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Home My WebLink About2013-08-28 Minutes Environmental Management CommissionENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION August 28, 2013 County of Hawaii Aupunl Center Conference Room., 101 Pauahi Street, Hilo, HI COMMISSIONERS ALSO PRESENT: e Lee PRESENT: Arlen �eLima John. Dill Christine Dochin Bruce Lim Kyle Ginoza Trina N -Milo Noe Kalii Thom Dandle Nancy Cook Lauer Sherm Warner Kerri Marks Tim Rees EXCUSED: STAFF: BJ Leithead Todd, Director Amy Self, Deputy Corp. Counsel Sharron Henry, Secretary Greg Goodale, Linda Peters, RecyclingCoordinati CommissionChris Chin -Chance, Recycling Specialist III 1. CALL TO ORDER & ANNOUNCEMENTS: to order at 9:08 a.m. She welcomed Kyle Ginoza, Maui County Director of die Department of Environmental Management, and introduced Amy Self as the newly assigned Corporation Counsel for the Commission. 2. APPROVAL Commissioner .1 li Warner ,. A 1 `21- to approve the 0minutes Commissioner Tho t Randle w i. Ee the motion. Motion unanimously members present: Lee, Dill, Lim, Nahm-Mijo, Randle and Warner voting. yes. 4. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON ITEMS LISTED N AGENDA: A: Tim Rees offered the following comments on the efforts to procure waste to energy • The county needs help from the best engineers and the technologies should be well researched before procurement begins. • A Request for Information (R -FI) is needed before a Request for Proposal (RFI) is released. • Make sure that the technology being submitted has a proven track record. • Make the facility adaptable for the future as technologies/waste streams change. • Look at doing a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF) in 'Nest Hawaii. • Cost is crucial. He offered the following comments on the Sort Station; • It is not a Sort Station. The wrong equipment is being used for a Materials Recovery Facility (MRF). • Employees are doing a good job with the equipment they have to work with. • Is the quality of the product worth the cost to get such a small benefit from utilizing the Sort Station? The county needs to promote pre-sorting by paying residents for all recyclables. 5.N ENCE TS S USSI< Na ® Director's Report (attached to original minutes): Waste Reduction Technology Director Leithead Tadd introduced Director Ginoza and asked that he share Maui's efforts in obtaining a waste reduction technology as they recently successfully selected a vendor and are currently negotiating a contract. • Maui currently has a pre-sort recycling program with a 40% diversion rate and a diversion rate goal of ba%. • In March 2012. a Request for (qualifications (RFQ) was issued and 100+ inquiries were received. • In November 2012, a Design -Build -Finance -Operate RFP was issued with responses due January 31, 2013. It was open-ended and did not request electricity as the only output. • Maui '• the bidders1 provide proof •facilities,a operation i r' period of 3 years. • March, 2013, a vendor was chosen and currently they are in the contract negotiation stage. • If the primary output was to be electricity, the companies needed a firni baseload power commitment from ! to be included in their financing component. • Without that commitment from. the utility, the selected vendor changed the output from electricity to refuse derived fuel (RDF). The RDF process uses municipal solid waste, fats, oils / greases, green •'coalnatural• !'. as • byproduct also. It is up to the contractor• an end-userfor i • vendor• Gasification technology is viable. In a controlled air environment, matter is broken into elemental components, refined and snygas fuel is made. There is an 80-90% waste diversion but no guarantee that the electricity can be sold to the utility. • Maui, County's participation is only scaling the municipal solid waste (MSW) as it comes in. Once scaled, it is taken to the vendor's facility which is located adjacent to the landfill. ! from operating ! • The vendor pays the county a tipping fee for the residual inert material that is landfilled. • One end-user of the RDF could be the Maui Sugar Mill as it provides 10% of Maui's electricity and currently uses coal fuel_ Modification of the mill's air permits would be required. • Maui accepts green waste at $30/ton from commercial operators and charges $80/ton for sludge disposal. • It was noted that the cost of a T facility for the frig Island will be higher because Maui collects 450 tons of waste per day to Fast I-Iawai`i's 20€1 tons/day. Sort StationUpdate monthly- With regards to Commissioner Randle's request for Operating Costs of the Sort Station on a monthly basis, the Director indicated the costs are tracked and inputted on an annual basis so • being ablei track equipment and labor costs in a different way to provide costs on a monthly basis. Volcano/Glenwood Transfer Station Upgrades 0 Funds have been allocated. ConstructionA request for design/build is going out with Volcano being first and Glenwood second. • to start this winter. Commission Member District Reports - includes information obtained from meetings with council members and district residents since the last commission meeting. District 2 - Commissioner Randle met with Council Chair Yoshimoto who requested he be kept up- to-date on the solid waste issues. District • — Commissioner Lee asked about the timeline forPdhala Wastewater Treatment Plant and was informed that the plant constructionwould be out • bid in the future. District 3 - Commissioner N -Mijo met with Councilmember Onishi who also requested updates on solidwasteissues. He requested that the commission consider recommending exemption from the restriction of hauling trash to the two county landfills to the Council. SWI3 Chief Goodale spoke of the possible need to bring West Hawai' i trash to the South Hilo 'Sanitary Landfill as work begins on a new cell. The faster the county can put down the "select waste" layer on the new cell, the less time will be spent working in two cells simultaneously and operating costs will be reduced. Additional cost is incurred, both in equipment and labor, when working in two cells at the same time. Currently the Hawaii County Code identifies which transfer station solid waste can be taken to which landfill. It was noted it would be preferable for Councilmember Cnishi to initiate Cade amendment bill and submit it to the commission for review/comment. Goodale said that he had been asked by Councilman. 