Environmental issues made headlines during the 2007 legislative session, even though few bills affecting the environment made it through to final passage. Topic A had to be the Senate’s consideration of Peter Young, nominated by Governor Lingle to head the Department of Land and Natural Resources for a second term.
The review of Young’s tenure during Lingle’s first term by the Senate Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs lasted for days and brought out aspects of the DLNR’s operations that cast a shadow over Young’s managerial skills. Young’s supporters in the environmental and conservation community – including some who had called for his resignation earlier in Young’s tenure – argued that under his leadership, the department had made progress in protecting the state’s natural resources. Detractors included the Hawai`i Government Employees Association, the union representing most state workers, members of fishing groups unhappy with fishing restrictions imposed during Young’s tenure, boaters who oppose the administration’s efforts to privatize state-owned small-boat harbors, and an attorney for Jimmy Pflueger, owner of the Kaua`i land where a reservoir broke last year, killing seven people.
The Senate committee took testimony behind closed doors about an ongoing investigation by the Department of Attorney General into allegations that private title companies had privileged access to records at the DLNR’s Bureau of Conveyances, including access allowing documents to be manipulated. Also testifying under subpoena were former employees of the department’s Historic Preservation Division who accused the division’s current administrator of pressuring the division’s professional archaeologists to take short-cuts.
After nearly a week of testimony and an unfavorable committee recommendation, the full Senate rejected Young, with only five votes dissenting.
Young’s term ran until the last day of the Legislature, May 3. After his rejection by the Senate, Lingle named Allan Smith, retired Grove Farm executive, to head the DLNR on an interim basis. Young is heading the 30-member search committee named by Lingle to search for his replacement.
Climate Change
The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has pretty well put to rest debate over whether global warming is caused by human activity – specifically, emissions of carbon compounds into the atmosphere that result from the combustion of fossil fuels. Recognizing the link, the 2007 Legislature passed a number of measures that are intended to reduce the state’s dependence on fossil fuels or reduce its emissions of greenhouse gases, which trap solar heat in Earth’s atmosphere.
The most far-reaching measure was House Bill 226, relating to greenhouse gas emissions. The measure declares that state policy shall be to reduce Hawai`i’s emissions by 2020 “to levels at or below the best estimations and updates of the inventory of emissions in 1990,” the reference year set in the international Kyoto protocol as a target for greenhouse gas reduction strategies.
To that end, the bill calls for establishment of a 10-member task force to develop a plan and a “regulatory scheme” for bringing about “the maximum practically and technically feasible and cost-effective reductions in greenhouse gas emissions” to achieve reductions needed to attain the 1990 emissions target. Members are to include representatives of affected industries, environmental organizations, the University of Hawai`i, and state agencies. By 2010, the task force is to submit its first report to the Legislature.
By the end of 2011, the director of the Department of Health is to adopt rules to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, with an effective date of January 1, 2012.
The Sierra Club Hawai`i Chapter described the measure as “historic,” claiming it set “an enforceable limit on statewide greenhouse gas emissions in Hawai`i.” By specifying that the measure is to be included in Chapter 342B, Hawai`i Revised Statutes, the rules eventually adopted to control greenhouse gas emissions will acquire enforceability.
Excluded from the bill’s regulatory scope are emissions from airplanes. According to the Sierra Club Hawai`i Chapter, in 1990, such emissions accounted to more than 20 percent of the total.
Alternative Fuels
Several measures passed by the Legislature attempt to address Hawai`i’s reliance on imported fossil fuels. Most of these were in the form of authorizations for special purpose revenue bonds. Sopogy, Inc., which has proposed a solar-thermal installation at Keahole, Kona, on land managed by the Natural Energy Laboratory of Hawai`i Authority, was qualified for $10 million in SPRBs.
Qualifying for $20 million in SPRBs was Honolulu Seawater Air Conditioning, LLC, which is proposing to build a seawater air conditioning system for downtown Honolulu. According to the legislation, such a system could reduce Honolulu’s energy demand by about two-thirds of a megawatt.
