STAND. COM. REP. NO. 2828

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE:    S.B. No. 2192

       S.D. 2

Honorable Colleen Hanabusa

President of the Senate

Twenty-Fourth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2008

State of Hawaii

Madam:

     Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2192, S.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO SOLID WASTE,"

begs leave to report as follows:

     The purpose of this measure is to ensure the health and welfare of the residents of Oahu and especially those near the area of the Waimanalo gulch sanitary landfill for which a permit modification has been applied to increase the maximum allowed grade of the ash monofill portion of the landfill.

     Specifically, this measure requires the Department of Health to conduct an independent study and make an independent determination of the effect of increasing the maximum grade of the ash monofill at the Waimanalo gulch sanitary landfill from two hundred twenty feet to approximately two hundred seventy-five feet above mean sea level.  Furthermore, this measure requires that the study include a specific determination of any detrimental effects to the health, safety, and welfare of the community adjacent to or near the landfill and a specific determination of the increased risk of a landslide.  The completion of the study and determination is to be a condition precedent to the granting of a modification to the solid waste management permit filed by the City and County of Honolulu and Waste Management of Hawaii, Inc.

     Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from the Department of Health.

     Upon further consideration, your Committee has amended this measure to clarify that completion of the study and determinations is not a condition precedent to the granting of a modification to the solid waste management permit filed by the City and County of Honolulu and Waste Management of Hawaii, Inc.  Your Committee has also made technical nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2192, S.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2192, S.D. 2.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

ROSALYN H. BAKER, Chair