STAND. COM. REP. NO.581

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2003

RE: S.B. No. 840

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2003

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy and Environment, to which was referred S.B. No. 840 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENTS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to authorize the Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC) to review and override an agency's determination on whether its proposed action requires an environmental impact statement.

The Sierra Club Hawaii Chapter and Hawaii's Thousand Friends submitted testimony supporting this measure. Hawaii Renewable Energy Alliance submitted testimony supporting the intent of this measure. Animal Rights Hawaii and Covanta Energy Group submitted comments on this measure. The Board of Water Supply and the Department of Transportation submitted testimony opposing this measure.

In addition, this measure requires an environmental assessment for proposed wastewater facilities, waste-to-energy facilities, landfills, oil refineries, and power generating facilities.

Your Committee finds that as the State's population grows, so does the need for public facilities. Requiring that public facilities be included in the environmental assessment process gives citizens the opportunity to participate in the planning process, including the siting of these facilities.

Your Committee has amended this measure by limiting OEQC's review and determination authorization to instances where a conflict may exist because the proposing agency and the agency making the determination are the same.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Environment that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 840, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 840, S.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environment,

____________________________

J. KALANI ENGLISH, Chair