2018-06-27 Meeting Minutes (EMC)

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Chair Bennett (to Mr. Warren): No, no further comments. This is for the commissioners, please. Any commissioners have questions of the director? Commissioner Osborne: Yeah, my question that didn’t get answered was how does somebody provide input to—what was it, Caldwell, or who’s doing the— Director Kucharski: Brown and Caldwell is the contractor that was hired to complete the environmental assessment, or the EA, either HR 343 or NEPA. And they— once we have a document to review and accept comments on, public hearings and things will be held. An EIS requires scoping meetings, which will be held in Pāhala. 343, this opening meeting of just telling us what you think needs to be studied, that’s like a scoping meeting. Where you come in a scoping meeting, you do not—the agency having that does not make comment. They simply receive comment. The function is to hear what people want to say about your proposed project, not to tell them—give them the information, but it’s not there to tell them. It’s to hear from them. And so once a document has been prepared and submitted—a draft EA is prepared—it will be put out for public notice, for public comment, and there will be public hearings on the document. However, if any comment is wished to be made, it can be made to Brown and Caldwell, to either Berna or to Michelle, who held that meeting. They’ll be happy to take those comments as additional input into the tell-us-what-you-think process. Commissioner Osborne: Thank you. Chair Bennett: I have a question for the director. Can you give us a time frame for this process? Director Kucharski: Yes. The AOC, which is the Administrative Order of Consent, has specific deadlines in there for when things had to occur. When we put this together, we were corrected after the fact that the EA has to be done before purchase. And we had purchase and then EA. And what we’ve done in this is switch those dates so that the EA is completed, and once the EA is completed we go in to the purchase. So that’s what—that has been changed. We have a 2020 EA time for Pāhala, because that will be done prior to Nāālehu. ālehu, and then a 2021 for Nāʻʻ Chair Bennett: And what happens in 2021? Director Kucharski: That’s when the EA will be out and finalized—the EIS or EA will be out for public notice, go through the review process, to be— Chair Bennett: --So 2021, the public will be able to begin to comment. Director Kucharski: No, the EA will have been published and—that’s when the EA is expected to be done. There’s nothing to comment on until the full environmental studies