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Home My WebLink AboutCOM 0091.000 2008-2010KENNETH G. GOODENOW County Clerk Mailing Address: (Former County Building) 25 Aupuni Street Hido, Hawaii 96720 County of Hawai `i Office of the County Clerk RODNEY OSHIRO Deputy County Clerk Business Address: 333 Kilauea Avenue, Second Floor Ben Franklin Building Hilo, Hawaii 96720 Telephone: (808) 961-8255 Facsimile: (808J 961-8912 ru n ~ Cr. DATE: January 12, 2009 ~- w~c- ~-' f - { N i" .o TO: J Yoshimoto, Chair ~r.> ~ ~ -= and Members of the Hawaii County Council y~~rl ~ ,, ~ i ~ ~ ~s FROM: Kenneth Goodenow, County Clerk ~~ ` c;o RE: Proposed Amendments to Resolution No. 826-08 The purpose of this memorandum is to request that the County Council amend Resolution No. 826-08, which urges the Director of the Department of Environmental Management to develop an ordinance and implement a plan to prohibit food, paper, and compostable organics from Hawaii County landfills by 2012. The initial draft of Resolution No. 826-08 was not reviewed by our Legislative Research Branch prior to introduction and several errors exist relating to formatting, spelling, and grammar. As the introducer of the resolution is no longer a council member, I am not able to ask that the introducer propose these amendments; hence, this general request to the County Council. Please note that the proposed amendments pertain strictly to objectively correcting formatting, spelling and grammar errors; neither the Legislative Reseazch Branch nor I have taken the initiative to research the validity of any statements contained within the clauses of this resolution. The proposed amendments are illustrated via Ramseyer format, whereby material to be deleted is bracketed and stricken through and material to be added is underlined. The proposed amendments are as follows: Amend the title of the resolution to read: Serving the lnteres[s of the People of Our /sland Hawat'i County is an Equal Opportunity Provider and Employer Comm: No: Ref. To: uyG' Ref. Dofe JAN 12 20 January 12, 2009 Page 2 of 4 "A RESOLUTION URGING THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT TO DEVELOP AN ORDINANCE AND IMPLEMENT A PLAN TO PROHIBIT FOOD, PAPER, AND COMPOSTABLE ORGANICS FROM HAWAII COUNTY LANDFILLS BY 2012: ' NOTE: Titles to resolutions can be amended, particularly when such amendments are non-substantive. 2. Amend the 2"d WHEREAS clause to read: "WHEREAS, more than 100 tons of biodegradable materials, including paper products, food scraps and yard trimmings, are landfilled in the County of [Ifawar'i] Hawaii every day. These materials amount to approximately half of our island's discarded resources, and when buried in a landfill, they decompose without oxygen and generate methane, an efficient atmospheric heat-trapping gas and a major factor in climate change; and" Amend the 3`d WHEREAS clause to read: "WHEREAS, methane is understood to be 72 times more potent than [C~2] carbon dioxide (C02) in causing climate changes over a 20-year period, the amount of time scientists have determined is left before the planet reaches the "tipping point" on irreversible climate change. Landfills are the number one source ofhuman-caused methane in the United States and emit the greenhouse gas equivalent of 20 percent of our country's coal-fired power plants every year; and" 4. Amend the 4`h WHEREAS clause to read: "WHEREAS, commercial farming and shortsighted land use policies favoring energy-intensive pesticides, fertilizers, and irrigation water have resulted in dramatic increases in greenhouse gases discharged into the atmosphere for more than [€r€Ey] 50 years. These practices have contributed to one-third of the increase in atmospheric C02, while causing erosion, sedimentation, water pollution, and the progressive stripping of organic matter, beneficial microbes, carbon, and other essential nutrients from our soils; and" 5. Amend the 6~' WHEREAS clause to read: "WHEREAS, [1=lawai'~] Hawaii currently imports [90°x] 90 percent of its food and urgently requires the healthier soils that can be produced through diverting organic materials from the landfill and returning the nutrients and organic matter back to farmland to grow its own. This is a critical component of re-creating a more sustainable society on our island; and" January 12, 2009 Page 3 of 4 6. Amend the 7`h WHEREAS clause by indenting it to be consistent with the other clauses of the resolution and to read: "WHEREAS, the quickest and cheapest way to immediately reduce our community's greenhouse gas emissions and improve the health of soils on the island is to [get] divert compostable organics [e~tt-e€J from our landfills; and" NOTE: This proposed amendment assumes the intent of the resolution is to ban certain materials from County landfills by 2012, not to remove materials that currently exist in the landfill. The original wording. implies that compostable organics currently in the landfill should be removed from the landfill. 7. Amend the 8ei WHEREAS clause to read: "WHEREAS, this resolution is in keeping with Resolution 356-07, Draft 2; "EMBRACING AND ADOPTING THE PRINCIPLES OF ZERO WASTE AS A LONG TERM GOAL FOR HAWAII COUNTY", adopted [bP~] on December 19, 2007; and" NOTE: Recommend removal of "by this council", as the council that first heazd the resolution at committee level is not the same council that could potentially adopt the resolution. 