STAND. COM. REP. NO.2742

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: S.B. No. 2177

S.D. 1

 

 

Honorable Robert Bunda

President of the Senate

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Ways and Means, to which was referred S.B. No. 2177 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO RESEARCH AND BIOREMEDIATION OF MATERIAL DREDGED FROM STATEWIDE WATERWAYS,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to appropriate funds for the treatment of material dredged from the Ala Wai canal and other waterways.

Specifically, this measure:

(1) Appropriates $400,000 in general funds to conduct research and tests on material dredged from the Ala Wai canal and other waterways; and

(2) Appropriates $1,750,000 in general obligation bond funds, to be matched by federal funds, for the design and construction of a pilot bioremediation facility.

Your Committee finds that an important consideration for the planned Ala Wai canal dredging project is the treatment and disposal of the dredged material. Bioremediation—the application of biological processes to remediate contaminated soils, ground and surface waters, and air pollutants, has been shown to be an effective and low-cost option for the remediation of certain types of dredged material.

This measure funds bench-scale biotreatability, greenhouse, and small-plot field studies to determine the optimal treatment train and probable endpoints for remediating dredged material. Based on the results of this research and development work, this measure then funds the preliminary design of a pilot bioremediation testing/demonstration facility to be used in future remediation projects for evaluating performance and operational and cost factors for biological treatment of contaminated soil-like media, including dredged sediment.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Replacing the sum appropriated to conduct research and tests on dredged materials with an unspecified amount;

(2) Replacing the sum appropriated for a pilot bioremediation facility with an unspecified amount; and

(3) Making technical nonsubstantive changes for purposes of style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Ways and Means that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of S.B. No. 2177, as amended herein, and recommends that it pass Third Reading in the form attached hereto as S.B. No. 2177, S.D. 1.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Ways and Means,

____________________________

BRIAN T. TANIGUCHI, Chair