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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020-05-27 Meeting Minutes ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAIʻI MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, May 27, 2020 9:26 a.m. to 11:26 a.m. (online meeting via Zoom video conferencing) Commissioners present: Justin Pequeño, Chair Georjean Adams John Burns Melissa Cardwell Dee Fulton Rick Gaffney Staff present: Diana Mellon-Lacey, Deputy Corporation Counsel Mary Fujio, Secretary Others present: Jerome Warren, Sandra Demoruelle, Councilmember Tim Richards, Lee McIntosh, and others. 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Pequeño called the meeting to order at 9:26 a.m. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF FEBRUARY 26, 2020 Motion and second: Commissioner Adams moved to approve the minutes, but with a correction. Commissioner Gaffney seconded the motion. Discussion: Commissioner Adams said a correction was needed on page 8, the third bullet point from the top, regarding the Master Recycler Program. The wording should be corrected to reflect that the program does not yet exist but is under development. Motion, second, and vote: Commissioner Adams moved to approve the minutes with the correction, Commissioner Gaffney seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. 3. STATEMENT FROM THE CHAIR Chair Pequeño thanked everyone for participating in the commission’s first virtual meeting. Good sources to keep updated on the coronavirus are the County’s website and Vibrant Hawaiʻi, which has an excellent repository of sources and informa?on. A lot has happened since the commission’s last meeting, and he is excited for them to be resuming. 4. PUBLIC STATEMENTS ON ITEMS ON THE AGENDA Jerome Warren: He was participating using his home telephone. His commissioner is 1 Lee McIntosh, who is a friend and neighbor. However, his attempts to discuss the Nāālehu ʻ 2 sewer project have been brushed off. OKK has also brushed off his attempts to discuss it. OKK is a political organization that needs a big sewer plant to achieve their agenda. However, they are keeping their plans secret. He is also friends and neighbors with another person who is infinitely more qualified than Commissioner McIntosh. However, she is not an OKK member. She and he are both in the phone book, but they are ignored by everybody. All commissioners must consider the integrity of the commission as a body. Councilmember Tim Richards: He said he just wanted to let them know he was there to listen and observe. 5. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Continued discussion on alternative uses for waste (i.e., waste-to-energy, reclaimed water, etc.) Commissioner Adams said she had requested BioEnergy Hawaiʻi to make a presenta?on to them, but they have been too busy. In the future they may be willing to do so, but right now they do not want to come before the commission. Commissioner Cardwell spoke about how she is 100% against incinerators, and they should be taken off the table. She attended a presentation on it and has been reading articles, and they absolutely should not be considered. If the goal is to move towards zero waste, the amount of trash we produce needs to be decreased. She does not want incineration to be pursued any more, as it is absurd. Commissioner Adams said the concept of incineration gets used too broadly, and it can be a temporary option to deal with high energy valued waste. There are other technologies out there, and she will be sending them background on some of the different possibilities. Also, the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, in working on the Solid Waste Management Plan, recommended renegotiation of the contract with Waste Management, because they are in the same process as H-Power. They get paid by the ton, so when the trash goes down they make 1 Note: Mr. McIntosh attended the meeting as a member of the public, as he had not yet taken his oath of office. 2 O Kaū Kʻākou. 2 less money. A key recommendation in the Solid Waste Management Plan is to get out of that mode and instead work with Waste Management to come up with better ways to manage waste or turn it into resources. She would like the commissioners to think broadly and not just consider anything at high temperatures incineration. Commissioner Burns asked Commissioner Cardwell for clarification on the term incineration, and she responded that she includes pyrolysis and things like that in the term. At the presentation she attended, she learned none of these methods are good. Commissioner Burns said he was concerned about a blanket removal of discussion of all forms of potential gasification. Researchers are working on developing methodology that could be extremely clean in the future. Commissioner Cardwell said many people have been trying to grow their own food lately, which should be supported. She is concerned that some of the greenwaste facilities have been shut down during the pandemic. Commissioner Gaffney said DEM has been having staffing issues, but the primary greenwaste processing facility at Puʻuanahulu is open, functioning, and has massive piles of processed greenwaste available to citizens right now. Commissioner Cardwell said the waste composition study done years ago showed that 33% of the county’s waste is organic, which is a huge chunk. She would like to know the status of the composting facility that is to be built, as she has several questions about it. Commissioner Adams agreed