The Legislature authorized up to $59 million for a start-up Maui company, called BlueEarth Maui Biodiesel, LLC. But before the funds can be obtained, the Department of Budget and Finance has to receive written certification from the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism that the feedstock to be used in the plant is from a sustainable source – for example, the source cannot be oil-palm plantations cultivated on cleared rain-forest lands in Southeast Asia.
While Hui `Enekinia isn’t proposing to use alternative fuels, it was able to get the Legislature to extend the deadline by which it has to redeem $20 million in SPRBs by another five years. The original authorization was made in 1993; reauthorizations occurred in 1998 and 2002. Now the company has until 2011 to use the bonds – or to request another extension. The company is proposing to build a cogeneration facility on the Big Island and sell power to HELCO, the Big Island electric utility.
Senate Bill 1720 would have authorized $100 million in SPRBs for a plasma-arc waste-to-energy plant on O`ahu proposed to be built by Jacoby Development, Inc. – the same company that is seeking a lease and permits to build a huge visitor and commercial center on state lands at Honokohau, Hawai`i. The measure passed the Senate but foundered in the House.
The Legislature extended the tax credit for companies building ethanol plants to January 1, 2017; it had been set to expire five years earlier.
The state land use law, Chapter 205 was amended to include biofuel processing facilities as a use not requiring special permits in the agriculture district. The same bill – Senate Bill 1943 – establishes an “energy feedstock program” within the state Department of Agriculture and directs the department to set “milestones and objectives” for growing energy crops in the state.
In an effort to make the Public Utilities Commission better positioned to require utilities to develop alternative sources of energy, the Legislature passed House Bill 1005. Among other things, the bill authorizes the PUC to “consider the need for increased renewable energy use in exercising its authority and duties.”
One bill that failed would have had positive and wide-ranging consequences. Senate Bill 644, which would require new houses to have solar water heating systems (except when “cost prohibitive” or “impracticable”) and would have expanded the tax credit for homeowners who install such systems to $3,250 (from the current $2,250). Opposed to it were HECO and the Gas Company, among others. The Department of Taxation estimated it would result in lost revenue to the state of around $25 million a year.
Natural Resources
Senate Bill 1853 prepares the ground for establishment of `aha moku councils that are to advise the state on management of its natural resources. The puwalu process, sponsored in part by the Western Pacific Fishery Management Council last year (and detailed in the April issue of Environment Hawai`i) was invoked in the findings section of the bill, which describes the puwalu as “a gathering of empirical knowledge handed down from generation to generation on traditional fishing, agriculture, streams, fishponds, and land use methodology based on the ahupua`a system.” At the conclusion of the fourth puwalu, in December, the bill states, “it was agreed that the statutes and ordinances, and a framework for community consultation using the Hawaiian perspective and traditional methods … was needed, and the creation of the `aha moku councils should be established.” The bill authorizes $110,000 in each of the next two fiscal years to be spent by an `aha kiole advisory committee, which is to consist of eight members appointed by the governor from a list of candidates submitted by the Association of Hawaiian Civic Clubs. Among other things, the committee is to “explore, examine, and derive best practice models for the creation of an `aha moku council system.” The Department of Land and Natural Resources was tasked with providing “support services to the advisory committee as the advisory committee deems necessary.”
Despite passage of SB 1853, the Legislature punted when it came to passage of bills that would require fishing regulations to be developed by `aha-moku-type councils. That bill, House Bill 1848, was the subject of heated debate. As originally drafted, the bill would have established a high hurdle of scientific certainty before any fishing regulation could be adopted and would have effectively repealed the gill-net rules adopted earlier this year by the Board of Land and Natural Resources. Also, it would have set up an advisory council, weighted heavily toward fishing interests, that would have recommended changes in DLNR rules to the Legislature. The bill was substantially altered in the Senate, with the addition of a Maka`i o ke Kai (stewards of the sea) program of community based ocean resources management. The House disagreed with the Senate amendments. No acceptable measure was ironed out in conference committee.
