It’s ba-a-a-ck. The Superfund law, which passed last year by the skin of its teeth (remarkable for a bill that had so few), is being opened up for surgery this year.
According to Health Director Dr. John Lewin, the administration’s proposed changes would tidy up the messy definition of pollutants and contaminants and would allow court review of department-ordered clean-up actions to coincide with, rather than follow, their implementation.
Representative Jim Shon is also proposing Superfund revisions, designed to address environmentalists’ concerns. Among Shon’s amendments are: a provision for citizen’s suits for enforcement; removal of the exemption for pesticides and fertilizers (except when they can be shown to have been prudently and legally applied); and stronger penalties for violators.
Readers wanting to know more about Superfund’s legislative ups and downs last year may wish to consult the July 1990 issue of Environment Hawai`i. A more scholarly analysis has been prepared by University of Hawai`i law student David “Kimo” Frankel, who also is legislative coordinator for the Sierra Club. Copies of his article may be obtained by writing Frankel in care of the Sierra Club, 212 Merchant Street, Honolulu 96813.
Pollution Underground
A federal requirement that owners of underground storage tanks be insured against leaks caused the Legislature last year to pass a bill making the state the insurer of last resort — for the time being, in any case — and requiring it to undertake an actuarial study of the costs of various means of helping gasoline station owners satisfy the federal requirement.
This year, strong support from gasoline retailers and wholesalers may again be expected for another bill, such as that introduced by Representative David Morihara, setting up a permanent fund that would fully reimburse every cost associated with cleaning up leaking underground storage tanks. The fund would come from a $200 a year fee per tank, paid for by the owners (approximately $870,000) and a $10 levy for each 1,000 gallons of petroleum distributed (about $5.15 million, assuming aviation fuel is excluded, as it was last year).
This will not be sufficient to cover program costs, however. According to the Health Department’s study, the costs of a full-coverage program would be $49 million in the first year alone, with costs rising over the next two years. Unless tank owners are asked to pay more, Morihara’s program will cost taxpayers at least $43 million a year.
While keeping gasoline stations operating safely in areas of limited service may be a desirable goal, one for which the use of public funds may be justified, legislators should ensure that retailers and wholesalers in need of no special favors are not given a free ride.
(Readers are urged to consult the Health Department study, “Report to the 16th Legislature … on Act 317.” The Legislative Reference Bureau, in the Capitol basement, has a copy.)
Volume 1, Number 8 February 1991
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