4nishi to provide what the costs were to the county for working two areas at the same time. As soon as the, conimission receives the bill amendment, it will be agendized. he So 1 `I was requestedto provide THE commissionito-Cite1 work in the two cells at the same time. r 1 BUSINESS Update on efforts to procure a Waste To Energy (WTE) facility - The department will continue doing research which will include the review Maui County's recent Waste to Energy (WTE) RFP as Director Ginoza furnished the department with all documents used for their RFI and r - If enough pertinent information can be obtained from the Maui County RFI, vendor responses, and other sources, the Director is not inclined to do an RFI but is not ruling it out. - Kauai is also considering R !their efforts,available, beincludedin theDirector's disincentive for vendors will be that Hawai'i County has another landfillcounty's solid waste when the SHSL closes so we are not in a critical situation whichallows financially responsible !. at the bids. Updateon Department of Environmentalr ° •`1 1; of Water Supply1'} billing efforts We have DWSi agreement and are looking at implementation next year after software integration has been completed. Referral of Resolution No.1 1.1111.'' I1 recommendations of Environmental 1agement Commission - Cominissioner Warner said that the resolution presupposes the best solution without going through an evaluation of alternatives. He feels there should be a process. The commissioners also were concerned about the solution limitations in the resolution. After discussing the content of the resolution andnoting that it appeared omakeassumptions and did notprovideenoughs It back- up information 1.A; Commissioner Warnermade a motion no support for legislation. 1 seconded the motion and motion passed u 11 -.I 1 ! members present- 11 I U 1 Randle and Warner) aing yes. Following further discussion and ! of the intentof the wording of the motion, his motion and li withdrew his second. Commissioner Warner then made the mo11 :.o make no recommendation 1 1? this resolution, positive or negative. 1 1 t 1 the motion ai d it passed unanimously members b1i 11Randle and voting Discussion of the decision-making process and timeline on re-evaluation of the County solid waste programs and directions The Director stated that she continues to do research through: • Telephone meetings with the Environmental Management Directors of all Hawai"i counties on an every other month basis. • Information provided by waste technology companies that are contacting the Department. Questions she continues to ask are "do you have a plant`" and "is municipal solid waste your feedstock?" • Review of current status of available technologies. Presentation on the Composting Process — Referred to next meeting 8. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS - Sewer Connection Waiver/Exemption Policy Update to include expected date of implementation. - Sunshine Law Presentation r 1tltCounsel 9. MEETING ANNOUNCEMENTS • September 25 WHCC Community Meeting Hale, Bldg. G, Kailua-Kona, HI • October 30 Aupuni Center Conference Room, • November 27 WHCC Community Meeting Hale, M e Commissioner• December No meeting :. 1'E1 i made a motion to adjourn. ! !11 1 ! by )i1 s! 1' Warner and it passed unanimously.o' f 1 ! ;1 !m-Mijo withdrew her motion l adjourn and Warner ii Yrew the second. Warner mi 1I I, to recess the meeting+ and Randall seconded F' motion with members present:;o! Randle and Warner1 fr yes. The meeting was recessed at 11:�10 1 111 the ' I I f I1 t ! # proceeded to the Hilo TreatmentWastewater Plant r ! #F ll III 11111pir", 1111-11111 lip 111111111111 1111pill I I !` ; '1 �1 ` 11; 4 Dora Beek, Wastewater Division Chief, provided a tour of the site (see original minutes for map and tour details). The following information was discussed as she led the group to different areas of the :. 1. Collection System & Sewerage Pump Station (SPS) on East Side: - 90 total miles of gravity main of which 60% resides in ]Hilo Town. Sewer Mains in Hilo were built as early as the 1900's.. - Seven (7) sewage pump stations pump wastewater into which ultimately flow into the HJTP. 2. HWWTP- Goal is to decrease the amount . disposal ocean volume- Built in 1990 and designed as a 5 million gallons per day (MGD) WWTP. - Current inflow •! • i` processing capacity. treatment- Considered a Secondary Treatment Plant which meets State DOH permit discharge requirements. Discharge permit is based on the Federal Clean Water Act. - Primary treatment process reduces suspended solids and secondary treatment process reduces the organics. - Final disinfection + + from Adminto the shoreline where it travels an additional % miles to ocean outfall. 3. HWWTP + - Houses Storekeeper, perator Supervisors, collection crew, mechanics and electricians. - Laboratory operated by the Sanitary Chemists who conducts tests such as BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand), TSS (Total Suspended Solids), Turbidity, total residual chlorine and other tests required under the DOH discharge pen -nit. . 2 Phase Treatment Process — Liquids and Solids Handling: - Pretreatment of raw sewage and septage from haulers is done at Headworks Section.. - Headworks Section is comprised of the bar screens, aerated grit tanks and pre -aeration tanks. - Primary treatment removes suspended solids. - Secondary treatment is the biological decomposition of organic materials by naturally occurring microbes followed by clarification. - Solids Contact Channel - further biological decomposition of effluent received from the biotower wet well. - Secondary Clarifiers allow solids formed in the Solids Contact Channel to settle out before disinfection. - Disinfection reduces bacteria to acceptable levels per DDH permit, Disinfection takes place in the effluent line as the effluent travels by gravity to the outfall. ADJOURNMENT,11. Commissioner Nahm-Mijo made a motion to adjourn. Motion was seconded by Commissioner Warner. h- n passed unanimouslyand the meeting adjourned „n '9HARRON HENRY Environmental Management Secret FORMAT ARE IN BOLD PRINT (MOTIONS AND ITEMS REQU