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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN AWEEMC 2019/10/01 2018-2020Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, and Environmental Management 1Oth Session West Hawaii Civic Center 74-5044 Ane Keohokaloele Highway, Building A Kailua-Kona, Hawaii October 1, 2019 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, ORDER: and Environmental Management was called to order at 1:32 p.m., in the Council Chambers, Kailua-Kona, by Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Acting Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. L. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member (via videoconference from Hilo) Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member Absent & Excused: Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair STATEMENTS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, FROM THE Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: The following individuals registered to speak in support of Res. 322-19 (Comm. 494), and came forward when called by the Chair: Jon Olson. Mary Marvin Porter. Valerie Barnes. Topher Dean. Lisa Andrews. Ryan Christopher. AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 Henri Etta Schmitz, representing Citizens Climate Lobby. Michelle Chavez-Pardini. Tawn Keeney. Phaethon Keeney, representing 350.org Hawaii. Merle Hayward. Elizabeth Hines. Maya Parish. Keith Neal. Ruben Guetschow. Kaiya McKelvey. Maya McKelvey. Janice Palma-Flennie. Michael J. Seidel, representing Carbonbuddy. Rene Siracusa, representing Malama `O Puna. Gary Harrold. Zoe Banfield. Tlaloc Tokuda, representing 350.org Hawaii. Koohan Paik. Noel Morin. Cory Harden, representing Sierra Club Hawaii Island Group. Ron Reilly, representing Hawaii Island Chapter Citizens Climate Lobby. Cherie Griffore. Francine Roby. Page 2 AWEEMC-10 Noel Bobilin. Russell Ruderman. Ellard Resignato. Laurel Schultz. Renate Weinhold. Lanny Sinkin, representing the Kingdom of Hawaii. Ilene Grossman. Victoria Missien. Nahele Luna Cohey. Bailey Ferguson. Lorraine Penfield. Danny Li. Shelly Mahi. Jeff McKnight. Jack Zimmerman. Geoff Shaw. Hanalei Ferguson. Toby Hazel. Kersten Johnson. Noelle Rodriguez. Sequoia Barretto. Liana Doppmann. Wilds Pihanui Ilaitia Brawner. October 1, 2019 Page 3 AWEEMC-10 Recess: Reconvene: COMMUNI- CATIONS: ORDER OF RESOLUTIONS: October 1, 2019 At 3:46 p.m., the Chair called for a recess. The meeting reconvened at 3:58 p.m. Manu Levine. Krista Olson. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you very much, thanks for coming. With that I'm going to close public testimony. Clerk, can you please read in Resolution 322-19. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Communications. (There were none.) The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Order of Resolutions. Res. 322-19: DECLARES A HAWAII COUNTY CLIMATE EMERGENCY AND REQUESTS REGIONAL COLLABORATION TOWARDS AN IMMEDIATE NST TRANSITION AND EMERGENCY MOBILIZATION EFFORT TO RESTORE A SAFE CLIMATE Seeks a commitment to rapidly complete the Hawaii Island Climate Action plan, establish goals and objectives to reduce the use of fossil fuels, and support transition to climate -smart agriculture in an effort to immediately reverse global warming. Reference: Comm. 494 Intr. by: Ms. Poindexter (Note: Comm. 494. 1, from Council Member Valerie Poindexter dated October 1, 2019, transmitting proposed amendments to Res. 322-19, was circulated.) Motion to Approve: Ms. Poindexter moved to recommend adoption of Res. 322-19. Seconded by Ms. Villegas. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: And discussion, I'll let you start off Ms. Poindexter. MS. POINDEXTER: Thank you, Chair. You know, I know that this resolution—and I've heard a couple testifiers stateit doesn't have force of law, but it does have a force of kuleana. You know, asking our government to take action in this critical issue of global warming, so that's the force it's a force of kuleana, yeah, our responsibility. Page 4 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 I first want to thank of course, you know, some people mentioned Phaethon Keeney. And thank you so much, because it all started, our conversation started back in, I think it was in June, at the Hawaii State Association of Counties' conference on Maui. And at that time when I was a President of HSAC, I did say that I would do legislation, you know, to bring awareness of global warming and starting to address it at our county level. So thank you for holding my feet to the fire on this. It took several months but we're here. I'd also like to thank our Legislative Research Branch, Shannon and Donna, they worked so hard to help tweak it and get it right for us to present, and have a discussion here at Council. And I also want to thank our Department of Research and Development and their team for reviewing it. And also Michael Yee at the Planning Department. He sits at the state level on a committee for addressing global warming, so we're fortunate to have him in the Planning Department. He also reviewed this resolution. Before I go into the resolution and have discussions, I do have an amendment or amendments. Because the resolution that is before you talks about the Fahrenheit. And I was working with Ron Riley, who I'm so fortunate to have spoken with him because he said converting the Celsius to Fahrenheit is not as easy as you think, you just don't go on the computer and do it, which I did. So my numbers were not right, because there's a way to calculate it. And if we have a question about that, I think Ron Riley is in the Hilo chambers yet, that I could bring him up to explain that more. I had him work with LRB (Legislative Research Branch) anyway today, to explain how we do the conversion. Besides those changes—and I also left that Celsius number in, because he suggested it be left in. Because we don't know what country would end up reviewing our document as well. So leaving both and referring to both in the resolution. And I guess, Clerk, it's safer if I read the communication in instead of talking about the amendments, right, correct? Okay, so I'd like to make a motion to amend Resolution 322-19, with contents of Communication 494.1 Motion to Amend: Ms. Poindexter moved to amend Res. 322-19 with the contents of Comm. 494.1. Seconded by Ms. David. