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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMIN AWEEMC 2019/12/03 2018-2020Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, and Environmental Management 14th Session Hawaii County Building 25 Aupuni Street Hilo, Hawaii December 3, 2019 CALL TO The regular meeting of the Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, ORDER: and Environmental Management was called to order at 11:10 a.m., in the Council Chambers, Hilo, by Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair. ROLL CALL: Present: Mr. Herbert M. "Tim" Richards, III, Chair Mr. Matt Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Vice Chair Mr. Aaron S. Y. Chung, Member Ms. Maile Medeiros David, Member Ms. Karen Eoff, Member Ms. Ashley L. Kierkiewicz, Member Ms. Susan L. K. Lee Loy, Member Ms. Valerie T. Poindexter, Member Ms. Rebecca Villegas, Member STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS: CC)N4N4T TNT - CATIONS The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Statements from the Public on Agenda Items. (There were none.) CHR. RICHARDS: Moving on to communications, Clerk, please. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Communications. Comm. 560: REQUESTS A PRESENTATION BY THE U.S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY AND THE CIVIL DEFENSE AGENCY RELATING TO THE SOURCE AND ACCUMULATION OF WATER IN HALEMA`UMA`U CRATER From Council Member Maile Medeiros David, dated October 17, 2019. Motion to Close File: Ms. David moved to close file on Comm. 560. Seconded by Ms. Eoff. CHR. RICHARDS: I'm going to turn this over to Maile. Go ahead. AWEEMC-14 December 3, 2019 MS. DAVID: Thank you, Chair. I'd like to call Administrator Magno, and also USGS (U.S. Geological Survey) Matt Patrick to come forward. And while they're doing that, I just want to thank them ahead of time. Because when this first happened in Volcano, Halema`uma`u in my district, I was just pretty intrigued what is happening with this. So I called either Mr. Magno or Diane Ley, and they were very willing and gave me a videoconference presentation and explanation. And I felt it would be something very useful and informative for the people to hear from USGS, because they've done a lot of research about this. And I think they can either calm down some of our questions, or why is this happening. So Mr. Patrick, identify yourself and go ahead, for the record. (Note: At this time, Geologist Matthew Patrick and Civil Defense Administrator Talmadge Magno came forward to address the members of the Committee.) MR. PATRICK: My name is Matthew Patrick, I'm a Geologist at the Hawaiian Volcano Observatory. MR. MAGNO: Good morning. I'm Talmadge Magno, Civil Defense Administrator. MS. DAVID: Welcome gentleman. And whenever you're ready go ahead. (Note: At this time, Mr. Matthew Patrick and Mr. Talmadge Magno provided a PowerPoint presentation to the members of the Committee. For viewing of the presentation, see the DVD copy of the meeting proceedings on file in the Clerk's Office. A copy of the PowerPoint presentation is made a part of the record, see Comm. 560.) MR. PATRICK: So I'm happy to answer any questions, but the presentation ends there. Thank you. MS. DAVID: Thank you, Mr. Patrick. And I had a question as far as the water table you were mentioning that isthere's a well that's about a mile away and is that where you folks take your measurements? MR. PATRICK: Yes. MS. DAVID: Yes. So is there anything aside from what you covered that—aside from the explosion stuff, that you think it's something that we should be concerned about, aside from what you're talking? MR. PATRICK: No. Yeah, I think the main thing to emphasize is that even though it's unprecedented in the past 200 years that there's been surface, a large body of surface water at Kilauea Summit. But so far and over the past year, the activity has been stable and thus far there's no signs of any imminent change. Page 2 AWEEMC-14 December 3, 2019 MS. DAVID: Okay. MR. PATRICK: Of course, we've seen that at Kilauea things can change pretty rapidly over the course of weeks or months, so that's why we always continue to keep a close eye on the summit. MS. DAVID: That's great to hear, and puts me at ease at least. So right now, I'm going to yield for now. Thank you very much for that presentation. MR. PATRICK: You're welcome. CHR. RICHARDS: Alright. Thank you, Maile. Rebecca. MS. VILLEGAS: Yeah, quick question. Because when I see that water seeping into the caldera, what are the chances of that water then, you know, it's being influenced and its absorbing sulfur dioxide, is it seeping back out into our water table? MR. PATRICK: What I understand is that the water at the summit is essentially contained in the summit, so there's geologic features like dikes and sills that basically keep the water impounded in the summit region. So yeah, it's my understanding that, that water is centrally local to the caldera region. MS. VILLEGAS: So it wouldn't be water that we would be accessing for any other use, necessarily? MR PATRICK: Not that I'm aware of. MS. VILLEGAS: Okay, great. Thank you for that, appreciate it. I yield. CHR. RICHARDS: Any other questions? Okay, seeing none, I've got one. So the water, listening to the presentation, you said the floor dropped about 1,500 feet is that correct? MR. PATRICK: Yeah. CHR. RICHARDS: And the water table has always been there, but now that the floor is lower it's allowing it to seep in. Is that what I'm understanding? MR. PATRICK: I think so. I think the fact that we have water now, was probably a result of the fact that we had the largest collapse of the caldera floor in the past 200 years. So it basically punched a hole deep enough, to where it could actually reach the water table. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, alright. And I think I missed it, how did you actually sample the water? Did you send a? Page 3 AWEEMC-14 Vote on Comm. 560 Filed ORDER OF RESOLUTIONS: BILLS FOR ORDINANCES: December 3, 2019 MR. PATRICK: It was a drone. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay. MR. PATRICK: Yeah, a USGS drone team came to basically operate a drone that had a plastic container that was dropped into the pond. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, alright. So if hearing no other questions, then vote to close file. All signify by saying "aye." The motion to close file on Comm. 560 was carried by the following voice vote: Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Villegas, and Chair Richards — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. RICHARDS: Okay, the file is closed. Thank you very much for the presentation. I appreciate for the update. The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Order of Resolutions. (There were none.) The Chair directed the Committee to proceed to the next order of business, Bills for Ordinances. (There were none.) Page 4 AWEEMC-14 December 3, 2019 ADJOURN- There being no further business, at 11:28 a.m., Ms. Eoff moved to adjourn the MENT: meeting., Seconded by Ms. David and carried by the following voice vote: Approved: Mr. Herbert M. "Y Agriculture, Water Ayes: Committee Members Chung, David, Eoff, Kaneali`i-Kleinfelder, Kierkiewicz, Lee Loy, Poindexter, Villegas, and Chair Richards — 9. Noes: None. Absent: None. Excused: None. CHR. RICHARD S : We stand adjourned. '%Richards, III, Chair anergy and Environmental anagement Committee (Date) Page 5