that because the volume of organic waste is high, it should be focused on. A collection system is needed, and there are other issues. Chair Pequeño asked Councilmember Tim Richards, who was present, if he had information for them. Councilmember Richards said he has been informed the percentage of organic waste is closer to 50%. If half the waste stream were removed, it would have a great impact on the landfill. He likes the direction and tone of the commission’s conversation. Chair Pequeño said they could benefit from further discussion and research on incineration, reclamation of energy, and the capacity of the landfill. Commissioner Cardwell said there needs to be a shift in the current structure of dealing with waste—that if there is less waste, there is less money. Very little money was given for the zero waste plan written in 2009. If they are serious about moving to zero waste, funding has to be found. She wants clarification from the director about the solid waste fund and the contract with Business Services Hawaiʻi. She was unsure whether the commission had ever followed up 3 on the letter they were to send to the County Council about the recycling budget. 3 Note: On March 23, 2020, the commission sent a letter to Council Chair Aaron Chung, urging the Council to take measures to protect and enhance the County’s recycling budget. 3 Chair Pequeño explained that Director Kucharski and Deputy Director Noda had to meet with the mayor this morning, but the director did provide him some informal updates. He is hopeful they can delve deeper into this at the June meeting. Commissioner Gaffney wanted to emphasize the importance of organic material and compost on the Big Island, as it is young and made primarily of lava rock rather than soil. Composted materials are essential to successful gardening for those living in rocky areas. Multiple composting sites are needed in the long term so people can travel reasonable distances to acquire the materials essential for them to garden. Commissioner Fulton asked if Councilmember Richards could comment on this. Councilmember Richards said he is supportive and likes what he is hearing, but the budget situation is terrible right now and won’t get better soon. These are the kinds of ideas, however, he wants the commission to talk about. He would like them to help him flesh out these ideas going forward, but the money to accomplish things won’t happen this year. He is open to conversations with commissioners. Commissioner Fulton asked if the Council has resources to explore public-private partnerships and alternative sources of funding so the county doesn’t always have to take on more debt. Councilmember Richards said the short answer is no. He is hoping that through the CARES Act some assistance will be provided on infrastructure. However, he would like the commission to come up with ideas on alternative sources of funding and help him flesh them out. Commissioner Cardwell said that regarding mulch, it might be good if people had to pay a small fee for it. A fee might help decrease the cost of people having to haul mulch far distances, as she supports the idea of having multiple composting facilities. Commissioner Adams said there are projects out there for distributed compost collection systems, to bring them closer to people and cut out the transportation cost, and perhaps someone could touch base with Zero Waste and Recycle Hawaiʻi to make a presentation. Chair Pequeño said he would make a note of that and would keep this agenda item for the next meeting. 6. NEW BUSINESS a. Discussion on U.S. Supreme Court ruling on County of Maui vs. Hawaiʻi Wildlife Fund and its potential impacts on the County of Hawaiʻi. Chair Pequeño noted the commissioners received a letter from Kona Waterkeeper written by Dr. Rick Bennett regarding the ruling, and also that a letter to the editor of the Star 4 Advertiser was written by a Kona resident who said the County of Hawaiʻi’s plants have similar operations to the Lahaina plant. Commissioner Gaffney said the Supreme Court’s decision is a huge topic being discussed throughout the state. The bottom line is that Maui County has essentially been told they can no longer use groundwater as a dumping point because of its clear connection to the ocean. It is a violation of the Clean Water Act to dump barely treated sewage into the groundwater. The ruling has a direct impact here, because the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant is putting 1.8 million gallons per day into an open pit which is basically a lava tube that is .6 of a mile from Honokōhau Harbor. The USGS and others put tracers in the sump behind the Kealakehe Police Station, and it is clear the water is moving directly under the ocean. There are also other places on our island that likely have similar violations of the Clean Water Act. The Honokaʻa sewage plant uses injection wells less than a half mile from the ocean, which is a clear violation. There are also private examples, such as the Mauna Lani Resort, which uses injection wells close to the ocean. This is a major issue for the commission and for the Environmental Management Department. It is his strong hope that Hawaiʻi County will not take the same attitude as Maui County, which argued that it was okay to do what they were doing in Lahaina despite it being pointed out as wrong at various court levels. It is clear that what Hawaiʻi County is doing is wrong, but the county could decide to do what Maui County did, which is to continue to fight