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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-05-23 Meeting Minutes (EMC) ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT COMMISSION COUNTY OF HAWAIʻI MEETING MINUTES Wednesday, May 23, 2018 9:12 a.m. to 10:45 a.m. West Hawaiʻi Civic Center, Building G 74-5044 Ane Keohokalole Highway Kaila-Kona, Hawaiʻi Commissioners present: Richard Bennett, Ph.D., Chair Jon Olson, Vice Chair James Fritz Luana Neff Rick Gaffney Staff present: William Kucharski, Director Diane Noda, Deputy Director Keyra Wong, Deputy Corporation Counsel Mary Fujio, Secretary Also present: Several members of the public 1. CALL TO ORDER Chair Bennett called the meeting to order and expressed, on behalf of the Commission, compassion and sympathy for their friends in Puna who are undergoing the tragedy of the current volcano eruption and loss of homes due to lava. 2. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF APRIL 25, 2018 Commissioner Gaffney said several corrections were needed in the section where he introduced himself: - Where it says, “He now has concerns about Honokōhau Harbor,” it should say that his concerns are about the ocean adjacent to Honokōhau Harbor. - In the same sentence, where it says “categorized as AA water,” it should say “categorized as class AA.” - Where it says he has “an oceanography fellowship from the University of Rhode Island,” it should say “he won a fellowship from the University of Rhode Island Graduate School of Oceanography.” He also said that on page 4, “Mahu Kona” should be one word. Vice Chair Olson pointed out that by way of protocol, someone needed to move to approve the minutes prior to discussing what changes needed to be made. Chair Bennett asked if there was a motion to approve the minutes as amended. Motion and vote: Vice Chair Olson moved to approve the minutes as corrected, Commissioner Gaffney seconded the motion, and all commissioners present voted aye. 3. STATEMENTS FROM THE PUBLIC ON AGENDA ITEMS One member of the public had signed up to testify: Sandra Demoruelle. She provided copies of her testimony, along with several attachments, to the Commission. Ms. Demoruelle introduced her husband, Joseph, and said they used to run the Nāālehu ʻ Theatre. Yesterday she testified at the Council meeting about the budget, which she stated is way out of line. $41 million to build two wastewater treatment plants is probably underestimating what it will cost. She has filed a lawsuit against the EPA, which is included with the testimony she submitted. She would argue that there has been virtually no public participation in deciding on a wastewater treatment plant for Nāālehu. As the EMC has heard ʻ many times from Jerry Warren, it was agreed back in 2007 to convert the LCCs. At some point in 2012, it showed up in the budget as two projects and is now actually three, as they turned the Pāhala systems over, and it only cost $430,000. Nāālehu has not hʻad genuine community participation since 2007, except for this past April. They are totally locked out of the process. She would point out that public participation during the EA review process benefits everyone and society as a whole, as it promotes democracy in action. How can an agency such as DEM look at appropriate alternatives and optimize decision-making if they don’t, from the beginning, look at all possible alternatives within the community? Both the council and the legislature have recognized the need to engage with the community. The Kaū CDP requires USDA Rural ʻ Development to work with the community on infrastructure needs and help with getting grants and funding to find alternative means that are less expensive. The average house in Kaū ʻis only worth about $50,000, and the people can’t afford a $20 million treatment facility. The County should look at what the state has proposed in revising HAR 200.1 and engage meaningfully with individuals, early and often, throughout the environmental review process. It is not early, as there is already an AOC in place, one year before there was participation. 4. UNFINISHED BUSINESS a. Continued discussion regarding the composting of old lumber and whether borate degrades the compost quality. Director Kucharski reported that he directed the borate question to Gregory Goodale, DEM’s Solid Waste Division Chief, and his response was that treated lumber has biocides in it and is not allowed within the composting realm. Only untreated wood can be accepted. The chemicals in treated wood are generally biocides, designed to kill, and are therefore not currently accepted. What the County needs is a construction and demolition (C&D) landfill to take that type of material. Also, he said he erroneously stated at an earlier meeting that C&D facilities required a lined system. As a correction, this is only true if the system also accepts sanitary, non-construction waste. If it is limited to construction waste, it is not a full Subtitle D, double- lined collection system. Recommending a C&D facility should be addressed in the upcoming Integrated Solid Waste Management Plan, as it only makes sense for the island. He thanked the EMC for pushing the issue, as sometimes problems are looked at for so long they are not seen anymore. Chair Bennett said he does not see borate as a biocide, but more of an insecticide, and wondered whether he is missing something. He questions whether borax interferes with the composting microbiological process. Director Kucharski said borate is a subset of a biocide. Further study could be done on it, but his current information is that any treated wood is not allowed in the compost. Chair Bennett said he would do further research on it. Commissioner Gaffney asked Director Kucharski whether he understood correctly that if there is a separate landfill for construction waste, it would not have to be lined. Director Kucharski said it would not have to meet Subtitle