And we need to do more. It is very clear they have not met the conditions for a waiver of section 907 of the freedom support act. Therefore i call for the immediate succession of Security Assistance to azerbaijan. My colleague senator whitehouse have pressed the state department to issue global magnitsky sanctions for those responsible for the human rights abuses. Given the situation on the ground, i believe that the Administration Needs to exert more pressure and take a more active role in ensuring the government of azerbaijan understands that there are consequences for actions at the United States and that the United States is watching. After decades of conflict, i understand the skepticism of both sides grounded in centuries of mistrust b. U. The process for durable peace has to begin somewhere. The governments in baku must take it seriously and avoid a divisive and hateful rhetoric that only fans the flames of disruss and conflict. Distrust and conflict. Without it i worry only future bloodshed will follow. I will continue my longstanding support for the armenia people from nagornokarabakh and i call on my Senate Colleagues to urge the administration to do the same. We cannot sit idly by while a nation defies the world, claims territory that is in dispute, and has a systematic policy which appears to be emerging of ethnic cleansing. We must stand up against this and i urge all my colleagues to urge the administration to take a strong and vigorous stand against what is i think deplorable, despicable conduct by the government of azerbaijan. With that, mr. President , i would yield the floor and i would note the absence of a quorum. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. Quorum call our Witnesses Today at the president and chief executive officer of Hawaiian Electric and mr. Mark did Energy Officer for a state Energy Office and the chair of the hawaii Public Utilities commission. Appreciate you all being here and i look forward to hearing from you. You are aware that the subcommittee is holding her oversight hearing and was doing so with to take you under oath. Anyone have any objections for giving your testimony under oath . See no objection we will proceed and i advise you and council present the house rules do any good desire to be advised by council during your testimony today . I dont see any asking for that so if you would all please stand and raise your right hand. Do you promise to tell the truth the whole truth and nothing but the truth so help you god . Seeing the witnesses have all answered in the affirmative you were born in under oath and set forth under title xviii section when does one of the United States code. Without i will now recognize you for your fiveminute opening statement. Push your microphone. Maybe you can pull it closer to you. Is that better . Its a little better. Where are our technicians . I think we are good. Go ahead. Okay. Aloha and good morning. On august 8 and lahaina maui is a human loss and devastation that exceed the scale that is difficult for our hearts and minds to process. I want to start by honoring those lost and those whose lives have been forever changed in this overwhelming tragic event. Most of you know the word aloha. There is another word in the hawaiian language. Loosely translated this word means responsibility. Like aloha he cannot be defined. It is a deep sense of responsibility that is both an obligation and a privilege. Its a responsibility that has been entrusted to you by your family, by your community by the generations that came before you and those that will follow you. Its once responsibility within the bigger system for community in which one belongs. Its a privilege to have it within the interdependent system and through one another. For generations past present and future Hawaiian Electrics we are committed to be there for maui and lahaina for as long as it takes to recover to rebuild and to help ensure a tragedy like this never happens again. With that spirit i hope elvis can see it as their shared responsibility to honor the people of lahaina as we do this work for our collective community. I hope you can start to find a solution that will help protect hawaii and the rest of the nation from increasing threats of natural disasters like hurricanes and those that we have rarely experienced, including drought that can fuel catastrophic wildfires on the island. Hawaii is the most isolated population on earth. There is no electrical connection to the continental u. S. Or nearby islands. This is one of the reasons for why he has the highest electric rate in the nation. On an island we have to be our own safety net. We cant call in a neighboring state. Our isolation is one of the drivers for efforts to become energy independent. We get it expensive imported fossil fuels but its not only about the environment. About our economy and energy security. Utility schools were small. Born at 70,000 customers on five islands, 70,000 on maui. The department of defense is their largest customer. Why is home to the u. S. In the Pacific Command and we are the only utility in the nation in all components of one i became president and ceo of hawaii electric in january 2020. Every day i feel a tremendous responsibility to our Customers Community and employees. Since august 8 ive much of my time on maui. Seeing the devastation firsthand. Our Team Including our maui employees who have been personally impacted by this tragedy have been working tirelessly to support our community. We all want to learn what happened so that it never happens again. On that day at 6 30 a. M. When i referred to is the morning fire caused by hawaiis powerlines that fell in high winds. The Maui Fire Department probably responded to this fire. They reported by 9 00 a. M. It was contained. After monitoring it for several hours the Fire