Report Title:

Sewage Sludge; Land Application; Prohibition

Description:

Prohibits the application of sewage sludge at higher and lower public education campuses, state or county parks, and agricultural lands where food or feed for livestock are produced, farm animals graze, and crops are grown.

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

2797

TWENTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2004

 

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to solid waste.

 

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

SECTION 1. Over the past decade, sewage sludge has been applied to land as a fertilizer or soil conditioner. This application was advocated and permitted by the United States Environmental Protection Agency (Agency). The legislature now finds that hundreds of complaints have been filed nationally concerning the harm caused to people, animals, and the environment from the land application of sewage sludge. The most significant findings were the complaints that exposure to sewage sludge has harmed human health.

Because of these concerns, the legislature finds that the Agency intends to sponsor a series of studies on the safety of sewage sludge. The legislature interprets the Agency's action as a genuine concern that sewage sludge may be harmful to human health. Therefore, it would be wise for the State to proceed cautiously in endorsing the use of sewage sludge as a fertilizer or soil conditioner. As the United States Department of Agriculture has not outright approved sewage sludge as a fertilizer, the State should also be concerned over its application on food or feed for livestock, crops, and in areas where farm animals graze.

The purpose of this Act is to prohibit the application of sewage sludge at higher and lower public education campuses, state and county parks, and agricultural lands where food or feed for livestock are produced, farm animals graze, and crops are grown.

SECTION 2. Section 342H-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new definition to be appropriately inserted and to read as follows:

""Sewage sludge" has the same meaning as defined under section 342D-1."

SECTION 3. Section 342H-30, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended to read as follows:

"§342H-30 Prohibition. (a) No person, including any public body, shall engage in the operation of an open dump.

(b) No person, including any public body, shall operate a solid waste management system without first securing approval in writing from the director.

(c) No person, including any public body, shall discard, dispose of, deposit, discharge, or dump solid waste, or by contract or otherwise arrange directly or indirectly for the disposal of solid waste in an amount greater than one cubic yard in volume anywhere other than a permitted solid waste management system without the prior written approval of the director. This prohibition shall not be deemed to supersede any other disposal prohibitions established under federal, state, or county law, regulation, rule, or ordinance.

(d) No person, including any public body, shall engage in the land application of sewage sludge at higher or lower public education campuses, state or county parks, and agricultural lands where food or feed for livestock are produced, farm animals graze, and crops are grown.

For the purposes of this subsection, the "land application of any sewage sludge" means the spraying or spreading of sewage sludge onto the land surface; the injection of sewage sludge below the land surface; or the incorporation of sewage sludge into the soil so that the sewage sludge can either condition the soil or fertilize crops or vegetation grown in the soil.

This subsection shall apply to all sewage sludge, including sewage sludge that has been subject to bioconversion, composting, or other reuse process.

[(d)] (e) In addition to any other penalty provided by law, a person who knowingly violates or knowingly consents to the violation of this section shall be subject to one or more of the following penalties:

(1) Criminal penalties of not more than $25,000 for each separate offense;

(2) Not more than thirty days imprisonment for each offense; or

(3) Revocation or suspension by court order of any contractor's license to operate as a contractor or any applicable certificate of authorization from the public utilities commission.

Each day of a violation shall constitute a separate offense."

SECTION 4. (a) This Act shall apply to any county even if that county is subject to a consent decree concerning sewage sludge reuse on the effective date of this section and that notifies the attorney general that compliance with this Act may place the county in violation of the consent decree or any plan or program mandated under the consent decree.

(b) Upon receipt of such a notification, the attorney general and director of health shall immediately commence working with the federal government and county to modify the consent decree so that the county shall be in compliance with both the consent decree and this Act by July 1, 2005.

(c) Regardless of whether an attempt to modify a consent decree under subsection (b) is successful, the county shall comply with this Act on July 1, 2005.

SECTION 5. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 6. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2005; provided that section 4 shall take effect upon approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

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