Report Title:

Conservation Districts; Invasive Species

Description:

Allows a landowner participating in the Watershed Partnership Program to apply for a permit and site plan approval with DLNR for the removal of alien plant species located within the landowner's conservation-zoned property; establishes that an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement shall not be required for the permit and site plan approval, unless DLNR determines that the removal of alien plant species will have a significant effect on the environment. (SB1893 HD1)

THE SENATE

S.B. NO.

1893

TWENTY-THIRD LEGISLATURE, 2005

H.D. 1

STATE OF HAWAII

 


 

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

relating to invasive species.

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

SECTION 1. The introduction of alien plant species to Hawaii's environment has caused irreparable harm and damage to Hawaii's native plant and animal species populations. Alien plant species such as miconia, ironwood, the African tulip, and albizia have overrun Hawaii's fragile ecosystem and displaced native plants and animal species from their natural habitats. This invasion has resulted in either the extinction or near extinction of countless native plant and animal species. Such displacement of native plant and animal species is magnified for lands located in conservation districts.

The legislature finds that conservation-zoned lands in the watershed partnership program under the division of forestry and wildlife of the department of land and natural resources must be protected from invasive alien plant species because such land functions as an important habitat for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of plant and animal species found no place else in the world. Moreover, public and private landowners participating in the program have an equally important stake in preventing the spread of alien plant species on their properties. Too often, however, efforts by the watershed partnership program to preserve and protect conservation-zoned lands from alien plant species invasion are thwarted by long waiting periods and increasing costs associated with the complicated and slow-moving permitting process that prevents a quick and immediate response by landowners to the ecological as well as economic harm posed by alien plant species.

The legislature also finds that beyond the devastating environmental impacts associated with the introduction and spread of alien plant species to Hawaii's environment, alien plant species also represent a drain on Hawaii's economy. Costs associated with mitigating or removing alien plant species and reintegrating native plant and animal species is a strain on limited government resources at the federal, state, and county levels.

The purpose of this Act is to:

(1) Permit private and public landowners of conservation-zoned lands in the watershed partnership program to remove alien plant species by applying for a permit and site plan approval from the department of land and natural resources; and

(2) Exempt an application for a permit and site plan approval from the requirements of an environmental assessment and an environmental impact statement, except where the department determines that the removal of the alien plant species will have a significant effect on the environment.

SECTION 2. Chapter 183C, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by adding a new section to be appropriately designated and to read as follows:

"§183C-    Removal of alien plant species; permit and site plan approval. (a) Notwithstanding section 183C-6, a private or public landowner participating in the watershed partnership program may apply for a permit and site plan approval with the department for the removal of alien plant species located within the landowner's conservation-zoned property.

(b) Preparation of an environmental assessment or an environmental impact statement pursuant to chapter 343 shall not be required for the application for a permit and site plan approval, unless the department determines that the removal of alien plant species will have a significant effect on the environment.

(c) For purposes of this section:

"Alien plant species" means any plant that is not native to the Hawaiian islands.

"Permit and site plan approval" shall be defined in accordance with rules adopted by the department.

"Significant effect" shall have the same meaning as defined in section 343-2."

SECTION 3. Section 343-5, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (a) to read as follows:

"(a) Except as otherwise provided, an environmental assessment shall be required for actions that:

(1) Propose the use of state or county lands or the use of state or county funds, other than funds to be used for feasibility or planning studies for possible future programs or projects that the agency has not approved, adopted, or funded, or funds to be used for the acquisition of unimproved real property; provided that the agency shall consider environmental factors and available alternatives in its feasibility or planning studies;

(2) Propose any use within any land classified as conservation district by the state land use commission under chapter 205[;], except as provided in section 183C-  ;

(3) Propose any use within a shoreline area as defined in section 205A-41;

(4) Propose any use within any historic site as designated in the National Register or Hawaii Register, as provided for in the Historic Preservation Act of 1966, Public Law 89-665, or chapter 6E;

(5) Propose any use within the Waikiki area of Oahu, the boundaries of which are delineated in the land use ordinance as amended, establishing the "Waikiki Special District";

(6) Propose any amendments to existing county general plans where the amendment would result in designations other than agriculture, conservation, or preservation, except actions proposing any new county general plan or amendments to any existing county general plan initiated by a county;

(7) Propose any reclassification of any land classified as conservation district by the state land use commission under chapter 205;

(8) Propose the construction of new or the expansion or modification of existing helicopter facilities within the State, which, by way of their activities, may affect:

(A) Any land classified as conservation district by the state land use commission under chapter 205;

(B) The shoreline area as defined in section 205A-41; or

(C) Any historic site as designated in the National Register or Hawaii Register, as provided for in the Historic Preservation Act of 1966, Public Law 89-665, or chapter 6E; or until the statewide historic places inventory is completed, any historic site that is found by a field reconnaissance of the area affected by the helicopter facility and is under consideration for placement on the National Register or the Hawaii Register of Historic Places; and

(9) Propose any:

(A) Wastewater facility, except an individual wastewater system or a wastewater facility serving fewer than fifty single-family dwellings or the equivalent;

(B) Waste-to-energy facility;

(C) Landfill;

(D) Oil refinery; or

(E) Power-generating facility."

SECTION 4. Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken. New statutory material is underscored.

SECTION 5. This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2050.