Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Energy and Environmental Protection and Consumer Protection and Commerce, to which was referred S.B. No. 2505, S.D. 1, entitled:

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this bill is to address the apparent conflict of interest where an agency determines whether its proposed action requires an environmental impact statement (EIS) by authorizing the Office of Environmental Quality Control (OEQC)to review the determination, consult with the agency, and to make the final determination.

OEQC, Hawaii's Thousand Friends, Sierra Club-Hawaii Chapter, and Life of the Land supported this measure. The Department of Design and Construction of the City and County of Honolulu (C&C) submitted comments on this bill. The Board of Water Supply and the Department of Planning and Permitting of C&C opposed this measure.

For discussion purposes, a proposed H.D. 1 version was circulated at the public hearing. The proposed H.D. 1:

There may be circumstances when a government agency proposes an action and the same agency determines whether that action has a significant effect on the environment and would require an EIS. Your Committees find that this conflict of interest, in appearance or otherwise, is not acceptable and that OEQC should be authorized to review and override the agency's determination. The proposed H.D. 1 addresses this conflict of interest by enabling OEQC to review the agency's determination, consult with the agency, and make a final determination.

Your Committees also find that wastewater facilities, waste-to-energy facilities, landfills, oil refineries, or power-generating facilities located on private lands and without public funds will not trigger disclosure and review under chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes. Recognizing that these types of projects may have significant environmental, economic, social, and cultural impacts, the proposed H.D. 1 closes this critical loophole.

Your Committees have amended this measure by incorporating the amendments found in the proposed H.D. 1.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environmental Protection and Consumer Protection and Commerce that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2505, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2505, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be referred to the Committee on Finance.