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Any discussions on the amendment? Okay. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, so can I just explain a couple, Chair, of the amendments? ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay. I talked about the Celsius and the Fahrenheit. And then you notice on page two of our communication, I did add in on the third Be it Page 5 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 Further Resolved and amended it to include "and actively pursue adaptation strategies to allow our community to more proactively respond to inevitable disruption of our communities by rising sea levels and egregious weather disasters." And then on the sixth Be It Further Resolved, I did add, "as well as, actively encourage and promote the use of emission -free vehicles and enable a rapid expansion of public EV charging infrastructure." And those were the amendments, so if you have any concerns. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Is there any further discussion on the amendments? Okay, all those in favor. Vote on Motion The motion to amend Res. 322-19 with the contents of to Amend: Comm. 494.1 was carried by the following voice vote: (Approved) Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kierkiewicz, Poindexter, Villegas and Acting Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Lee Loy and Richards — 2. Excused: None. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, back to the main motion as amended. MS. POINDEXTER: Continue? Okay. Can I continue Chair? ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yes, Ms. Poindexter you still have the floor. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay, thank you. And I know this is an unusually long resolution not something that we're used to, but it is also a critical issue in a time I think we definitely need all the information possible. So many of our testifiers, I know you have talked about a quoted Greta saying, you know, "Houses is on fire," right? But I want to just quote her, you know, she spoke at the UN (United Nations) Climate Change Summit. And I want to just read her quote, and it said, "People are suffering, people are dying entire ecosystems are collapsing. We are in the beginning of mass extinction and all you can talk about is money, and fairytales of eternal economic growth. How dare you. For more than 30 years the science has been crystal clear. How dare you continue to look away and come here and say you're doing enough when politics and solutions needed are still nowhere in sight." I'm so thankful for all of the testimony today and support for this. You know, there were emails and facebook messages, and just everything. Phone calls, and I mean a lot of support and taking this very seriously. Some people were concerned, well what about the money; how are we going to do this without Page 6 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 money. I don't feel you need money. And you know, like Jack Zimmerman said in his testimony, you know, it's about consciousness, yeah, it's about consciousness. So let's all be mindful of global warming in every decision and everything we do going forward. So I'll yield at this time, so I can hear from my colleagues. Thank you. Thank you, Chair. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Poindexter. Ms. Villegas, go ahead. MS. VILLEGAS: Aloha. And thank you for being here, and staying all these hours to listen to the testimony of your fellow Big Island residents. It was an honor and privilege to hear your words, to get to absorb your passion and to also appreciate and feel a kinship with the messages that are being shared. I recently was asked to go to New York City to attend the United Nations Global Assembly and climate week and represent the Big Island at the Climate Strong Islands Dialog that was hosted by a number of different community foundations: the Hawaii Community Foundation, the New York Community Foundation. Extremely intimidated to be stepping into that kind of environment, in that global climate. Just going to New York City is a lot to handle. I'm still absorbing all the information that I gathered. And the connections and the relationships, but the synchronicity is profound. What we are seeing recognizing speaking about is being spoken about in board rooms, in law schools, within the United Nations. I had the privilege attending some stainable development goals, presentations by local leaders, and government agencies at the UN, at the Ford Foundation, at the Columbia Law School, speaking about international pacts that would potentially—there trying to figure out the way to give ecosystems rights. It was not too many decades ago that human rights were not listed as international