D, double-lined leachate collection standards. Commissioner Gaffney said it seemed it should be lined, as it would be for disposal of poisons which could leach out. Director Kucharski said there is a list of what generally can and cannot go into a landfill. Currently, treated wood is not deemed hazardous. Commissioner Gaffney said it is important to remember that we are on an island, where waste will eventually get into the ocean. They need to err on the side of caution. Director Kucharski said a C&D facility would have to go through a full regulatory process. It would need to be permitted and meet DOH standards, which mimic the federal standards. They can always go above the standards, but not below. Chair Bennett said he would do some research on whether borax and borate are biocides. His gut tells him it’s the dose that makes the poison. b. Continued discussion on recommending that the Department of Environmental Management include educational components in its contracts. Chair Bennett said this agenda item was at Commissioner Osborne’s request; and as she is unable to be present today, it should be continued to the next meeting. He believes her interest is in ensuring that when contracts have a public component to them (such as contracts for recycling, composting, or greenwaste), the contractor is required to provide education to the community on the public component—for example, what is appropriate to recycle, what is greenwaste, etc. Director Kucharski said he does not read through every contract, but he knows that for DEM’s recycling programs, the reuse centers are required to have an education and public outreach program. DEM has a webpage which has educational components on recycling, HI-5, and hazardous waste, and press releases are also issued. He is not aware of a formal education program that encompasses all of the programs together. In December they will need to have an educational program ready for the polystyrene ban that will come into effect in July 2019. Commissioner Osborne had expressed concerns about the HER (Hawaiian Earth Recycling) contract, which is currently being renegotiated. That contract does still have an education component within it. HER has an absolute requirement to have an education program done as part of the contract. Commissioner Neff asked if there was an implementation process for the education in the HER contract: who is educating, where, what, and why. Director Kucharski said that as he understands it, the contract requires that an education process and program be produced by HER. It will be proved successful if the compost is taken and used. If the compost is not taken, there is a penalty and it means the education program was not successful. So far there has been no problem getting rid of the material—the biggest complaint is there is not enough of it. However, when budgets are cut, one of the first things that goes is education. Chair Bennett said he will call Commissioner Osborne to update her on this conversation, and the matter will be continued to the next meeting in case she has some specifics she wants to discuss. Commissioner Gaffney said he believed there could be federal grants to help fund the educational aspects. If DEM had a staff person focused on education for everything the department does, and that staff person was funded through EPA monies, a budget cut would not cut out the education. Director Kucharski said they do look for grants and will redouble their efforts. They suffer from not having a grant writer, which is a specific skill. They have searched within the County for someone to write grants, but it has been hard. He said Commissioner Gaffney made a good point, and it does need to be pursued more. Vice Chair Olson said the County does have a couple of excellent grant writers, but it depends on what they have been instructed to focus upon and by who. Director Kucharski said he would welcome input and direction on this, as DEM has been unsuccessful. Chair Bennett said he is aware of grants that could dovetail appropriately. It would be cumbersome for DEM to take it on, but a local NGO could do so. He will check with the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation to see if they can help. Commissioner Neff said it would be good to look at someone going after grants rather than leaving it to contractors, who may not perform the education component. The education component should be in place and made a priority. c. Subcommittee’s report pursuant to its investigation on how to address implementing the Commission’s resolution approved and adopted on March 28, 2018, to adopt a proactive pollution elimination program consistent with the goals of the Clean Water Act. Chair Bennett explained that the subcommittee started off looking at an NPDES permit as a tool that could be used to bring County discharges into alignment. However, it occurred to him that they were grabbing the elephant by the tail. Instead, the subcommittee has shifted its focus and is looking at federal and state policies relative to how water is managed on an island. He doesn’t want to end up with a policy that doesn’t do anything. He believes the subcommittee will end up recommending policies for the County to consider in light of the fact that it operates on an island. The subcommittee will be meeting again and trying to develop a policy guidance document rather than a recipe for wastewater discharges. It could become larger than wastewater and include solid waste issues, as everything ultimately goes down to the sea. He does not anticipate a report by the next meeting, but they may have a draft ready to run by the commissioners for input. 