STAND. COM. REP. NO.  169-16

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2016

RE:   H.B. No. 2646

      H.D. 1

Honorable Joseph M. Souki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Eighth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2016

State of Hawaii

Sir:

     Your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 2646 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to protect public health and the quality of Hawaii's drinking water by establishing a permanent Fuel Tank Advisory Committee.

The Department of Land and Natural Resources, Honolulu Board of Water Supply, Sierra Club of Hawaii, Conservation Council for Hawaii, and several concerned individuals supported this measure.  The Department of Health opposed the measure.  Navy Region Hawaii at Joint Base Pearl Harbor-Hickam submitted comments.

     Your Committee has amended this measure by:

     (1)  Deleting provisions making an appropriation to site and install two monitor wells to test the condition of the groundwater aquifer underneath and surrounding the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility on Oahu; and

     (2)  Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for clarity, consistency, and style.

     As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2646, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2646, H.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Water & Land.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection,

____________________________

CHRIS LEE, Chair