legal policy, but it's being worked on now. Also at the New York Bar Association and at Rockefeller Foundation. So I was incredibly, incredibly, touched and moved by the testimony from people from Tanzania, Kenya, Cameroon, Indonesia, and those on the Virgin Islands and Puerto, Ireland, Barbados, Ecuador. In Mexico a woman came to me and said, that what she's working on right now is saving a forest in Central Mexico, because their environment is being so degraded by an industry there. But her primary focus right now is making the protectors and the protestors in that community famous, so they will not be murdered. And I stood in awe, and in gratitude that is not the case of what we're facing here in Hawaii. She also said I reminded her of a tree, so I appreciated that. Something that I wanted to share amongst the plethora of information I gathered—which would be impossible to share everything here now—but I wanted to quote Pete Seger, that said, "The key to the future of the world is finding the optimistic stories and letting them be known." Otherwise this gets very, very, overwhelming. Page 7 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 So one of the events, that I got to participate in was the equator prize. And for the first time ever, the U.S. had two organizations that were acknowledged and received the equator prize and they were both from Hawaii: Hui Maka`ainana o Makana, which is from Ha`ena. The organization that's been working to rehabilitate the Ha`ena area. And Hui Malama o Mo`omomi from Molokai, and they are managing local management of their fisheries and re-education. And I'm just going to take a moment, because I just felt like this captured what I would be a lost to try and encompass, "The equator initiative is a United Nations led partnership that brings together governments, civil society, grassroots organizations, indigenous peoples and businesses to foster resilient communities by recognizing and advancing local, nature -based solutions for climate change, and sustainable development. The equator initiative creates opportunities, and platforms to share knowledge and good practices, develops capacities of local communities and indigenous peoples, informs policy through convening multi - stakeholder dialogs, and fosters enabling environments to replicate and scale up community action," which I feel is much of what we are doing here today. "We are facing a global climate emergency, the battle to tackle our climate crisis is the single most important challenge that humanity has ever faced. And we are at risk of losing that battle. Simply stopping the burning of fossil fuels is not enough. A quarter of all greenhouse gas emissions is caused by clearing forest and mangroves, and by draining wetlands and peatlands. In 2018 alone, we lost an area of tropical forest the size of Belgium. More than a third of our earth's surface is used to grow food. Unstainable agriculture not only releases greenhouse gases, but also depletes the ability of soil to capture and store carbon. Nature -based solutions are one of our most important allies in solving our climate crisis by protecting and restoring carbon rich ecosystems like forests, peatlands, and mangroves. And by practicing sustainable agriculture and agroforestry, we can achieve nearly 40 percent of our emission reduction goals by 2030. "Indigenous peoples, and local communities around the world are at the forefront of implementing these nature -based solutions. Without their efforts, we will not solve our global climate crisis. Climate changes is wreaking havoc on the planet more frequent and more intense. Natural disasters are becoming the norm all over the world. Climate change is also jeopardizing the world's food and water supplies, and endangering the safety and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. No one faces the chaos and destruction of climate change more than indigenous peoples in rural communities such as our livelihoods. "Although we are the least responsible for this crisis in many ways, we are also the most vulnerable to its impacts. However communities also at the frontline of finding solutions for adapting to the impacts of climate change, by implementing nature -based solutions, communities around the world are safeguarding our food and water supplies, creating buffers that protect communities from natural disasters, and ensuring sustainable farming, forestry, and fishery livelihoods. Page 8 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 "With diverse knowledge their maintenance of diverse seed stock and their traditional practices that promote harmony between land and people, indigenous people and local communities hold the key, to helping the world learn how to adapt in the face of climate change. "Nature is our most powerful ally, and nature -based solutions are amongst our powerful tools to adapt to climate change. Our current global economic system exacerbates biodiversity loss and climate change. We spend more than five trillion dollars on fossil fuel subsidies every year, while nature -based climate solutions receive just three percent of available funding for mitigation of climate change. The portfolios of most major investors worldwide, of pension funds, sovereign wealth funds, and financial institutions include investments that drive deforestation and biodiversity loss. "We need a new economy for nature and climate, new economic instruments, and incentives to finance the protection and restoration of ecosystems including CAP (Common Agricultural Policy) and trade policies, carbon offsets, and payments for keeping forests standing and protecting our sacred spaces. We need to redefine our commodity supply chains. New sustainable supply chain models provide indigenous peoples and local communities with fair agreements, long term benefits, and financial incentives to promote sustainable practices. Companies benefit through predictable business arrangements with suppliers, more stable supply chains, and lower supply risk. We need to replace unsustainable high emission products such as plastics, with low emission natural materials; and unsustainable practices with low emission alternatives. We need a new economy that addresses, not accelerates climate change." And I think I probably gone over my time, so I yield. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Any MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Chair? ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Yeah, go ahead Ms. Kierkiewicz. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I just wanted to cut in, I think my colleagues in Kona might have something to say too. But I did want to point out that the Planning Director Michael Yee is here. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I actually wanted to invite him up. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Oh yeah? Page 9 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 MS. KIERKIEWICZ: To talk about his work, because as Director of Planning, he is one of I believe 20 commission members that sits on the State Climate Change Commission, not a global warming commission. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: I would like to hear what he has to say, but I'm going to let the Council wrap up first and then we'll take some notes from Mike. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Okay. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Anyone else on the Council have anything to say, regarding the resolution? Karen, go ahead. MS. EOFF: Thank you. First of all I just wanted to thank Ms. Poindexter, for following through with this. And thank you folks for being here today. I remember when we were inaugurated this term and our Chairman gave a bit of an inauguration address to the community. And Mr. Chung, remember you mentioned that climate change would be one of our most pressing issues. And I thought about it, when you said it, it surprised me because being an island community we don't contribute as much as industrialized cities do to this global issue. But being an island community we actually receive the impacts along with other island nations, more than other mainland areas. And we feel it in really disastrous ways, such as increasing high tides and costal erosion, etcetera. So I think all of this is kind of converging timely. Like Ms. Kierkiewicz just said, our Planning Director even sits on climate change committees or commissions that our state is forming. We have different agencies throughout the whole State of Hawaii that are starting to mobilize either resiliency officers or climate change departments or sub -agencies in departments. I mean it's definitely something we have to look at now. And Ms. Poindexter's reso was, like she said, was long, but has important data in it. But I think as we move forward, we have to hone in on what are the more specific things we do. And that can come forward in the form of either resolutions, or bills, code changes, things like that as we become more aware of what would actually be the most appropriate path for us. So what I was saying about converging in a timely manner, we also just had a conference on Maui, an annual conference held by or hosted by Maui this year. But all of the Planning Departments send their staff, their planners, people who are involved in development in our islands, and many other agencies attend. But this year's conference, the whole theme, and there was many workshops, and you know, being they overlapped you could only attend some. But the theme throughout the whole conference was either how we adapt to climate change, or what we can do to support an effort to not increase global warming etcetera. And like I said, as little islands we don't contribute that much, but every little thing we do will help. And the thing that we have to do is adapt, which is also a Page 10 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 part of good planning for the future. So coastal communities, we really do need to look at our laws regarding setbacks, and other permitting within the Planning Department. So that's something we can do as we move forward in anticipation. Because protecting our coastal ecosystems has a lot to do with where we approve development, and what we do with development that's already maybe had a negative impact and causing more erosion than even naturally would be caused. So the theme of the conference started with the statement that just this last year, we had experienced I think 50 inches of rain in 24 hours on Kauai. We had very destructive fires on Maui. We had Hurricane Lane that affected this island, and Oahu is experiencing rapid coastal erosion and even sinkholes and things like that, that are being caused by intrusion of saltwater. So yeah, making our community resilient is going to be one of our number one focuses, I think. And not that this Council has all the power to do everything, but we're going to have to work with our State Legislators and talk about how we can start looking at a lot of factors that are contributing here, and make sure that we are an sustainable community. So I guess that was a little bit off topic maybe, but I really reflected back on Mr. Chung's statement at our inauguration that climate change would be one of most important issues. And I see now it's coming to that point. So mahalo, Ms. Poindexter. I look forward to supporting your resolution. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Eoff. Ms. David. MS. DAVID: Mahalo, Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder. And Ms. Poindexter, thank you so much for taking this initiative that is so important for us especially being a generational native of this island. And I am 60 some -odd years old, and I have seen what you guys are talking about. Not climate change, but change in the landscape of this island, in the things that we have done, or were able to do in the 50's, 60's. In that short of period climate change has impacted the lives of myself and every person that lives here, or depended on our climate like clockwork. Our farming, being coffee farmers our weather was like clockwork. At certain times of the year it rained, it was sunny in the morning and rain in the evening. Seasons were like clockwork. Three coffee rounds of coffee to harvest, now you have it all year around. There is no set anything anymore. Everything is so confused, and it's all because not only of climate change, but of changes that we as human beings approve and allow to happen on this island. And I would have never been able to articulate, as well as my colleague, Rebecca. I really thank her for being the appropriate one to go to New York and represent our island. If I went there, I'd be even more lost than she would be. But if you talk to me here, I've seen what climate change does to a family and to an island community who have visions of what you're talking about. I appreciate everything you folks are saying, because we cannot not do anything. At this point in time, 20 years ago if you'd ask me, I'd say I don't know what to do. But as we Page 11 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 progress into awareness, things like what's happening now that Ms. Poindexter has done, and what Ms. Villegas has experienced, I aloha them for bringing it forward. Because this is serious, and I'm very happy that in my lifetime I'm able to experience this. So thank you everybody for recognizing how important this whole issue is to everyone's lives on this planet. So this little planet of Hawaii Island, thank you so much, because that recognition will keep our kids—at least let them experience what we have in our lifetime. So mahalo. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. David. Mr. Chung. MR. CHUNG: Yeah. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. You know, I'm no expert in this area, but my good sense tells me that climate change is real. I don't have to be a scientist. Whether it's manmade or not, I don't know, but again my good sense tells me it is. You know, not a week goes by—you know, I started parenthood at a late age so my kids are still relatively young. And you know, really, not a week goes by, and I can't say I think about this daily, but not a week goes by when I really think about what their future looks like. Of course I think about what's the job market going to look like too, but generally are we looking at an environmental apocalypse? And I got to say this, I mean, you know, I'm certainly in favor of this resolution because it is an emergency situation. But you know, my outlook is a little bit more sobering, and it's a somber outlook. I don't think we can turn it around, I really don't. And I think we're looking at a slow death. I mean hopefully, you know, we can kind of control it, you know through our actions. But I just really believe it's too late. I'm so sad. And I can die tomorrow, and I'd say hey I lived a good life. But what about my kids and those that come after, I just really don't want them to be, you know, in a bad situation. It pains me. You know, just about a month ago I ordered on e-bayI'm into e -bay now days, rightI ordered a PanAm bag by the way just the other day. You know, just as a nostalgia thing. But I did get this a reproduction of a poster, you know, it's from Earth Day. I think it was the first Earth Day, and it's a famous poster, Pogo, you know. It's where this Pogo character is looking at a trashed strewn landscape, right, and it says, "We've seen the enemy, and it is us," it's very famous. Yeah, and that's what we're looking at right now. So yes, I appreciate, you know, the efforts made by Ms. Poindexter in putting this thing together. You know, I can't say that I agree with it, you know, in total because it certainly not going bind me in the decisions that I make going forward. I got to again, use my best judgement in balancing all the interests. But the fact is we are in an emergency situation. No question about it. And for that fact alone, Page 12 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 I'm going to be putting my stamp of approval on this, yeah. So thank you very much, all of you. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Chung. Ashley, do you have anything to add, or do you want to go to Mr. Yee? MS. KIERKIEWICZ: I do, but I know that Director Yee has to leave at 4:45, so I did want to make sure that he was able to share his mana`o. And I'm willing to yield to him. