REPORT TITLE:
EIS Law; Cultural Resources


DESCRIPTION:
Amends the environmental impact statement law to require the
environmental council to adopt rules establishing methodology and
content protocol for projects that may significantly affect
cultural resources, biological resources, sea walls, and well-
water drilling and development.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
                                            577         
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES                H.B. NO.           
TWENTIETH LEGISLATURE, 1999                                
STATE OF HAWAII                                            
                                                             
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                   A  BILL  FOR  AN  ACT

RELATING TO THE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS LAW.



BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 1      SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that there is a need to
 
 2 provide guidance to persons preparing environmental assessments
 
 3 or environmental impact statements with respect to projects that
 
 4 may have a significant effect on Hawaii's cultural resources,
 
 5 biological resources, and other areas.
 
 6      With respect to cultural resources, for example, the
 
 7 legislature finds that native Hawaiian culture plays a vital role
 
 8 in preserving and advancing the unique quality of life and "aloha
 
 9 spirit" in Hawaii.  Articles IX and XII of the state
 
10 constitution, other state laws, and the courts of the State
 
11 impose on government agencies a duty to promote and protect
 
12 cultural beliefs, practices, and resources of native Hawaiians
 
13 and other ethnic groups.  Chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes,
 
14 also requires environmental assessment of cultural resources in
 
15 determining the significance of a proposed project.
 
16      Moreover, the past failure to require native Hawaiian
 
17 cultural impact assessments has resulted in the loss and
 
18 destruction of many important cultural resources and has
 
19 interfered with the exercise of native Hawaiian culture.  The
 

 
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 1 legislature finds that due consideration of the effects of human
 
 2 activities on native Hawaiian culture and the exercise thereof is
 
 3 necessary to ensure the continued existence, development, and
 
 4 exercise of native Hawaiian culture.
 
 5      Similarly, the legislature finds that with respect to
 
 6 biological resources, sea walls, and well-water drilling, once a
 
 7 development project has been approved that significantly affects
 
 8 these areas, it is simply too late to begin worrying about these
 
 9 impacts because, more often than not, the damage has already been
 
10 done.  Rather than continuing this irreversible damage to the
 
11 State's cultural, biological, and other resources, there is a
 
12 need to protect these resources before any work has begun on a
 
13 project to ensure that decision makers have adequate notice of
 
14 these issues to promote responsible decision making.
 
15      The purpose of this Act is therefore to amend the
 
16 environmental impact statement law to require the environmental
 
17 council to adopt rules establishing methodology and content
 
18 protocol for projects that may significantly affect cultural
 
19 resources, including cultural impact assessments; biological
 
20 resources, including biological surveys, ecosystem impact
 
21 analyses, and mitigation measures; sea walls; and well-water
 
22 drilling and development.
 
23      SECTION 2.  Section 343-6, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is
 

 
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                                     H.B. NO.           
                                                        
                                                        


 1 amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:
 
 2      "(a)  After consultation with the affected agencies, the
 
 3 council shall adopt, amend, or repeal necessary rules for the
 
 4 purposes of this chapter in accordance with chapter 91 including,
 
 5 but not limited to, rules which shall:
 
 6      (1)  Prescribe the contents of an environmental impact
 
 7           statement;
 
 8      (2)  Prescribe the procedures whereby a group of proposed
 
 9           actions may be treated by a single statement;
 
10      (3)  Prescribe procedures for the preparation and contents
 
11           of an environmental assessment;
 
12      (4)  Prescribe procedures for the submission, distribution,
 
13           review, acceptance or nonacceptance, and withdrawal of
 
14           a statement;
 
15      (5)  Prescribe procedures to appeal the nonacceptance of a
 
16           statement to the environmental council;
 
17      (6)  Establish criteria to determine whether a statement is
 
18           acceptable or not;
 
19      (7)  Establish procedures whereby specific types of actions,
 
20           because they will probably have minimal or no
 
21           significant effects on the environment, are declared
 
22           exempt from the preparation of an assessment;
 
23      (8)  Prescribe procedures for informing the public of
 

 
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 1           determinations that a statement is either required or
 
 2           not required, for informing the public of the
 
 3           availability of draft statements for review and
 
 4           comments, and for informing the public of the
 
 5           acceptance or nonacceptance of the final statement;
 
 6           [and]
 
 7      (9)  Prescribe the contents of an environmental
 
 8           assessment[.]; and
 
 9     (10)  Establish methodology and content protocol for projects
 
10           that may significantly affect:
 
11           (A)  Cultural resources, including cultural impact
 
12                assessments;
 
13           (B)  Biological resources, including biological
 
14                surveys, ecosystem impact analyses, and mitigation
 
15                measures;
 
16           (C)  Sea walls; and
 
17           (D)  Well-water drilling and development."
 
18      SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed.
 
19 New statutory material is underscored.
 
20      SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon its approval.
 
21 
 
22                              INTRODUCED BY:______________________