it. This would be wrong in several ways. It would be a violation of the public trust if our elected officials were to allow what is a clear violation of the Clean Water Act to continue. It would also be a clear violation of the Clean Water Act itself, and therefore potentially very expensive for the county to continue to do. Lastly, it is just flat wrong. It is not pono to be taking water resources, polluting them, and pumping them into the ocean. For all these reasons, it is incumbent on the commission to push very hard on the county, elected representatives, mayor, and administration to do the right thing and proceed to solutions rather than argue that the law does not need to be followed because the county is not doing what Maui was doing, or because the Ninth Circuit has not been heard from regarding the solution to the Supreme Court’s ruling. It is time for this to be taken on. The commissioners discussed what approach to take to put pressure on the county. Commissioner Gaffney felt a multi-pronged approach was needed. The commissioners should communicate with their respective councilmembers, with DEM, and with the administration, and they should get the word out to the public to educate them on why it is wrong and has to be fixed. The common thing for the county to do is hire a consulting firm like Brown and Caldwell and ask them to come up with solutions. However, this has led the county to the current situation with the Pāhala and Nāālehu treatment plantsʻ, and it may not be the best solution. The county has not seemed to grasp the opportunities presented by public-private partnerships. This is a solution-oriented presentation that needs to be made to the County Council and administration continuously so that the county can get to the point where they can provide reclaimed water, upgrade it to the point where it is legal for reuse, and create the necessary distribution lines. Motion and second: Commissioner Fulton moved that a letter be sent to Councilmember Richards and the County Council, requesting they invite private entities in to 5 discuss a public-private partnership for wastewater treatment at the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant. Commissioner Adams seconded the motion. Discussion: Commissioner Gaffney said what they want the Council to do is look into creating recycled/reclaimed water. The county is already managing wastewater treatment, but what is needed is a legally usable reclaimed water resource. Commissioner Burns said it is also important to make known the various options that are available. For instance, going down the path of an NPDES permit is an option. It would be good for people to be aware of the numerous complications that lie in the permit system. NPDES is designed to monitor point sources of discharge, which is not what the county has. This is arguably what led to the Supreme Court case, which had to address this unique scenario where waste leaks permeate through porous basalt substrate and into the ocean through submarine groundwater discharges. While there are some mechanisms in place to deal with this, they are not adequately designed for our situation. It would be helpful to seek a public- private partnership or some mechanism where you remove the actions that are in violation. So if the county were recycling the water, or for all intents and purposes avoiding injecting the waste, whereas now we are using a mechanism that is exceptionally difficult to monitor for a permit, the county would be covering all bases but not injecting the waste into the groundwater. It is a knee-jerk reaction to think you just need permits and are good to go. That will always be problematic, as there are not many monitoring mechanisms designed for the type of water systems we have in Hawaiʻi. Commissioner Adams said the county needs a general water management plan. Holistically the bottom line is zero waste, whether it is liquid or solid waste. Reusing the water and keeping it clean enough for appropriate use, with a price that is affordable, is the goal. Chair Pequeño said there is a water plan, but it is only for drinking water. The issue of a plan for reclaimed water is complicated and a gray area. Once DEM starts distributing reclaimed water as planned, then it will be a supplier of water and there is an opportunity to overlap or connect with the Department of Water Supply, which does not at this time have reclaimed water in their purview. Commissioner Burns said the island has an extremely complex hydrological system. The ʻIke Wai Project has taken many samples and has found that it is very difficult to trace the movement of water because of the nature of the island and the interaction between fresh and salt water. The difficulty of an NPDES permit is partly why there aren’t more of them. There should be a direct focus on how to get around the violation of the legal rule without having to rely on permits that are not designed to detect and trace the outflow. Something creative is needed, but it needs to be clear that monitoring is extremely difficult, so just eliminating the problem is going to be the best approach. Chair Pequeño felt the commission’s first attempt should be with DEM, and from there send a letter through Director Kucharski to the Council, asking for resources and support in setting up a plan. 6 Commissioner Gaffney agreed, as the commission is basically set up to provide advice to both the Council and the administration. The commission’s outreach should be to both the administration and