STAND. COM. REP. NO.  603

 

Honolulu, Hawaii

                , 2011

 

RE:   H.B. No. 266

 

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-Sixth State Legislature

Regular Session of 2011

State of Hawaii

 

Sir:

 

     Your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water, Land, & Ocean Resources, to which was referred H.B. No. 266 entitled:

 

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO WATER QUALITY STANDARDS,"

 

beg leave to report as follows:

 

     The purpose of this bill is to provide the Department of Health (DOH) with additional time to revise and update certain state water quality standards for marine waters to conform to levels recommended by the State of Hawaii and the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

 

     DOH and the Department of Environmental Services of the City and County of Honolulu testified in support of this bill.  The Sierra Club-Hawaii Chapter opposed this measure.

 

     Conforming the State's water quality standards for toxic pollutants to the national criteria currently recommended by the EPA is important to the State's economic and social development, as well as protection of our natural resources and our inland and marine waters.  Act 126, Session Laws of Hawaii 2009 (Act 126), was an aggressive attempt to address this issue and encourage the timely application of those standards.  When Act 126 was enacted, it was envisioned that revised water quality standards would be completed and approved by 2011.  However, this is not the case.  Although DOH has been working on the revised water quality standards in a three-phased approach, delays have occurred.  While the first set of revisions was approved by the EPA, the second set of revisions has been pending with the EPA since February 16, 2010, and the third set of revisions has not yet gone through DOH's rulemaking procedures.  Furthermore, according to DOH, the second set of revisions was orally rejected by the EPA which cited concerns that Hawaii's fish consumption rate was higher than the national average used to calculate the human health criteria for toxic pollutants and that Hawaii's adoption of the national criteria would not sufficiently protect the local population within acceptable tolerance levels.  As such, DOH needs additional time to complete a fish consumption survey, perform statistical analysis on the data collected, recalculate the toxic pollutant criteria based upon the fish consumption data, and present the data to the EPA.  This measure provides DOH with that additional time.

 

     As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water, Land, & Ocean Resources that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 266 and recommend that it pass Second Reading and be placed on the calendar for Third Reading.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Energy & Environmental Protection and Water, Land, & Ocean Resources,

 

 

____________________________

JERRY L. CHANG, Chair

 

____________________________

HERMINA MORITA, Chair