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, Mr. Yee. (Note: At this time, Planning Director Michael Yee came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. YEE: Thank you. Michael Yee, Planning Director. So as the Planning Director, as all the other Planning Directors in the counties are part of the Hawaii Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation Commission. And so this body has existed, this specific name since I've been around for a couple years. But it existed in different forms prior to this. So you have coordinating agencies at the State and County level looking at the issue. There have been plenty of studies looking into it. I cannot underline enough where in the end this comes down to government creating some policies to be able to move some things forward. You know, I have a four and half year old and I agree, climate change is here. But it also takes resources to be able to make the decisions to move us forward. And we can't think in silos, like we have a lot of important issues on the island. We have homelessness, we have an affordable housing problem. And so how we fund all these pressing priorities becomes a challenge. That's where let's say if the State wants to look at a carbon tax, which then could be shared with the counties to help pay for some of these things. That would be of help, and there's where having an engagement from the community around these potential polices will be important. I really want to underline that a lot of the work that I do on the Commission, is been focused around equitable policy making. If you don't know what equitable means within climate change, you need to get online and you need to kind of Google that and take a look at that. There's a lot of folks talking about climate change, but it doesn't come from a equity point of view. You know, the UN did a report where it shows where the most impacted communities are marginalized communities, that are most affected by climate change. So how do we ensure that we're serving them, right? So you know, at the conference that Karen Eoff had talked about, there's a lot of talk around resilient stuff Which in the end is money, it's around community engagements, it's around providing resources to counties be able to go out in those communities and to that work. And it's not you just show up at people's doorsteps and say, "Hey, give us opinions on climate change." It's years of building trust, and Page 13 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 getting information out and working with them on climate change issues. And we're talking years worth of stuff, and a lot of funding to do stuff There's a lot of inner sections, and so to simplify it to just the climate change issue is too simplistic. So there's things around hazard issues, hazard mitigation. Like right now we just can't talk about, you know, let's say sea level rise, because we have probably more hurricanes coming and what do we do in those cases? And so right now we're looking at ordinances that would give the County some leverage to take certain kinds of actions when that occurs. And we learned this from our experiences from lava, which is when we had things happen we didn't have necessary ordinances to kind of have a tool box of things to reach into. And so that's being looked at right now. Where does the responsibility lie? Right now within our County it's kind of split up, some of it I would generally say, again over simplification, but adaption issues tend to fall on the Planning Department, mitigation issues have tended to land with our Research and Development. So let's say R&D is handling where we are trying to move our fleets to EV (Electronic Vehicles). And so where as I'm looking at, do we take a look at retreat policies and stuff like that down the road? I think somebody had mentioned earlier like you have other Counties who are more focused, there's certainly a lot of jurisdictions around the nation that provide that focus within certain departments or certain Mayor's Offices. And that coordination is going to be highly new. For now it's separated within our counties. So I would certainly look at that as one way to get some focus. And again, I just want to underline the need to work with communities, and that would not be an easy thing. And it's just not around climate change and sea level rise, it should be working with communities to solve all our problems. And we often try to make these decisions from our offices or at the Council Chambers and not reaching our enough to the communities that are most affected. So I'm always a proponent of trying to provide more resources to do that. So thank you for giving a few minutes here, thank you. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Mr. Yee. It's wonderful to have your input. Ms. Kierkiewicz, do you have anything to add? MS KIERKIEWICZ: I do, I always have things to add. Thank you, Chair. I think Chair Chung really hit the nail on the head, about having a very somber outlook. I do. I have two children, the two and half year old, my son, wants to be a fireman and knowing where we headed there be no shortage of fires to put out. My daughter wants to be a scientist. She's going to be Marie Curie for Halloween, but I wonder will she have the opportunity to make discoveries. Page 14 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 I'm 33, and I will share that I'm a bit pissed off Because now I'm having to deal with decades of bad decisions, procrastination, denial, kicking things down the road. And I think Jeff McKnight, you said earlier, future generations are going to have pay for irresponsible decisions, we're already paying for it. We're already seeing massive changes to our environmental ecosystem. But I think unlike previous generations, the