STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1147-04
Honolulu, Hawaii
, 2004
RE: S.B. No. 2405
S.D. 1
H.D. 1
Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say
Speaker, House of Representatives
Twenty-Second State Legislature
Regular Session of 2004
State of Hawaii
Sir:
Your Committees on Energy and Environmental Protection and Judiciary, to which was referred S.B. No. 2405, S.D. 1, entitled:
beg leave to report as follows:
The purpose of this measure is to allow the Department of Health to issue solid waste permits to new facilities where a county resource recovery facility exists.
Your Committees received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health, City and County of Honolulu Department of Environmental Services, and Covanta Energy Group. Comments on this measure were received from the Board of Water Supply.
Your Committees find that it is in the public's best interest that a county resource recovery facility financed with public funds is guaranteed an amount of waste stream to remain financially viable. However, with the tightening limits of our landfills, it is important to keep all options open for solid waste resource recovery, including non-publicly funded competitors.
Your Committees have amended this measure by:
(1) Adding an explanatory purpose section;
(2) Adding the Department of Health's definition of "underground source of drinking water" to section 340A-1, Hawaii Revised Statutes;
(3) Allowing permitting of facilities that are in the design stage;
(4) Replacing "sole source aquifers defined by the Environmental Protection Agency" with "underground source of drinking water" as a prohibited location for a proposed landfill;
(5) Defining criteria for the non-publicly funded competitor to a county's resource recovery facility;
(6) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for clarity; and
(7) Changing the effective date to January 1, 2050.
As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy and Environmental Protection and Judiciary that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2405, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2405, S.D. 1, H.D. 1, and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.
Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy and Environmental Protection and Judiciary,
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____________________________ ERIC G. HAMAKAWA, Chair |
____________________________ HERMINA M. MORITA, Chair |
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