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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2002-05-22 Enviromental Management Commission Minutes ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION MINUTES Wednesday, May 22, 2002 9:08 a.m. HawaiÒi County Council Room 25 Aupuni Street, Hilo, HawaiÒi 96720 PRESENTALSO PRESENT :Barbara Bell:Woody Muirhead, Brown & Caldwell Riley SmithTiffany Edwards, West HawaiÒi Today Sam KawamuraJohn Ross Hugh Ono STAFF Carolyn Witcher:Galen Kuba Mack AsatoLarry Capellas Luana JonesPeter Boucher David FrankelGerald Takase Kristen Griffiths EXCUSED Peter Martin CALL TO ORDER 1. Riley Smith called the meeting to order at 9:08 a.m. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF APRIL 24, 2002 MEETING 2. Barbara Bell moved to approve the minutes. Hugh Ono seconded the motion. Motion was unanimously carried. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON ITEMS LISTED ON AGENDA 3. There were no public comments. APPROVAL OF ADDENDUM AND/OR SUPPLEMENTAL AGENDA 4. There was no addendum to agenda. CORRESPONDENCE/REPORTS/DISCUSSION 5. DirectorÓs Report Galen Kuba provided a written report to the Commissioners. Councilman YagongÓs budget reduction proposal is on the Council agenda for May 28, 2002 at impacts that the Solid Waste Division cuts would have. The biggest one being the security service which will certainly affect transfer station operations. Through the efforts of Highway maintenance clean up and security at the transfer stations, we were able to keep public misconduct and commercial misuse to a minimum. The cuts would severely impact the progress that we are trying to make. Councilman Yagong is assuming that the revenue from the tipping fees at the landfill will stay constant even if you stop the security, but technically, if commercial haulers are going to the transfer stations instead of the landfill, then your revenue will drop. Another large line item is the Household Hazardous Waste Program. This program is basically twice a year in Hilo and Kona. If this program is cut, people would either store toxic chemicals and create a fire hazard or would dump them illegally in the ground and/or in the water. Barbara Bell stated that cutting the Green Waste Program has impacts of filling up the landfill more David Frankel moved that quickly since 30% of whatÓs going in East HawaiÒi is green waste. this Commission submit testimony to the Council opposing cuts in the Departments budget because of impacts it will have and the letter should explain why it is important the Department be fully funded. Hugh Ono seconded the motion. The letter should state that these cuts will be a burden on future generations. Although other Departments are important, recreational needs are less critical than basic health and safety needs. Would like to see Residential credit audit done. County pays the State of HawaiÒi a Disposal surcharge for every ton of refuse disposed of which is approximately $52,000 per year. Gerald Takase will check with the Department of Health on the interpretation of the law stating that the County can charge Motion was carried unanimously. 35 cents per ton to commercial haulers. The Food Waste Recycling Bill passed and there are concerns about applicability to the Big Island. The law allows DOH to set up exemptions for counties based on capacity to recycle food waste. A memo was sent stating that it should be island-wide and not by individual districts. There are a lot of implementation problems with this and it is going to cost a lot of money, which will inevitably be passed on to the consumer. Galen will keep track of this bill and work with DOH to insure that our interests are protected as far as the exemption program. The Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan will be available for review at all Big Island libraries, UH, DPW, MayorÓs Office, and the County website. The publishing a notice as to availability at these locations. Public meetings to be held in late June or Barbara Bell moved that public meetings should be held in Hilo, Kona and early July. Honokaa. David Frankel seconded the motion. Carolyn Witcher amended the motion to include Naalehu. Barbara Bell seconded the amendment. Will try to hold the public Motion was unanimously carried. meetings in the evening. Councilman Yagong and Councilman Tyler continue to object to the East HawaiÒi Regional Transfer Station. The County is currently doing the update to the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan and the regional transfer station would be a part of that plan. To pull something out was subversive to an overall comprehensive plan. The Commission feels this is a any necessary part of technology. With the landfill closure and the timeline of 2 to 3 years with no other technology in place, that was a logical decision. Councilman Tyler said he was going to have the staff look into trying to get rid of the $9.5 million CIP line item under Solid Waste Programs. Not sure if it has been accomplished or not. Just be CIP budget, that money does not necessarily become available on the program, but doesnÓt have money at this time. -2- Solid Waste Division ChiefÓs Report Larry Capellas provided a written report to the Commissioners. The Kauai County Recycling Coordinator will attend the next Commission meeting to exchange ideas. The Recycling Coordinator position has been advertised and the closing date is 5/28/02. Soon thereafter, applications will be reviewed and interview questions will be developed. An interview board will hopefully be holding interviews during the month of June. The Solid Waste Division is going through a process of permitting all transfer stations which is required by the Department of Health. They are 5 year permits. The paperwork has been turned in. Island-wide, our containers are switched 6,200 times per year which is a tremendous amount of wear and tear. Truck tractors that moved these trailers put on approximately 300,000 miles for island-wide operations. Wastewater Division ChiefÓs