2018-04-25 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

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2. APPROVAL OF THE MINUTES OF MARCH 28, 2018 Chair Bennett noted that a correction was needed on page 1, where Keyra Wong was incorrectly listed as secretary. There were no other comments about the minutes. Motion and vote: Commissioner Osborne moved to approve the minutes with the correction, Commissioner Gaffney seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. 3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS Commissioner Bennett pointed out that four people had signed up to testify, and he would call them in no particular order. Cory Harden: Ms. Harden said she would be speaking on agenda items 4, 5, and 6 involving water reuse. She thanked the commissioners for their service, support for water reuse, and interest in preventing water pollution, as a lot of powerful interests were working hard to do the opposite. For the Maui water case (Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund vs. County of Maui), 18 states filed amicus briefs supporting Maui. Oil, gas, and coal companies don’t want stronger pollution controls, as it would mess up their injection wells. The EPA is now deciding if it should regulate pollution that goes from a point source and ends up in surface water through some kind of connection such as groundwater, so that it is not released directly into the ocean yet still gets there. As far as state laws, environmentalists are saying the local governments are too cozy with the industries and don’t have the financial resources to fight them. We need ways to reuse water and make money off of it. The EPA offers free assistance for some things, such as workshops on sustainable water. There are also rural development grants and other grants to hire experts to maximize water reuse. There are also funding sources such as the Safe Water Drinking Act. She suggested County officials report to the EMC on perhaps adopting requirements that all County facilities use local fixtures for all repairs and new construction, and also on the feasibility of building codes requiring local fixtures and plumbing codes that facilitate using recycled water. Sandra Demoruelle: Ms. Demoruelle said she appreciated the commissioners and that it was lovely to see a commission at nearly full strength. She said she would be speaking regarding the proposed Nāālehu Wastewater Treatment Plant, and she also had provided a writteʻn handout of her testimony. She was basing her testimony on an article that Pat Tummons put out in the first year of publishing Environment Hawaiʻi. It was from November 1990 and entitled “Lots of Pork, Little Sewage at the New Hilo Treatment Works.” Ms. Tummons wrote about the problems of overbuilding a treatment facility, and Ms. Demoruelle said it is sort of like a toilet that doesn’t have enough water to push the waste through. The treatment plants being proposed in Nāālehu. It would be ālehu and Pāhala are large, and there are only 153 properties in Nāʻʻ vastly overbuilt. When she looks at what the County is doing now and how hard it is to find staffing, the chances of getting qualified employees to run the plants are minute. The proposed Nāālehu Elementary School, and people there are up in arms ālehu plant is adjacent to the Nāʻʻ and do not know what to do about it, which is why she has come to them—to ask the EMC to provide guidance so the plant won’t be built. She provided information with her testimony on how it managed to make it to the top of the Clean Water Revolving Fund with 33 points. Those kind of points aren’t allowed without a green plant, and it does not show up as a green plant in 2