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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2019-07-24 Meeting Minutes (EMC) ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION COUNT OF HAWAIʻI MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, July 24, 2019 9:03 a.m. to 11:43 a.m. Aging and Disability Resource Center 1055 Kinoʻole Street, Suite 101 (Training Room) Hilo, Hawaiʻi Commissioners present: Richard Bennett, Ph.D., Chair Jon Olson, Vice Chair John Burns, Ph.D. Rick Gaffney Justin Pequeño Staff present: William Kucharski, Director Diana Mellon-Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel Mary Fujio, Secretary Also present: Jerome Warren (he left after his public statement) 1. CALL TO ORDER The meeting was called to order at 9:03 a.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF JUNE 26, 2019 Motion and second: Commissioner Pequeño moved to approve the minutes, and Commissioner Gaffney seconded the motion. Discussion: Commissioner Gaffney asked the director for clarification on the first bullet point on page 8 of the draft minutes, regarding getting new vacuum trucks and CCTV vehicles, and Director Kucharski clarified that the items have been ordered. Motion, second, and vote: Commissioner Gaffney moved to amend page 8 of the draft minutes to state that the items have been ordered, Commissioner Pequeño seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. 3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS Jerome Warren: The Council passed Bill 75 on July 9, 2019, which approved $10 million for the Nāālehu sewer project. It will use $47 million from the state loan fund. The ʻ state loan fund is administered by the Department of Health. Brown and Caldwell are the county’s contractors. Both the state and county have solicited written comments from the public. However, the public is not told how they can review the comments. He has been trying to follow up, but everybody gives him the run-around. If any commissioner is successful at following up, he would like them to contact him or report on it at the next meeting. In the meantime, the court case against Director Kucharski and Dora Beck will continue on August 8 in Hilo. Judge Nakamura will hear answers that have not been given to this commission or to the County Council. 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Report on the meeting held with Councilmember Tim Richards in response to his request for a dialog. Chair Bennett explained that he had asked Commissioner Gaffney to report on this. Commissioner Gaffney reported that the meeting was changed from in-person to a telephone conference, but it was excellent. He was pleased to learn about Dr. Richards’ strong science background, not just as an animal biologist but in chemistry. He is a go- getter and strongly focused on solutions to pollution issues. He is interested in out-of-the- box thinking where necessary and maximizing the county’s revenues toward solutions. He had a lot of good questions. Specifically discussed were the sewer issues in the Puakō and Queen Kalama areas. One area Dr. Richards was not up to speed on is that he appears to believe it is a slam dunk that Mauna Lani will accept the Puakō sewage. They also spoke a bit on public-private partnership possibilities for South Aliʻi Drive, Keauhou Bay, and the Heʻeia peninsula. Chair Bennett said Dr. Richards invites the commissioners to think outside the box and would like to know how they would solve solid waste problems if money were not an issue. Solid waste issues are very important to him. He wants the commissioners to break down any departmental barriers in their minds and recommend policies that address the big issues. He wants them to feed him ideas, whether or not they are directly a part of DEM’s functions. Chair Bennett asked the commissioners to send him or Commissioner Gaffney their ideas, concerns, and inspirations so they can further the dialog with Dr. Richards. Commissioner Gaffney said another area discussed was the necessity for the county to be in regular communication with their federal representatives, as the offices of Dave Chun and Tulsi Gabbard have indicated several times that there is a lot of federal money available which Hawaiʻi is not requesting. He asked Dr. Richards’ office if that could be looked into, as well as the possibility of hiring grant writers for DEM or Research and Development to support the pursuit of the funding which seems to be missing in massive projects. Dr. Richards also informed them that he will be authorizing a formal request for 2 the EMC to provide input to him as chair of the County Council’s Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, and Environmental Management. Vice Chair Olson said he feels a starting point is to get people to pay for disposal of their waste of front, at the point of purchase. People are oblivious to what it costs to get rid of things. Chair Bennett asked him to jot down his ideas so they can forward them to Dr. Richards. Commissioner Gaffney said Dr. Richards also clearly leans toward having everyone pay for sewering rather than just the people who are connected to the sewer, and he may be planning legislation in that regard. Chair Bennett said Dr. Richards also offered to pass along the EMC’s environmental ideas to Bruce Anderson, current head of the Department of Health, with whom he is personally acquainted, and this is very encouraging. 