Report Peter Boucher provided a written report to the Commissioners. Woody Muirhead of Brown and Caldwell was present. He is the consultant helping the County with the toxicity reduction evaluation associated with the whole effluent toxicity tests at the Hilo Wastewater Treatment Plant. The test was described as collecting a male and female sea urchin. Take eggs from the female and sperm from the male. Mix them together in various concentrations of effluent from the treatment plant and also various concentrations of a known toxicant so you have some measure to determine whether or not it is toxic. Measure how many eggs are fertilized after an hour. Tests were showing signs of toxicity. Looked at 2 years of data to see if there are any variations in the treatment plant. Looked at 2 most obvious causes of toxicity in most municipal wastewater treatment plants: chlorine used for disinfection of effluent prior to discharge and ammonia which is contributed by human waste. Could not determine any correlation between the demonstrated toxicity in the test and those concentrations in the treatment plant. Cannot fi any correlation between toxicity in the test with anything that is occurring in the wastewater treatment plant. This is not a public health issue. It is simply a measure of toxicity for organisms. It is not a permit violation, but does require initiation of the toxicity reduction evaluation when toxicity is exhibited in the test. Concentrations would be 70-142 times greater in the treatment process. WWD will continue to have this work done to try to evaluate if there are problems and will report back to the Commission. Proposed Bill to Eliminate Sewer Connection Exemptions Proposed Bill Clarifies that it is the ownersÓ responsibility for the connections and also eliminates the exemptions. Clarifies that if it is a depth issue, that pump station would be required. Eliminates the three existing exemptions, those being the pre-1989 exemption, the gravity exemption, and the private extension exemptions, all of which the County has been repeatedly cited for by the State Department of Health. Codifies a provision for allowing extensions to connection requirements. WWD received EPA grants in the late 1980Ós and early 1990Ós to construct several wastewater treatment plants around the island. Associated with those grants were conditions. Among those conditions are that the County sewer certain areas. The private extension exemption has given indefinite exemption from certain people in critical areas -3- from connection which has caused potential violation of grant conditions and also has the unintended consequence of exempting a significant number of Hawaiian Homes properties from connection and payment requirements because of a secondary agreement that County of HawaiÒi has entered into with Hawaiian Home Lands for a right of entry through their property. Agreement was that they wouldnÓt be required to connect until all the Ðcritical areas of HiloÑ David Frankel were required to connect. Cost of connections range from $600 - $8000 per lot. moved that the Environmental Management Commission support this bill going to the Council with the exception that paragraph c be amended to change the criteria for granting the extensions using the variance standard rather than the prevailing estimates of cost. Carolyn Witcher seconded the motion. Motion was carried unanimo OLD BUSINESS 6. Volcano Transfer Station Î Container Donation (Including Corporation Counsel Evaluation) Corporation Counsel provided an opinion as requested. Letter from Kathy Garson stated that to try to accomplish what both parties want, the best thing to do is leave the bins within the ownership of the Community Association, but working through the County to provide space at the site to allow them to run this program. NEW BUSINESS 7. Discussion and Approval of Addendum to the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan Commission will have the last say before going to the Council. Will vote on it after the public meetings. Galen recommends that the Commission take the time to reserve consolidated comments until after the public meetings. David Frankel stated that the County cannot award the contract of the Request For Proposal before the EIS is done. Chapter 343 of the HawaiÒi Revised Statutes states that you cannot make any decisions prior to going through the Environmental Assessment EIS Process. If a contract is awarded to a particular contractor and it is contingent to the contractor doing an EIS, the County will have violated Chapter 343. Galen Kuba stated that the contract will be structured such that the EIS is part of the contract. Submit any comments to the Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan in writing. Meetings will be scheduled by the Department and will try to schedule meetings in the evening. Regional Transfer Station Galen will be going to the Council to be put on the Agenda for Dominic YagongÓs committee. Discussion and Approval of CommissionÓs Protocol and Procedures Since Commission is an advisory body to the Department, the Commission should go through Hugh Ono moved that Barbara BellÓs version of the the Department with any actions. document be retitled to Internal Guideline and filed. Sam Kawamura seconded the motion. Motion was carried unanimously. -4- FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Discussion on Kauai Solid Waste Facility Election of Officers ANNOUNCEMENTS 8. Wednesday, June 26, 2002, Kona MayorÓs Office Conference Room, 7 Room 103, Kailua-Kona, HawaiÒi 96740 Wednesday, July 24, 2002, 8:30 a.m. Î 12:00 p.m., Waimea Civic Center, 67-5189 Kamamalu Street, Kamuela, HawaiÒi 96743. Wednesday, August 28, 2002, 9:00 a.m. Î 12:00 p.m., HawaiÒi Coun Aupuni Street, Room 201, Hilo, HawaiÒi 96720 ADJOURNMENT 9. Hugh Ono moved to adjourn the meeting. David Frankel seconded the motion. Motion was carried unanimously. Meeting was adjourned at 11:53 a.m. Minutes Respectfully Submitted by: KRISTEN GRIFFITHS Interim Environmental Management Secretary -5-