Department determined the fire had been extinguished. They left the scene in the early afternoon. About 3 00 p. M. , a time when all of Hawaiian Electric powerlines in west maui had been deenergize for more than six hours, a second fire, the afternoon fire, began in the same area. The cause of that afternoon fire that spread to lahaina has not been determined. We are working tirelessly to figure out what happened and we are cooperative and fully with federal and state investigators and has indicated it may take 12 to 18 months toe complete. I look forward to fulfilling our shared and respective responsibility to honor the people of maui. Made his mission in life to never ever give up on any kid. Father michael found his vocation at the Christian Brothers in the 1970s and i was privileged to be a product of the Christian Brothers high school. Like the founder of his order st. John baptist, father michael dedicated his life to educating and lifting up children at risk of being consigned to the margins of society and life. He began his career in morning as a math teacher but was soon drawn into the word of social work. He moved from the classroom to a residential facility for justice involved youth. Fortunately, his journey brought him to rhode island where he first worked as a chaplain at the Adult Correctional Institute. In 1974 he cofounded ocean ties, a Residential Program that. S a challenging, safe, and Healthy Learning environment for young men who have experienced severe educational difficulties in regular School Settings and indeed have had other complicated social problems. Over the years i have met many students who have been transformed by their experience at ocean tides. I have had the privilege of hosting them in my Senate Office here at the capitol. Their poise, leadership, and thoughtfulness gave me confidence in our shared future and also exemplify the remarkable contribution that brother michael made to our community and to these young men. He literally transformed their lives, lives that in many cases were headed to a very difficult, dangerous, and destructive end and now lives that are poised for success, for contributions to community, a vindication of his faith in all men and women. In 1983, brother michael expanded to help atrisk youth to help the Tides Family Services, which promotes family preservation and keeping youth within their communities through individual family and group counseling, home visitations, educational and Court Advocacy as well as a networking of social services. With a mere startup funds of 15,000, brother michael built an organization that employs over 140 dedicated staff and serves 500 youth a day. When i say serve, i mean it. Ive talked to these counselors. They will literally pick up young men from their homes and drive them to school so they get there, then get them back. They will counsel them. They will encourage them. They will support them. They will give them confidence in themselves so they can succeed. Its a remarkable organization, reflecting the spirit of brother michael, the dedication of brother michael, and his commitment, again, to making sure that no child, as they say, is left behind. I was proud to secure federal resources to support the work that tides is doing and the families it serves. Strong families are the foundation for Everything Else economic security, educational attainment, civic participation, and healthy communities. These are investments that change lives and strengthen our society. Brother michael lived the mission of the de lasalle chris brothers. Over Christian Brothers. He found innovative ways to reach our most challenged youth, and bring along partners to support his cause. His tenacity and great love for the community built two organizations that are places of hope and healing for struggling youth and families. We are forever in his debt. Brother michael left us on sunday, september 24, 2023, but his work lives on in the lives he changed, in the institutions he built, and most importantly in the example he left for all of us. With that, mr. President , i would like to yield to my colleague from rhode island, senator whitehouse. The presiding officer the senator from rhode island. Mr. Whitehouse thank you, mr. President. And thank you, chairman reed. We are joined on the Senate Floor Today in sorrow for a person who met a lot meant a lot to both of us. One of lifes profound joys is when you encounter people who are unforgettable, and in the case of brother michael he was unforgettably kind. He started out as a schoolteacher, always was interested in kids. Went to work in an incarcerative inhouse juvenile facility. I think there developed his love for kids who are on the margins, kids who were involved with the Justice System, kids who were facing difficulties in their lives, to try to make sure that he could help turn them to a more constructive path. It was with that spirit that he came to the aci, the Adult Correctional Institute in rhode island, a formidable building in which, this is where i first met him, in which he was a figure of unique kindliness. There was really almost nothing that you could do that could cause brother michael to turn his back on you, and that came through to people so well. So, when he started ocean tides, he went to the kids that he could find who often didnt even have a home to go to, but they knew that they were welcome at ocean tides. They could come through the door any hour of the night. If it was open, he would find them, look out for them, if they had a need he would take care of them. If they needed a meal, theyd get a meal. If they needed a bed, theyd get a bed. If they needed counseling, hed connected with them. His motto was exactly what senator reed used neff, never give up on a never, never give up on a kid that was the similarity motto of his