5. NEW BUSINESS a. Begin a discussion about how long-term sea level rise and its potential impact on the County of Hawaiʻi’s sewer infrastructure. This will include a request for infrastructure data for a continued discussion at the August meeting. Chair Bennett said he has been unable to find out who is involved, at the county level, with the sea level issue. He feels it is appropriate for the EMC to go on record to encourage the conversation about the fact that extreme tidal events are occurring, and these events are putting low lying areas of the county at risk. Another major concern is the investment of millions of dollars in sewer lines which may end up under water, at least periodically. He invited Vice Chair Olson to take the lead on this, and Vice Chair Olson accepted. Chair Bennett said it could be that it would be financially preferable to begin the process of managing a retreat from the coastline rather than to invest millions of dollars in a new sewer system. Vice Chair Olson said it is related to lava inundation zones in the sense of how the county allowed subdivisions to be built in high risk lava zones. Chair Bennett asked Director Kucharski to bring to the August meeting an inventory of the sewer infrastructure showing age and geography so they can have a better idea of how dated it is. Director Kucharski said he will need to see whether their GIS system has the data. If not, he will need more time to get this done. He will either bring the information or report on how long it will take to get it. Commissioner Burns said he has worked with the Hawaiʻi Sea Grant Program, which has funded a substantial amount of research and provided presentations, and he may be able to get information from them. Further discussion was held on where data on sea level rise can be found. Chair Bennett said he would check with the climate adaptation office in Honolulu, and Director 3 Kucharski said the Planning Department is the county contact on sea level. They have done a report and should have a presentation available. Chair Bennett asked that Director Kucharski check with Planning about having a 1 presentation at the August meeting. Commissioner Gaffney asked whether it would be within their purview to suggest the county create a climate change adaption department, as Hawaiʻi County seems to be the only one that does not have an active group assigned to this. After discussion back and forth on whether the EMC could get involved in recommending this, Director Kucharski suggested they have Planning do a presentation so the commissioners can have a better idea of what is being done at the county level. It is his belief that Planning is doing a lot on this issue and is very aware of it. Chair Bennett asked Director Kucharski to have someone from Planning speak to them at the next meeting, and let them know if the answer is no. Director Kucharski said he would make the request. b. Discuss the problem with the term “Soil Aquifer Treatment Ponds” as proposed for Kona and discuss more appropriate terminology for the proposed ponds for the R-1 upgrade of the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant. Chair Bennett said he is concerned with the SAT term. SATs have been done at many places on the mainland, but not in Hawaiʻi, and the process planned here is not really an SAT process. The term conveys the wrong message to the public. He would like a term that is more descriptive of the process, such as nutrient removal pond or phosphorous adsorption pond. The motion that there is an aquifer that will take the water and sequester it is incorrect. He asked the director how difficult it would be to have the term changed. Director Kucharski said it was his understanding that the SAT system is an EPA term and an approved disposal technology defined by federal policy and process. It is a term of art and was not just picked out of the air. Chair Bennett further explained why he felt the SAT term is inappropriate for the project, and discussion was held back and forth about it. Ms. Mellon-Lacey said that sometimes terms are misnomers, but when it comes to regulation and funding, it may not be to the county’s advantage to try to change them. However, the public can be provided information on the SAT ponds and how they work without renaming them. Commissioner Burns said he agrees there is frustration with broad sweeping terminology because it does not always specifically apply, but it is often necessary in the realm of standardization and permitting guidelines. He asked Chair Bennett whether he objected to a SAT pond being used, or just wanted the term changed, and Chair Bennett’s 1 Note: The sea level presentation will instead be scheduled at the Commission’s September 25, 2019, meeting. 4 main objection was to the term—it will not be a pond, and it is about more than public relations. It will be a demonstration that nutrients are consciously being taken out rather than dumped into the ocean. Commissioner Burns suggested that Chair Bennett contact the EPA to see if there is a more appropriate term that could be used, and Chair Bennett said the EPA always goes through the DOH first, no matter how egregious things are. Ms. Mellon-Lacey said that unless there is an educational effort put out to inform the public, they will not understand, no matter what it is called. Chair Bennett then said it is not the public he is concerned with but a group of 10 to 15 people who have been doggedly following the project. He would like this core group to understand, and his hope is that the county can send the message that it is going the extra mile to take nutrients out of the wastewater. Director Kucharski pointed out that the goal is to never use the SAT pond. They are looking only for intermittent disposal efforts, and it appears they already have more use for the water than the water itself. However, he would like people to understand the county is doing more than the minimum—they are doing the best they can with the available technologies they have, given the very high cost. Chair Bennett said changing the name is not a drop-dead issue for him, but he would like it to be understood that nutrient removal is being done in the process, and he hopes this message can be conveyed to the special interest group and public at large. Director Kucharski said they could add to the description that the SAT is for phosphorous removal, which would reduce people’s expectation of what the SAT is supposed to do. Chair Bennett indicated he would be satisfied with that. Motion, second, and vote: Commissioner Burns moved that they recommend to the director that he ask for specific details or verbiage regarding the SAT ponds so it is clear what they are actually going to do in terms of nutrient removal and what they are not doing based on the design set forth in the EIS plan. Commissioner Gaffney seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. 