5. NEW BUSINESS There was no new business. However, Vice Chair Olson said he would like placed on the next agenda an executive session to discuss issues with the Director that he is not free to discuss in public because of the lawsuit that has been filed. Chair Bennett asked Ms. Wong if there was a procedure they needed to follow to have a closed session placed on the agenda. Ms. Wong said she could provide the appropriate language for the next agenda to allow them to do it. 6. REPORTS/CORRESPONDENCE a. Director’s Informational Report. Director Kucharski reported first on the issues and questions brought up at the previous meeting: • Find out whether the State of Hawaiʻi accepted or exceeded the federal standards for nutrient discharge requirements for NPDES permits. The answer is indefinite. Because of the water classification, there are treatment standards and limitations set by the state. The federal rules require maintenance of the water quality for the receiving waters, but they do not have specific nutrient discharge levels, to his knowledge. The state adopted discharge levels in order to be protective of the water quality of the receiving waters. The answer is sort of yes, but not exactly. Chair Bennett said he knows California has stricter standards than the federal government when it comes to vehicle pollution and the Clean Air Act. Director Kucharski agreed, but said the question he was asked is whether Hawaiʻi’s standards exceeded the federal standards. He really can’t say, because it is a performance standard thing. Chair Bennett said the receiving waters a mile away are not good. They need to step back and look at it from a broader perspective. Director Kucharski said Hawaiʻi County has a different kind of subsurface discharge, and the closure of cesspools is where they need to focus, in his opinion. Cesspool closure is a large problem that needs to be addressed, and it is not optional. The non-point sources are the biggest contributor to the failure or degradation of near shore waters. As the issues of borate in lumber and education components in contracts were already addressed, Director Kucharski moved on. • Find out what the EPA deems the hazardous level of arsenic in landfills. Director Kucharski said there was a question on what will be acceptable for arsenic that was going to go into Puʻuanahulu. He read several different articles, and had them provided to the commissioners, on arsenic standards. As Chair Bennett said earlier, it is really the dose that matters. A little arsenic doesn’t hurt, but it accumulates. It also needs to be ingested to have an impact. The commissioners can read the articles he provided to better understand. • Contact the State about sampling the water off Aliʻi Drive that former Commissioner Fear was concerned about. He sent a request to the DOH and is waiting for a response as to when they can test that location. He also sent Chair Bennett’s recommended analysis. He does not know if they can or will test it, but he has made the request. • Is there anywhere else where a WWTP is located near a school? Director Kucharski said Commissioner Osborne had asked this. Currently, the closest school to a treatment plan is less than half a mile away. He provided a handout listing Big Island schools and their distances from WWTPs. Director Kucharski continued in his report. Update on the Asset Management Plan for the Wastewater Division. EPA contractors were here last week for an asset management program. EPA wrote the grant and got the money to have the contractors come in and look at all of the wastewater equipment and systems, evaluate them, and put them on a priority repair maintenance schedule. He explained how the program is set up in two phases, that it is a solid program, and DEM is appreciate of EPA Region 9 and Kate Rao, who pushed for it. The contractors spent a week here going over the specific details of the program. In Hilo they looked at pumps, headworks, the piping system, and the sewer sizes. The system is designed to help prevent an accident from happening. Once all the data is collected, it will be put into a software program so analyses and maintenance can be done before something is broken. The financial sustainability of the wastewater system will also be looked at, as it is not good right now. A sewer rate study will be done so he can request a sewer rate increase. If the rates were doubled today, it would still be less expensive than Kauaʻi, which has the next lowest rates. All the non-sewered areas also need to be looked at, and the fact their discharge eventually makes it down to the ocean. It needs to be fixed in some way, which will take a lot of money. Commissioner Gaffney asked whether Director Kucharski was considering the value of reused water being factored into balancing the cost of additional sewerage. Director Kucharski said the R-1 system is for up to 5 million gallons a day and has a $54 million price tag. It is an investment in the future, but none of the things that could ameliorate the problem will be cheap. All of the problems could be solved if they had the money. Director Kucharski informed the commissioners the state legislature recently passed a bill to form a committee to look at water reuse policy within the state. He has been nominated by the mayor to be on the committee, and he anticipates coming back with issues for the EMC to provide advice and input on. Vice Chair Olson said that from all he has learned, and in looking at climate change issues, the County of Hawaiʻi will not have enough ground water to provide for the anticipated population increase. Everything will need to be tied together in a cohesive manner, and we are nowhere near that. Director Kucharski agreed and said that for the R-1 system, DEM will have the obligation, as the purveyor of recycled water, to ensure the users of it are licensed, trained, and doing what they are supposed to be doing. Additional personnel will be needed to run the program, and they will need to have multiple skills. Director Kucharski reported that at the County Council meeting yesterday, Finance Director Sako brought up how the lava crisis is costing the County millions