life. Child after child after child came through ocean tides, and faichessed with that relentless and faced with that relentless love, that completely open and forgiving approach he could be firm discussing behavior with a kid, but it was always, always, always clear that he was never going to give up, he was never going to turn his back, and he was never going to stop loving that, in most cases, that boy. As he developed his skills and his expertise and as people began to flock to him, and as ocean tides grew, he came to recognize that caring for the child was vitally important, but making sure that the child could reunite with the family, that the family as a unit could succeed and could love and could receive love and give love, became his passion. With that, Tides Family Services was born. There are so many people around rhode island now, including people who are very successful, who can look back in their lives to where brother michaels endless patience, endless kindness, and endless affection gave them a pathway to work through whatever problems were clouding and bedeviling their lives, and move on, and then become successful. I had the privilege, with thenchairman grassley on the judiciary committee, of rewriting the juvenile justice delinquency prevention act, back in 2018. Actually, we did a lot of work first. We finally got it passed in 2018. And i remember going all around rhode island to make sure the people who were engaged with kids for the juvenile Justice System were that i heard their input and what they needed. No one, no one was more important to that process, no one had more fingerprints on the 2018 reauthorization of the juvenile justice delinquency and prevention action of the United States of america than brother michael reis. And the policies it provided were consistent with his advice and his judgments, which were consistent with his life of service. You know, its just endlessly difficult, i think, to deal with a child whose life has gone off the rails somehow. It is agonizing work. Brother michael never had enough, never said im done, never seemed exhausted, always had a smile, always had be a kindly hug, always was available and present and forgiving. What he accomplished is a wonderful thing, but what i cant get out of my mind as i think about him is just who he was and how your own heart would soar, your own face would smile just in the encounter with him, because he was that kind of a person. At one point he said to me, we need to take particular care for the last, the least, and the lost. And still to this day, on my computer screen in my office i have a faded sticker that has last, least, and lost written on it, that i wrote down way back whenever it was, when he said it, and it stuck in my mind. So, as senator reed said, we lost brother michael, but in addition to the institutions and the lives that he changed he also leaves a very powerful legacy in the law, through the juvenile justice delinquency prevention act, and i think most importantly in the hearts of so many people who were changed by being able to be near such a wonderful person. And with that, i yield the floor. The presiding officer the clerk will call the roll. The clerk ms. Baldwin. That is not our protocol to do that. Going forward are you looking at doing the Public Safety power safety shut off program and are you reexamine your protocols because they didnt work . We are absolutely bury examining our protocols. I want to make it absolutely clear the afternoon fire the cause of that fire has not yet been determined. I heard your testimony and they just want to confirm you never reenergize or powerlines once you shut them down. Is that correct . That is right. A little bit before 7 00 a. M. Our lines were not reenergize. How long did it take for the energy to get out at those powerlines . I understand it takes time once you push the button and turned off, how long does it take before the wires are no longer dangerous to the public or firefighters etc. Like i dont know that exact answer. Can you get that formulator and i apologize that my time is up so i had to yield even though im the subcommittee chair. I had to follow the clock to and i yield back to Ranking Member cast her. A want to focus and the conditions prior to the fire but i was in honolulu on august 8. We were headed to the pacific rim and it was extraordinarily windy. Everyone was commenting on it and they didnt have an understanding of the extent of the devastation and lahaina. Officials have been warning about the likelihood of high winds for a couple of days. The information we have is on august 6 the National Weather service warned of fire conditions due to severe drought in strong winds and on august 7 and National Weather service issued a redflag warning indicating severe fire risk so you said he was a aware of these warnings from the National Weather service . Thats right. The protocol is, what exactly were the protocols on the books that ensured when you receive these warnings that action was going to be taken . The protocols on the books were for many years, to disable a setting on our system that automatically closes the circuit if there is a fault meaning if theres a fault indicated on the line, that it wont reenergize. It is that so bad that wont regenerate. How quickly after receive the warning did you do this . I dont know the exact time. And its subject to check but i believe the warning happened overnight and by the morning protocols were put into place. We can get that for you. Did they practically deenergize these lines . Does pico have the authority to deenergize the lines . Yes, they do. Thank you. Ms. Kimura when did you first become aware that one of those powerlines was down and lahaina . We had a number of powerlines coming down and im trying to remember when the first one was down and