buck is going to stop here. It's not an opportunity, we don't have a choice we really have no choice in the matter. I think we all acknowledge climate change is an issue. But it's beyond that, it's our new reality. There's no reversing it, it's managing the intensity in which we are going to be living, existing. And that is really scary when you think about the intensity and frequency of more natural disasters. You guys, Puerto Rico, that could be us if we're not ready. I chair two committees on the Council, Planning as well as Government Relations and Economic Development. I may be new here, but I've recognized for that a very long time decisions were being made in a very poor fashion. Decisions were only made based on what makes most financial sense. We can't do that anymore, we need multiple lenses on. Equity, climate change, culture, all of that needs to be considered in totality going forward. And that's what I appreciate about this resolution, thank you Council Member Poindexter, is it elevates climate change into our everyday conscientious here as a County. And we need to recognize that it's not about these little incremental changes, right, it's the big leaps forward, these big bold actions that we need to start taking together. So beyond the obvious, we need to take action. I think the Council and the County really needs assurances from the community that you are in with us. You're here today, you've testified that's great. But we need to put in the work, and we need to pay for it. It's going to cost a lot of money to invest in a resilient future. This is nothing new, this is not precedent setting work. Oahu already has an office of sustainability, they've completed a climate action plan. They're leaps and bounds ahead of us. We need to prioritize this next budget cycle. I want all of you to come back next budget cycle, and advocate for resiliency offices. For this kind of planning to happen, throughout the County. Michael Yee said it perfectly, we're operating in the silos, right. We need one agency to cut through all of the departments, and coordinate everybody in a very holistic way. It's going to come down to hard choices, really hard choices. I mean we are so lucky living in our Amazon Prime lifestyle, where we want something, click of a button, gets shipped over. You get it in like three days. I don't think that can be part of our future, if we seriously want to exist. I heard a lot of people say, want wind and solar. Great, are you willing for it to be in your back yard? These are the kinds of things we're going to need to grapple with. It's not just about having more EV charging stations, it's can we make sure our people are making enough to afford an electric vehicle. All of this needs to be considered in totality, no more time for piecemeal. We need comprehensive holistic decision making, and Page 15 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 no more of this, "You guys got to do something." Who is the "you guys," right. That's all of us, it's up to all of us to work together to ensure our future. So thank you, Council Member Poindexter. I was just wondering if you could elaborate, there is mention here about rapidly organizing a regional climate emergency mobilization effort. So I was just curious what that looks like. I've talked story with a Jake Sykes he's a VISTA within R&D (Research and Development) he and Michelle Agbigay are working on a climate action plan. That should be completed in October or November— MS. POINDEXTER: Excuse me, one second Ashley. We're having really hard rain here, I cannot hear really anything that you're saying. I know you said, the last part I heard was can I elaborate, and then okay, he just closed the door. So if you can speak louder. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: There was couple of mentions about what—let's see, "organize a regional emergency climate mobilization effort." I was just wondering what that looks like, and then if there are specific next steps that you're planning on taking with regards to the resolution. MS. POINDEXTER: Okay. So you were talking about the section that it talks about—were you saying about where the MS. KIERKIEWICZ: Its page three, the fourth Whereas clause second line. "Organize a regional emergency climate mobilization effort." Are you thinking like a climate change commission on the County level, I'm just curious about what that looks like? And what other next steps you were going to take with this resolution? MS. POINDEXTER: Yeah, so you know, like you were talking about how they mobilize on Oahu, and how we need to mobilize more here? And so when it says continue to be that global leader, we've done a lot of stuff You know, we've addressed the coral bleaching, you know, with the sunscreen, things we are continuing to do to address these issues. You understand that? That is some of the things that the County has already done. And then we want to continue to be a global leader in that. And then when we're talking about converting to an ecologically, socially, and economically, you know, regenerative economy, then you talked about, we got to start thinking about when we do planning. You know, what are we approving, we're approving people digging wells 800 feet to take out 21 point something million gallons of water per day and destroying our coastline. So when we talk, we got to get serious about these things. We can dive into details, I don't think today is the day for me to dive into details. Because this is just a starting point for us to start changing policy, so we stop the degradation, just what we're doing to this aina that is causing so much problems, because of corporate greed. So I can start going into detail, I don't think it's the place and Page 16 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 time. But those are heavy Whereas' that each of us can start thinking what does that statement mean and how do we make it happen. So that's a Whereas, it's not Be It Resolved. So anyway, that's why that Whereas is in there as well. Thank you. