ORD 2013-115 2012-2014 - Laserfiche WebLink

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(4) The very nature of hydraulic fracturing increases permeability and porosity of the island's underground geologic formation which may lead to infiltration of chemicals and toxins into our aquifers, wells, rivers, shoreline, and ocean. Such increased permeability and porosity may allow lateral, vertical, or descending movement of human- introduced toxic chemicals or even additional naturally-occurring volcanic toxins; and (5) The County of Hawai`i has an immediate need to protect against and prepare for the emergencies and incidents related to any drilling operation and its related activities; and (6) The cost of repairing road infrastructure from the damage caused in part by the drilling rig, support equipment, and massive number and weight of water tankers required for such a hydraulic fracturing project is beyond the limited maintenance budget of the County; and (7) Hydraulic fracturing causes earthquakes. It breaks and displaces rock at depth. The magnitude is typically one to two on the Richter scale. Injecting fluids into fault systems has been known to lubricate the fault and earthquakes subsequently can occur. There is now recognized a class of earthquakes called silent earthquakes where the fault moves without rupture; and (8) Emergencies and negative incidents caused by hydraulic fracturing have been reported and range from small localized events to far-reaching disasters with complex consequences that may require the involvement and coordination among many agencies of the county, state, and federal government. It is unknown how the County of Hawai`i, the State of Hawai`i, and the U.S. Government would be able to quickly respond to such emergencies or negative events that cause harm to our people, animals, plants, land, air, water, or ocean; and (9) Industry cannot be relied upon to provide adequate monitoring for the safety of human, animal, or plant health, water, ocean, and environmental issues nor is the county or state equipped to monitor these projects, as revealed in the report issued by the Geothermal Public Health Assessment Study Group; and (10) There is inadequate public or private funding to mitigate large-scale disasters caused by hydraulic fracturing; and (11) There are no monitoring data available to indicate the risks of hydraulic fracturing on the Island of Hawai`i and to determine its impact on the health and safety of the public and the protection of current environmental resources. Even small-scale disasters might negatively impact the County of Hawai`i if state or federal assistance was denied or such levels of government were slow to respond to such a disaster; and (12) Mechanisms to ensure funding, coordination, equipment, and County manpower for response to these impacts have not been identified and adopted; and 2