6. REPORTS/CORRESPONDENCE a. Chair’s Informational Report. Chair Bennett said he was frustrated when he reviewed a recent The Environmental Notice, which is put out by the Department of Health. The report included a wastewater treatment process on Oahu for a condominium with 300+ units. A new injection well was planned, and the well is within a few hundred feet of the coast. The new well test shows the water is salty, and there is no requirement for nutrient removal at this time. The well works against the goal of protecting the water quality of the ocean, and the state should not be approving injection wells with nutrient rich water. He pointed out Article XI of the Hawaiʻi Constitution, which is about preserving and protecting all of Hawaiʻi’s natural resources. The right thing needs to be done for the public trust. Article XI inspires him to do better, and it is his hope the commission would be able to stand up to the state and say 5 no, there are policies that require nutrient reduction before a condo is approved. He is heartened, however, by Councilmember Richards’ invitation to knock down some doors and think outside the box. b. Director’s Informational Report. • Bill 88 was heard yesterday (July 23) before the Council Committee on Agriculture, Water, Energy, and Environmental Management. Its purpose is to correct the definition of public property so that it includes property owned by the state and federal governments. The bill is being referred to him and to the commission for comment and recommendation. A draft letter has been prepared for the commission to recommend adoption of the bill. Motion, second, and vote: Vice Chair Olson moved to send a letter to the County Council recommending approval of Bill 88. Commissioner Gaffney seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. • The contract for the Nāālehu EA has been signed, and section 106 ʻ consultation letters have been sent. The process is moving forward. Comments on an EA are not sent to individuals who might have commented but are in the EA when it is published. • There was a fire a couple of weeks ago at the greenwaste area of the West Hawaiʻi land?ill. The facility is 100% under the control of their contractor, Hawaiian Earth Recycling. They have sent a letter to the contractor, expressing DEM’s dissatisfaction with the response of the contractor. • On the R-1 project, they are still being held up by the 106 requirements for SRF funding for cross-cutter conditions. He will bring an updated schedule to the next meeting. • On the department’s vacant positions and training, handouts were provided with the information for the past year. • The recent closures of transfer stations is related to vacant positions and training. The county provides four weeks of vacation and sick time per year, which is about a 9% reduction in staff capacity. If multiple baseyard employees do not show up for work, employees who are not scheduled are asked to come in, but they are not required to. If not enough employees agree to come in, the site has to be closed. Alternatives to deal with the closures are being looked at, but it is very frustrating. They are checking into tying into Civil Defense’s text messaging notification system to get the word out to people about closures. However, Civil Defense is working on a new contract which involves changing their notification system, so it is held up for now. 6 • He has confirmed the county does plan on using the federal government’s right-of-way for the Kealakehe wastewater transport. • Regarding geophysical constraints and lava tubes, he has learned that a general idea on the depth of a tube can be gotten, but it is not precise enough. Boring needs to be done to provide precise confirmation. 7. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Commissioner Gaffney said he would like to see a grant writer on the department’s staff and requested the next agenda have an item to talk about making a recommendation to the Council on staffing, especially for a grant writer. There should be someone pursuing major federal funding sources and communicating regularly with congressional representatives on funding. 8. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Bennett announced the next meeting on August 28, 2019, in Kona. The commission recessed from 10:39 a.m. to 10:50 a.m. 9. TRAINING BY CORPORATION COUNSEL ON THE SUNSHINE LAW AND GUIDELINES ON HANDLING APPEALS Ms. Mellon-Lacey provided four handouts to the commissioners: printouts of a slides presentation on “Administrative Hearings” and “The Sunshine Law and Ethics,” a summary version of Robert’s Rules of Order, and the Commission’s Rules of Practice and Procedure. She presented a PowerPoint presentation on administrative hearings, and the commissioners then asked questions and discussed the training. 10. ADJOURNMENT Motion, second, and vote: Vice Chair Olson moved to adjourn, Commissioner Gaffney seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. The meeting adjourned at 11:43 a.m. Respectfully submitted: ______________________________________ Mary E. Fujio, Secretary 7