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Ash, we hit your time for your five minutes, you have anything else you want to add? I'm going to go to Rebecca. MS. KIERKIEWICZ: All good. Thank you, Chair. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Okay, thank you. Ms. Villegas. MS. VILLEGAS: Aloha, and I promise to keep this quick. Just a couple of things I wanted to share with people. A couple of terms that I learned while in New York. One of them was the name of a presentation and it was entitled "indigenuity," indigenous ingenuity, and that was a common theme that ran through many of the different presentations. Another one was that the planet is going to prevail, unfortunately it's the global majority who will suffer. And transitioning a term that has often been used for minorities are people of color or those underprivileged. I spoke to a woman who said, "No I am the global majority." They, we, are the most people on the planet and re -identifying and empowering those communities I think is really vital. I also just wanted to kind of touch on what Michael Yee said, about kind of social justice and how that is so connected in so many of these issues. And in a lot of these conversations what really gave me hope, is that the recognition that within the process which matters a lot, it needs to be locally and culturally appropriate. I also got news while on this trip, that a sustainable business forum in the Nature Conservancy Hawaii are partnering on a 8,000 acre forest improvement project, in the Kona Hema preserve on the Big Island here that would generate 120,000 American Carbon Registry (ACR) certified carbon offset credits likely in 2020. And as reported in the Big Island Now earlier this month, a carbon neutrality challenge, a UH project led by Camilo Mora is planning to plant 11,000 trees on October 26�h. I'm not sure of the location, but once again I think it's really important that we recognize and participate in the opportunities that exist here on this island. For us to get our hands dirty, and put in some sweat equity with one another and be a part of the solution. So thank you, aloha. ACTING CHR KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Thank you, Ms. Villegas. Thank you everyone, for a very lively discussion. Any further discussion? Okay, I have just couple comments. Rebecca said earlier this year, when you make a decision you have to think seven generations ahead. So we shouldn't be thinking about just our kids or our grandkids, we should be thinking about our grandkids, grandkids. Those are the decisions we need to make now. Because if those decisions had been made when we were kids or grandkids, we would be a lot Page 17 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 better and farther ahead than we are now. Our County can do a lot. Obviously we're very supportive, you cannot argue whether climate change is real or not, it is. Although our current Administration seems to think that things like the Paris Climate Agreement are terrible. That's what I got in an email, I found that hilarious. It's clear that it's not terrible, it's clear that we have a lot of work to do. And between the majority of us we have keiki, and we're going to take care of our kids. And we're going to make decisions from here out that are going to get us where we need to go, and it's great to see that we're all very supportive of that. So I appreciate all the public today, I appreciate all the time. It's always wonderful to see all the people turn out in the numbers that we had, and to see that much public feeling for what's happening and for being here. So thank you for participating. Thank you, Council for a wonderful discussion. I'm going to go ahead and wrap it up. Can I call for a vote for Resolution 322-19 as amended by Communication 494.1? All in favor. Vote on Res. 322-19: The motion to recommend adoption of Res. 322-19, as Draft 2 amended to Draft 2, was carried by the following (Approved) voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kierkiewicz, Poindexter, Villegas and Acting Chair Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder — 7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Lee Loy and Richards — 2. Excused: None. BILLS FOR The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, ORDINANCES: Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) Page 18 AWEEMC-10 October 1, 2019 ACTING CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: Can I have a motion to adjourn, please. ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 4:51 p.m., Ms. Eoff moved to MENT: adjourn the meeting. Seconded by Ms. David and carried by the following voice vote: Approved: Mr. Matt Kane; Agriculture, W MK/rk Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kierkiewicz, Poindexter, Villegas and Acting Chair Kaneali `i-Kleinfelder — 7. Noes: None. Absent: Committee Members Lee Loy and Richards — 2. Excused: None. ACTING CHR. KANEALI`I-KLEINFELDER: We are adjourned, thank you. lder, Acting Chair, and Environmental Management Committee (Date) Page 19