House Bill 1499, which enjoyed strong support from conservation groups, would have allowed state enforcement officers to look through fishers’ bags and coolers for evidence of fishing violations even though they may not have probable cause. “Recent reports indicate that more than forty-four per cent of required monthly aquarium catch reports are not filed and the numbers of fish exported have been grossly underestimated,” the bill stated. The measure made it through the House, but died in the Senate, where the language on probable cause evidently caused the bill to stall in the Committee on Judiciary and Labor.
Senate Bill 1276 would have required preparation of an environmental impact statement for the Superferry, which is set to begin interisland service this summer. It failed.
House Concurrent Resolution 58 urges the U.S. government to prohibit any of its agencies from dumping sewage waste in waters of the Hawaiian Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary.
Invasive Species
Senate Bill 1066 establishes a fee for inspecting marine containers for quarantine inspections. It also establishes a fund into which such fees, set at $1 per 20-foot length of container, are to be deposited. The fund is also to receive legislative appropriations, grants, and federal funds.
House Bill 772 would have allowed the Department of Agriculture to establish fees for inspections of all imports to Hawai`i. Representatives from environmental groups, the Maui County Council and the Maui Mayor, and three state agencies – the Departments of Transportation, Agriculture, and Land and Natural Resources – testified in support of the measure. Opposed were Alexander & Baldwin and its shipping subsidiary, Matson Navigation, Horizon Lines, the Hawai`i Chamber of Commerce, and the state Department of Budget and Finance. The bill passed the House but was not heard by the Ways and Means Committee in the Senate.
Senate Bill 639 would have required the Department of Agriculture to update its noxious weed rules every two years and would have prohibited the introduction into the state of any new species unless specific clearance had been granted by the DOA. The DLNR and conservation groups supported the measure; the DOA opposed. The measure was watered down and passed to the House, where even the DOA supported its passage. It never made it out of the Finance Committee.
House Concurrent Resolution 231, adopted by both chambers, urges Hawai`i’s congressional delegation to introduce and support federal legislation to establish an invasive species action plan to prevent the introduction of invasive species to Hawai`i from foreign sources. The resolution explains that federal law prohibits the state from conducting its own inspections on foreign imports. In 2003, the Department of Homeland Security transferred responsibility for such inspections from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to the federal Customs and Border Protection Agency, “which has left airport passenger and baggage entry ways more vulnerable to penetration by invasive species.”
Land Use
House Bill 402 amends the law regarding use of the state Land Conservation Fund. That fund, established in 2005, was to be used to acquire and protect lands for watershed and habitat purposes, parks and recreational areas, open space and scenic resources, and agricultural production. Under HB 402, “agricultural easements” are added to the list of authorized uses. Funds can also be used for paying interest on state bonds floated for the purpose of acquiring “interests or rights in land having value as a resource to the state.”
The long-awaited, much anticipated transfer of part of Kawai Nui Marsh lands from the City and County of Honolulu to the state has received legislative blessing with the passage of House Bill 1899. The bill sets a September 1 deadline for the transfer.
House Bill 1037 would have added “sea level rise” to the list of coastal hazards to be addressed through the state’s Coastal Zone Management program and would have imposed a minimum setback of 40 feet for all coastal development. The bill died in the Senate.
House Bill 1831 would have required fencing of private and public game management areas. Supporting the bill were conservation groups; opposed were the DLNR, the Hawai`i Forest Industry Association, and the Hawai`i Rifle Association. Once in the hands of the Senate Committee on Water, Land, Agriculture, and Hawaiian Affairs, the bill was gutted. New language was substituted to require the DLNR to develop “mammal management and control plans” for each island, starting with O`ahu. The bill was referred to the Senate Ways and Means Committee, which held it.
Senate Bill 642 would have amended the Hawai`i Environmental Policy Act (Chapter 343 of Hawai`i Revised Statutes) to clarify circumstances in which a supplemental environmental impact statement would need to be prepared. The measure was supported by environmental groups, neighborhood boards, and a group opposed to the development proposed for Turtle Bay, on O`ahu’s North Shore, as well as the Department of Health, among others. Opponents included the Kuilima Resort Company, the Land Use Research Foundation, agencies of the City and County of Honolulu, and the Attorney General. The measure died in the House.
— Patricia Tummons
Volume 17, Number 12 June 2007
Leave a Reply