of dollars, and no one knows how long the eruption will last. The County will be asking FEMA to pay for some expenses, but FEMA has still not paid some expenses from the County’s 2006 earthquake. He was also asked at the Council meeting about the pay-to-throw system being implemented, as the County currently pays 100% to dispose of about 164 million pounds of waste per year. The Council will be looking at that. Director Kucharski further reported that a litter bill will be coming up, which will empower citizens to cite, in some form or fashion, people who violate the litter rules. Vice Chair Olson said the answer to this is to get the disposal fee at the point of purchase, so people pay for it when they buy it. Director Kucharski recommended that Commissioner Olson bring his comments to the Solid Waste Advisory Committee, and Commissioner Olson said he is working with his councilperson, who has a significant role to play at the moment. Director Kucharski also reported that the Council has referred Bill 154 to the EMC for review and comment. The bill deals with abandoned vehicles and extending authority to DEM to tow vehicles from certain private roadways. It has been formally referred and will need to be placed on the EMC’s next agenda. Ms. Wong said the secretary should send the commissioners the bill so they can review it and bring their recommendations to the next meeting for discussion. On the status of the Kealakehe WWTP maintenance, Director Kucharski said the punch list items are being completed for the repairs of the liners and the dredging. Regarding R-1 water management, preliminary design work is being processed right now. They are looking at ensuring all the water that comes in runs through a UV filter rather than be chlorinated. Users of the R-1 water need to be found, as the system is to go online in 2020. Progress is being made, and he believes the EIS should be done by this August. He is not aware of anything that would delay the 2020 online date. Chair Bennett said he wanted to have placed on the next agenda an in depth conversation about the planning process to be used to find customers for the R-1 water, as he is very concerned about it. He is unaware of any efforts to start talking to potential customers, and he wants to see the actual budgeting of the water. 2020 is just around the corner. Director Kucharski said there have been discussions with potential customers. Further discussion was held regarding R-1 water, the potential places it could be used, pricing issues, and whether its use would be mandatory. Chair Bennett said they can discuss it further at the next meeting, and sort out the bigger issues that need to be thought about. He is very concerned the water will become available and people won’t be knocking on the door to get it. Each island has different aspects, and the County of Hawaiʻi’s uniqueness will require a completely different model from what everybody else is doing. 7. COMMISSIONERS’ DISTRICT UPDATE REPORTS AND ISSUES Chair Bennett reminded the commissioners to let him know if they wanted anything placed on a future agenda. He shared that over the past few years he has been writing a water blog, and he provided some pages from it, stating that it is a “nice, succinct science-based review of the cesspool septic system paradox conundrum.” By using some published substantiated water use figures, he did some calculations which showed that if homes would shift to using water sense appliances, the creation of wastewater would be cut by about a third. If another step was taken to reuse laundry machine wastewater, individual home wastewater creation would be cut in half. This would be a cost-effective way of saving fresh water and reducing wastewater flows. The wastewater flow to the treatment plant has a cost, and the wastewater flow to a cesspit has an environmental cost. To him, it is important to reduce the volume of water in cesspits so that the hydraulic load is cut, which reduces the force of the water driving material down and ultimately to groundwater and the sea. The cesspit dilemma is an expensive one. For a relatively modest investment, the cesspit wastewater liability could be cut in half and we could buy some time. This would be critical in high-impact areas like the shorelines of Kona and Puakō, as well as other places. It frustrates him that no one has really looked at the issue of what a home can do to reduce its wastewater flow. Instead, a lot of high quality wastewater goes on top of blackwater, and then everything becomes a blackwater liability. He encouraged the commissioners to share this information and create awareness. 8. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Chair Bennett thanked Director Kucharski for emailing the commissioners a report on the rise in sea level. Vice Chair Olson said one of the authors of that report had presented it to the Sierra Club at the annual membership meeting and indicated he would be happy to present it to the EMC as well. Chair Bennett asked Vice Chair Olson if he could check with the author about doing so. Director Kucharski said that on the next agenda, he could discuss a meeting he had with septage haulers in Kona and their issues with FOG (fat, oil, grease). He would put in his next Director’s Informational Report. 9. ANNOUNCEMENTS Chair Bennett announced the next meeting: June 27, 2018, at the Aupuni Center Conference Room in Hilo. He also announced that he heard another potential commissioner is in the process of being vetted. Director Kucharski announced that tomorrow night, May 24, 2018, there is a Community Forum at the West Hawaiʻi Civic Center, and he would be speaking on DEM’s budget. 10. ADJOURNMENT Motion and vote: Commissioner Gaffney moved to adjourn, Vice Chair Olson seconded the motion, and all commissioners voted aye. The meeting adjourned at 10:45 a.m. Respectfully submitted: Mary E. Fujio, Secretary (with her signature)