2018-02-28 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

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forward to buy 42 acres from Kamehameha Schools, but that legislation is not listed in the Director’s Report. Whether or not the county will purchase that land is still in the hopper; and as everyone knows, Kamehameha Schools needs financial help due to all the pending lawsuits. The county could help Kamehameha Schools out by buying the surplus land, and that would be cronyism again. As far as the EPA goes, they just want the county to abandon its gang cesspools. The EPA is not forcing the county to turn wastewater into R-1. That is not what the county is in court for, and it is not what the county is mandated to do. Both Pāhala and Nāālehu ʻ are under mandates, and the clock is ticking. The only thing that can turn back the clock is an eruption of Mauna Loa, and it is an even bet which will happen first—an eruption or a new treatment system for Kaū.ʻ 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS There was no unfinished business. 5. NEW BUSINESS a. Discussion and potential advisory resolution on the Ninth Circuit Court ruling dated February 1, 2018, regarding wastewater discharges in Hawaiʻi (Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund vs. County of Maui, No. 15-17447) and the advisability of NPDES permitting for Hawaiʻi County. Chair Bennett explained that he placed this item on the agenda because the ruling, in his estimation, will have a profound influence on wastewater discharges for the state, and perhaps for the entire country. Wastewater discharges to the ground are the principal means by which most wastewater is discharged in this state, though there are some ocean outfalls. Smaller wastewater discharges go into the ground and cesspits, leachfields, drainage pits, and injection wells. It is largely unknown where all these areas are and how much is being discharged. He felt it would be valuable to make the EMC aware of the issue and have a discussion. The Court of Appeals basically ruled that when a discharge to land finds a conveyance to the ocean, it constitutes a point source discharge. A point source discharge into the waters of the United States must be permitted under the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). The county has a number of permitted discharges, but individual homes, gang cesspools, and community wastewater treatment units are not permitted. About ten years ago, he suggested to the state that these wastewater discharges were going into the ocean. The state responded that the waters did not go into the ocean—they stay under the land and do not communicate with the waters of the United States, and as such the Clean Water Act does not apply. He has a letter from the state saying this. Subsequently, there have been two major scientific studies, one in Kihei by Charles Hunt of the U.S. Geological Survey, and another more recently in Lahaina. Both studies showed to a scientific certainty that those injections were finding their way to the ocean in fairly discrete conveyances, such as lava tubes, which are a common feature of our geology. It is imperative to assume the discharges are reaching the ocean until there is certain scientific proof showing otherwise. The county and state need to look at resources with the public’s interest in mind.