Council in equal shares. Sending the letter through the director would formalize their approach to the administration, and then sending it to the chair of the Agriculture, Water, Energy, and Environmental Management Committee would formalize it as a recommendation from them to the Council. The commissioners decided on sending a letter simultaneously to the director and Council rather than one before the other, in order to speed up the process. Commissioner Gaffney said his experience since being on the commission is that DEM is not thinking about anything other than continuing the process they’re undertaking. The latest changes to the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant continue to show the sump being used in perpetuity, which is wrong. There is no attempt to do anything other than that. Numerous attempts have been made to get DEM to reach out to private operators here who have indicated an interest in assisting the county with wastewater management, but nothing has happened. The commission should approach the Council and administration on this matter and start the ball rolling. Roy Takemoto, the managing director, has been assigned the development of a water reuse plan but has been busy with the pandemic and cleaning up from the eruption. Research and Development should also be part of the process, but they are similarly busy and playing catch-up. However, this issue is a priority of the community and in particular, a priority of the commission. Chair Pequeño said Director Kucharski did indicate that the design of the Kealakehe R-1 upgrade is on hold pending the decision of the Supreme Court. However, he agrees that a letter to both the director and Council simultaneously would be effective. The others agreed. Chair Pequeño asked if Commissioner Fulton could withdraw and revise her motion. Motion revised, seconded, and vote: Commissioner Fulton revised her motion such that they send the letter simultaneously to Director Kucharski and the County Council. Commissioner Cardwell seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. The commissioners discussed who would draft the letter. Motion, second, and vote: Commissioner Adams moved to establish a subcommittee consisting of Chair Pequeño and Commissioners Gaffney and Fulton to draft the letter. Commissioner Cardwell seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. Chair Pequeño said the subcommittee will report back at the next meeting. He also suggested the commissioners check out the Sierra Club’s Facebook page, as it has a lot of information on the case and includes presentations by attorneys. 7 b. Discussion on possible funding mechanisms for the Solid Waste Division to improve the quality of services. Commissioner Adams recommended the commissioners peruse the Solid Waste Advisory Committee’s recommendations in the Solid Waste Management Plan. Right now, DEM makes money from the tipping fees and some from the General Fund and property tax. The ideal would be to have a good mechanism to use financial incentive to reduce waste. Most citizens have no clue how much it really costs to dispose of the waste they generate. Commissioner Cardwell said she would like to have a discussion on the possibility of having a tourism tax or some way to make money from the trash generated by the tourism industry. It may be worth exploring. Commissioner Pequeño said that could be a part of this agenda item, which he would table to the next meeting since they needed Director Kucharski to be present. c. Discussion on the recommendations in the draft 2019 Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan Update. Commissioner Adams said the Solid Waste Advisory Committee had 82 recommendations in the SWMP. One of the reasons she wanted to be a commissioner is to hold DEM’s feet to the fire to follow through on the recommendations. Director Kucharski was to report to them on the status of following the recommendations. Commissioner Cardwell said there has been a lot more trash on the road lately, which is why she is in support of curbside pick-up. Although it would be difficult in a lot of places, it should work in Hawaiian Paradise Park, which is a grid, and it would drastically reduce the amount of road trash. Commissioner Adams said DEM is facing staffing challenges in having enough people to just keep the transfer stations open. The SWAC did talk about curbside collection and pay-as- you-throw, both of which have various challenges. The idea is that trash and recycling need to be made very easy. Chair Pequeño said they would table this item until their next meeting, when Director Kucharski could be present. 7. REPORTS/CORRESPONDENCE Chair Pequeño said Director Kucharski had sent him informal updates since he couldn’t attend the meeting, so he would read them off. (1) Status of the Pāhala and Nāālehu Wastewater Treatment Plantsʻ: The Pāhala EA FONSI is final, and work is commencing on the land purchase and AOC 8 modifications due to State Historic Preservation Division and other delays. The Nāālehu EA is in progress. ʻ At this time, Chair Pequeño allowed Sandra Demoruelle to testify on this agenda item. Ms. Demoruelle: She has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the adequacy of the environmental assessment and the finding of no significant impact. The county ignored over 900 pages of comments, which are in a whole separate volume. None of the information provided in the EA is substantiated by scientific information. The waste flow volume of 190,000 gallons