RES 249 Draft 01 2008-2010 - Laserfiche WebLink

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WHEREAS, the Energy Advisory Commission established pursuant to Article 11, section 4-4 of the Hawaii County Charter presented policy recommendations that propose reducing fossil fuel use in: Water Supply and Use; Transportation and Biofuels; Building; Utilities; and Sustainability Planning; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii has demonstrated its concern for a sustainable community through plans and policies that promote cleaner air and water, reduce energy and water use, promote recycling and solid waste management, reduce the use of the automobile and related air pollution, embrace citizen participation, and encourage the development of affordable housing; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii recently adopted four Community Development Plans as ordinances, developed through 20,401 hours or 850 days of public participation through 801 public forums, which call for vision and action towards reducing fossil fuel use through sustainable land use, transportation, and economic development policies; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawai`i's General Plan adopted in 2005 recommends the promotion of sustainable economic development that recognizes the job creation potential of maintaining and enhancing our community's natural resource capital base, and encourages development that reduces adverse effects on the environment; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii published General Plan Annual Report in 2009, which contains 79 indicators on economy, community and environment status of Hawaii Island and plans to update it every year; and WHEREAS, the County of Hawaii recognizes and accepts its responsibility to support a stable, diverse, and equitable low carbon economy; protect the quality of the air, water, land and other natural resources; conserve native vegetation, fish wildlife habitat and other ecosystems; and minimize human impacts on local and worldwide ecosystems; and WHEREAS, the adoption of four sustainability principles can provide a holistic framework that will assist County employees and elected officials towards a more sustainable direction collectively; and WHEREAS, these sustainability principles are scientifically rigorous, internationally recognized, successfully implemented across the world, and offers concrete and simple ways to accelerate change toward sustainability; WHEREAS, these sustainability principles are reflected as: 1. Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of materials (such as fossil fuel and their associated wastes) that are extracted from the earth's crust; 2. Reduce and eventually eliminate our contribution to the progressive buildup of synthetic materials produced by human society; 3