERA has applied for a federal permit to build an offshore terminal for liquid natural gas on Oahu.<\/p>\n

Read more \u2018It\u2019s unreal\u2019: Moanalua boys volleyball reflects on historic state championship<\/a><\/p>\n

The application is the first step toward approval of a $1.5 billion power plant that could provide nearly half of the island\u2019s electricity.<\/p>\n

But the plan is being questioned by environmentalists and lawmakers who fear it will slow progress toward renewable energy.<\/p>\n

JERA says LNG could cut costs quickly<\/h1>\n

JERA says burning LNG instead of oil would be cheaper and more efficient and would reduce electric rates. The LNG would arrive frozen and pressurized at a terminal off Campbell Industrial Park, be processed into gas in a floating gasification plant, then piped to a 500-megawatt electric power plant.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cThis is about displacing oil right now and reducing costs and reducing carbon today with a solution that works,\u201d said Erik Montague, JERA Americas vice president for development.<\/p>\n

A University of Hawaii study of the plan agreed that \u201cthe fuel price case for LNG is genuine but narrower than often presented\u201d and is based on \u201coil prices staying high enough… and renewable energy deployment being slow enough.\u201d<\/p>\n

Opponents say renewables, not LNG, should drive affordability<\/h1>\n

Life of the Land\u2019s Henry Curtis said the study found that the proposed LNG plant would cut into the growth rate of renewables.<\/p>\n

Environmentalists like Curtis see renewables like solar as the answer to affordability. LNG is a fossil fuel that is supposed to be phased out in Hawaii by 2045 to meet the state\u2019s goal of 100% of electrical generation from renewables.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe trajectory is falling far short of what is needed to meet that goal,\u201d Montague said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things we hope we can help support in increasing the rate of adoption of renewables here.\u201d<\/p>\n

The company says its plant would be a hybrid capable of switching to a new non-fossil fuel, although what that fuel would be is unclear.<\/p>\n

Read more Passed over for HPD chief, Mike Lambert says he\u2019s ready to return as beat cop<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cWhat they have said is that the plant can be converted to hydrogen or ammonia or biofuels or something else,\u201d said Curtis. \u201cThey have not laid out how much it would cost to convert. They have not laid out whether those are viable.\u201d<\/p>\n

Critics question preliminary agreement with governor<\/h1>\n

Critics are also skeptical because Gov. Josh Green has already signed a preliminary collaboration agreement with the company.<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cSo what this proposal is, pre-selecting one company and pre-selecting one proposal,\u201d Curtis said. \u201cIn other words, we will go with LNG and we will go with JERA \u2014 two things that violate the fundamentals of competitiveness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Montague says the agreement doesn\u2019t commit the state to the project, just research and collaboration on a number of energy goals.<\/p>\n

Curtis says technical and financial competition, and their impacts on the community and environment, should be judged by the Public Utilities Commission.<\/p>\n

\u201cNone of that exists for this project,\u201d Curtis said. \u201cIt is like a blank sheet of paper that is turned over from time to time with PR scribbles.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n

\u201cIt has a few people uncomfortable about that, but I want to reiterate, we anticipate all of this going through a full regulatory review,\u201d Montague said.<\/p>\n

If approved, JERA says its plant could be running by 2030 and could reduce electric bills by 20 percent.<\/p>\n

Read more Oahu sees rise in family homelessness despite overall drop in unsheltered population<\/a><\/p>\n<\/section>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The permit is the first step toward approval of a $1.5 billion power plant that could provide nearly half of the island\u2019s electricity.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":486,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-487","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"yoast_head":"\nJapanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu - Hawaii Moving Insider<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu - Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The permit is the first step toward approval of a $1.5 billion power plant that could provide nearly half of the island\u2019s electricity.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Hawaii Moving Insider\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-05-23T06:05:03+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"admin\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"admin\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"headline\":\"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T06:05:03+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487\"},\"wordCount\":597,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/58fc419a9f4fe2d4a89162d03d985c08.avif\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487\",\"name\":\"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu - Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/58fc419a9f4fe2d4a89162d03d985c08.avif\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-05-23T06:05:03+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/58fc419a9f4fe2d4a89162d03d985c08.avif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2026\\\/05\\\/58fc419a9f4fe2d4a89162d03d985c08.avif\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":600},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?p=487#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/\",\"name\":\"Hawaii Moving Insider\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0\",\"name\":\"admin\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"admin\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\\\/?author=1\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu - Hawaii Moving Insider","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu - Hawaii Moving Insider","og_description":"The permit is the first step toward approval of a $1.5 billion power plant that could provide nearly half of the island\u2019s electricity.","og_url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487","og_site_name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","article_published_time":"2026-05-23T06:05:03+00:00","author":"admin","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"admin","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487"},"author":{"name":"admin","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"headline":"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu","datePublished":"2026-05-23T06:05:03+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487"},"wordCount":597,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/58fc419a9f4fe2d4a89162d03d985c08.avif","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487","name":"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu - Hawaii Moving Insider","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/58fc419a9f4fe2d4a89162d03d985c08.avif","datePublished":"2026-05-23T06:05:03+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/58fc419a9f4fe2d4a89162d03d985c08.avif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/58fc419a9f4fe2d4a89162d03d985c08.avif","width":1200,"height":600},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?p=487#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Japanese company seeks first permit to import liquefied natural gas to Oahu"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#website","url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/","name":"Hawaii Moving Insider","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/#\/schema\/person\/590d72f16cb0f571fd45812a3c7ea1d0","name":"admin","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/50b1ad2e498f523425ee0a8cc5180a210646db1622662a3d56cc405d3e0c346a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"admin"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com"],"url":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/?author=1"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=487"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/487\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/486"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=487"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=487"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hawaiimovinginsider.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=487"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}