is pulled out of the air with nothing to substantiate it. She is now in litigation and settlement negotiations so cannot talk about it, but she wants them to know both projects are under litigation. She is suing the EPA for the lack of an EIS provided under NEPA. If need be, she will file under the state if that is what is required to force the county directly to do an adequate environmental review. Anyone who looks at this can see for themselves it is highly controversial as to flow volume and flooding in the area, and as to whether an industrial wastewater treatment plant is even needed. The septic conversion for the third project, for the Pāhala seniors, went for $410,000. Now they have almost $10 million available just for the design of the Nāālehu project. She would point to the CIP budget and enormous numbers ʻ there just for design. These folks are going crazy with spending money on Brown and Caldwell, and they need to be stopped. That is why she has filed suit. Commissioner Cardwell asked Ms. Demoruelle for clarification on whether she had filed a lawsuit regarding both plants. Ms. Demoruelle said yes, because what triggers the NEPA was the grant that had been given by EPA, which is still in effect. The grant was awarded for one project, the Nāālehu and Pāhala Villages Large Capacity Cesspool Conversion Project. In 2011 it ʻ got divided into two projects, and somewhere along the line it got changed from doing a simple septic conversion to expensive industrial capacity wastewater treatment plants. She withdrew her original lawsuit as it was premature. In May 2019 the EPA and county changed the grant over from Nāālehu to Pāhala, changing coursesʻ again. That is the nature of the lawsuit, which anyone can look up online. Chair Pequeño continued with Director Kucharski’s informal updates. (2) Status of the Kealakehe Wastewater Treatment Plant R-1 Upgrade Project: The design is on hold pending the Supreme Court decision and its impact. The R-1 plant has an additional design to expand recycle quantity from Qfrom 1.8 mgd R to 3.6 mgd. There is a design contract being reestablished for the North and South Q distribution pipelines. The EIS effort is ongoing. The Archeological R Inventory Survey was completed and submitted to SHPD on May 20, 2020, and SHPD is expected to take potentially one year to review and accept the AIS. The EIS is to be completed three months after SHPD approval of the AIS. Commissioner Fulton said that although the laterals that feed into the Aliʻi Drive sewer line are technically not the purview of the county, they can be a source of leaks, infiltration, and exfiltration. There is a significant algae bloom going on in Kailua Bay, and there is an aerial 9 photo taken by a drone that captures the scope of how large the algae bloom is. Though there may be other contributors to the algae bloom, there is a high index of suspicion that one of the laterals feeding into the King Kamehameha Hotel wet well needs repair. It can be seen that the quality of the bay is significantly impaired. She would love to have more research done to determine the sources of the nitrogen feeding into the bay and to confirm whether a wastewater source is contributing to the bloom. (3) Status of sewer inflow and infiltration on Aliʻi Drive: The department is investigating potential I&I from connected facilities to the county’s collection system. Modification to the County Code can allow the Wastewater Division to require testing and repair of private collection system failures. (4) Status of implementation of the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan: The plan is not yet finalized, and the implementation of the recommendations being reviewed will not commence before the plan has been finalized and funding made available. Chair Pequeño asked Commissioner Adams if it was correct that funding will be requested and attached to specific recommendation items, and she said yes. She explained that the public comment period is closed, and there is a link to the plan on DEM’s website. 8. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Chair Pequeño told the commissioners to email him and the secretary if they had any items they wanted on the agenda. Ms. Mellon-Lacey pointed out that one of the tasks of the commission is to hear any appeals of the director’s decisions. These may start to happen, because notice of connection letters have gone out to people in Lono Kona to connect to the new sewer line. Some of them are asking for exemptions or objecting because of the high cost or for other reasons, so there may be appeals that get referred to the commission. As the commission has not dealt with an appeal and there are several new commissioners, she would like to do another training soon. Chair Pequeño said that was a great suggestion. Commissioner Cardwell said she wanted to hear from the director on the status of the composting facility, as she read it was supposed to be finished by the end of the year. Commissioner Fulton wanted to hear about the status of the coronavirus in wastewater, though it may not be in their purview. 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Pequeño announced that the next meeting is June 24, 2020, at a location to be determined or online. 10 10. ADJOURNMENT Motion, second, and vote: Commissioner Cardwell moved to adjourn, Commissioner Fulton seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. The meeting adjourned at 11:26 a.m. Respectfully submitted: Mary E. Fujio, Secretary (with her signature)