HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	2221
TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

relating to landfills.

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that the Waimanalo Gulch sanitary landfill, located on the leeward coast, is the only existing landfill on Oahu capable of receiving the total daily output of non-reusable municipal solid waste.

     The legislature further finds that prior to the establishment of the municipal solid waste landfill at Waimanalo Gulch nineteen years ago, there were other municipal solid waste landfills that were operated on the leeward coast.  The residents of the leeward coast have the continuing burden of receiving all of Oahu's construction and demolition waste, including asbestos, which is being deposited into a privately-owned landfill that is adjacent to and mauka of Nanakuli town.  Additionally, there may be other privately-owned landfills planned or proposed for the leeward coast.

     Besides the obvious health risks leeward coast residents have suffered and continue to suffer (asthma, birth defects, and cancer) as a result of these landfills, they are also impacted by other environmental concerns:  the H-power plant, Campbell Industrial Park, illegal landfills, abandoned military ordnances, a disproportionately large number of homeless, and horrendous daily traffic conditions.  Every day, approximately four hundred trucks, many in the semi-tractor trailer category, travel to and from privately-owned landfills or other business establishments adding significantly to the traffic on Farrington Highway.  Accordingly, the legislature finds that there would be significant and almost unbearable gridlock for leeward coast residents daily if another landfill were opened.

     The purpose of this Act is to prohibit the construction of any new landfills, whether green waste landfills or otherwise, or the expansion of any existing private solid waste landfill on the leeward coast from Kaena Point to Waimanalo Gulch on or after August 1, 2010.

     SECTION 2.  Chapter 342H, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to part IV to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

     "§342H-   Leeward coast landfills; prohibition. Any law to the contrary notwithstanding, no person, including any government agency or entity, shall construct or operate a new solid waste landfill, including a municipal solid waste landfill, green waste landfill, or otherwise, or expand any existing private solid waste landfill, or any component thereof, on or after August 1, 2010, on the leeward coast of Oahu from Kaena Point to Waimanalo Gulch.  This section shall not apply to the Waimanalo Gulch sanitary landfill.

For purposes of this section, "new solid waste landfill" means any solid waste landfill that has not received waste prior to August 1, 2010."

     SECTION 3.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect upon approval.

INTRODUCED BY:

_____________________________

Report Title:

Leeward Coast Landfills; Prohibition

Description:

Places a prohibition on any new solid waste landfills and the expansion of any existing private solid waste landfills on the leeward coast from Kaena Point to Waimanalo Gulch on or after 08/01/10.

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.