8. Amend the 9`h WHEREAS clause to read: "[T-HEIiEF9I?E] WHEREAS, we agree to phase these materials out of our landfills by 2012, and ask that Department of Environmental Management staff come back with a plan on how to best accomplish this and how to work with local agencies to encourage the use of compostable organics to sustain the health of our soils[: ]; now, therefore; ' 9: Amend the BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII clause to read: "BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII [te ban] that food, paper, and compostable organics shall be banned from [I-Iawa~i] Hawaii County landfills by 2012 and that the Department of Environmental Management is urged to develop a plan to accomplish this policy and to present it to the [I=Iaivai-i] Hawaii County Council within [six] 6 months of passage of this resolution: ' January 12, 2009 Page 4 of 4 10. Amend the last clause of the resolution to read: "BE IT [FIAIA~ITV] FURTHER RESOLVED that the County Clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to the Director of the Department of Environmental Management to develop a strategic plan to achieve the goals in accordance with the terms of this resolution." ' 11. Amend the dateline of the resolution to read: "Dated at ,Hawaii, this day [200&] 2009." 12. Add pagination in the footer of page 2 of the resolution. Thank you for your consideration of these proposed amendments to Resolution No. 826- 08. Adraft copy of Resolution No. 826-08, Draft 2, with these proposed amendments incorporated is attached. KG/jdh Att. A RESOLUTION URGING THE DIRECTOR OF THE DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT TO DEVELOP AN ORDINANCE AND IMPLEMENT A PLAN TO PROHIBIT FOOD, PAPER, AND COMPOSTABLE ORGANICS FROM HAWAII COUNTY LANDFILLS BY 2012. WHEREAS, landfilling food and paper is greatly contributing to global warming; and WHEREAS, more than 100 tons of biodegradable materials, including paper products, food scraps and yard trimmings, are landfilled in the County of Hawaii every day. These materials amount to approximately half of our island's discarded resources, and when buried in a landfill, they decompose without oxygen and generate methane, an efficient atmospheric heat- trapping gas and a major factor in climate change; and WHEREAS, methane is understood to be 72 times more potent than carbon dioxide (C02) in causing climate changes over a 20-year period, the amount of time scientists have determined is lefr before the planet reaches the "tipping point" on irreversible climate change. Landfills are the number one source ofhuman-caused methane in the United States and emit the greenhouse gas equivalent of 20 percent of our country's coal-fired power plants every year; and WHEREAS, commercial farming and shortsighted land use policies favoring energy-intensive pesticides, fertilizers, and irrigation water have resulted in dramatic increases in greenhouse gases discharged into the atmosphere for more than 50 years. These practices have contributed to one-third of the increase in atmospheric C02, while causing erosion, sedimentation, water pollution, and the progressive stripping of organic matter, beneficial microbes, carbon, and other essential nutrients from our soils; and WHEREAS, healthy soils are capable of holding twice the carbon stocks of plants Release of soil bound carbon through tilling, unsustainable and other short sighted farming practices cause soils to contribute to, rather than protect against, global warming. These unsustainable methods also compromise the ability of using soil to grow food locally, nutritiously, and sustainably; and WHEREAS, Hawaii currently imports 90 percent of its food and urgently requires the healthier soils that can be produced through diverting organic materials from the landfill and returning the nutrients and organic matter back to farmland to grow its own. This is a critical component of re-creating a more sustainable society on our island; and WHEREAS, the quickest and cheapest way to immediately reduce our community's greenhouse gas emissions and improve the health of soils on the island is to divert compostable organics from our landfills; and WHEREAS, this resolution is in keeping with Resolution 356-07, Draft 2; "EMBRACING AND ADOPTING THE PRINCIPLES OF ZERO WASTE AS A LONG TERM GOAL FOR HAWAII COUNTY", adopted on December 19, 2007; and WHEREAS, we agree to phase these materials out of our landfills by 2012, and ask that Department of Environmental Management staff come back with a plan on how to best accomplish this and how to work with local agencies to encourage the use of compostable organics to sustain the health of our soils; now, therefore, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE COUNCIL OF THE COUNTY OF HAWAII that food, paper, and compostable organics shall be banned from Hawaii County landfills by 2012 and that the Department of Environmental Management is urged to develop a plan to accomplish this policy and to present it to the Hawaii County Council within 6 months of passage of this resolution. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the County Clerk shall forward a copy of this resolution to the Director of the Department of Environmental Management to develop a strategic plan to achieve the goals in accordance with the terms of this resolution. Dated at , Hawaii, this day of , 2009. 2