Bill Text: HI SR141 | 2024 | Regular Session | Introduced

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Bill Title: Urging The Department Of Health And Encouraging The County Of Maui, United States Army Corps Of Engineers, And Federal Emergency Management Agency To Take Certain Measures To Ensure The Safest Possible Management Of Ash And Debris From The August 2023 Maui Wildfires.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 1-0)

Status: (Introduced) 2024-03-14 - Referred to HHS/PSM. [SR141 Detail]

Download: Hawaii-2024-SR141-Introduced.html

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THE SENATE	S.R. NO.	141
THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024
STATE OF HAWAII

SENATE RESOLUTION

 

 

Urging THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH and encouraging the COUNTY OF MAUI, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and Federal Emergency Management Agency TO take certain measures to ENSURE The SAFEST POSSIBLE MANAGEMENT OF ASH and debris FROM THE August 2023 Maui wildFIRES.

 

 

     WHEREAS, ash from the burning of vegetation, homes, vehicles and other property contains dioxins, furans, cancer-causing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, per- and polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) including perfluorooctanoic acid, and toxic metals; and

 

     WHEREAS, this ash, can expose those who come in contact with it to these toxic substances, and if not properly contained, can be blown by the wind or carried by rainwater, further exposing people, other animals, and our land and ocean environments to risk; and

 

     WHEREAS, in October 2023, the Board of Land and Natural Resources approved the use of state land adjacent to an old landfill in Olowalu, located five miles south of Lahaina, Maui, for the disposal of ash and debris from the August 2023 Maui wildfire; and

 

     WHEREAS, dumping ash and debris from the August 2023 Maui wildfires into a temporary landfill in Olowalu risks further contamination as plastic-wrapped waste "burritos" break open when dumped, spreading dust into the air; and

 

     WHEREAS, continuing to use the Olowalu landfill to temporarily dump this waste and later reloading it for transportation to a permanent site increases costs of waste handling; and

 

     WHEREAS, the county of Maui recently designated land next to the Central Maui Landfill to be the permanent disposal site for this waste; and

 

     WHEREAS, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency, Central Maui Landfill has enough space to last until 2039 and the full amount of waste from the August 2023 Maui wildfires (about six hundred thousand tons) represents about two years of waste disposal at the Central Maui Landfill; and

 

     WHEREAS, properly executed Zero Waste programs could cut Maui's waste by more than half in just a handful of years, stretching out the life of the county's landfill; and

 

     WHEREAS, life cycle analysis studies, including one conducted for the county of Hawaii in 2023, show that the health and environmental costs of incineration (and dumping ash into landfills) are far greater than sending unburned trash to landfills, and that recycling is a much better option compared to landfilling or incineration, even when barging materials across the ocean to recyclers; and

 

     WHEREAS, ash can blow off of the top of a landfill if not properly contained, especially if that ash is permitted to be used as alternative daily cover material in place of soil or tarps to safely cover landfilled waste at night; and

 

     WHEREAS, on January 2, 2024, at a public hearing held by the Disaster, Resilience, International Affairs, and Planning Committee of the Maui county council, Alan Booker, an engineer brought in by the county as one of their expert resources, testified that no matter how carefully waste is transported, moving this material means some will spill and there will be a need for a plan to remediate the roads; and

 

     WHEREAS, many thousands of truck trips will be necessary to transport waste, risking traffic problems; and

 

     WHEREAS, barging large volumes of waste to the mainland to bury in other landfills or burn in incinerators raises greater environmental justice concerns; and

 

     WHEREAS, high-temperature processes such as pyrolysis or incineration create new toxic chemicals including dioxins, furans, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, other chemical pollutants like nitrogen oxides, sulfur oxides, and acid gasses, and enable more existing toxic chemicals such as PFAS and heavy metals to be inhaled or ingested; and

 

     WHEREAS, using these technologies to manage material that has already been burned is impractical and compounds the problems caused by the burning of these materials in the first place; and

 

     WHEREAS, section 342H-30, Hawaii Revised Statutes, prohibits any person, including any public body, from:

 

     (1)  Engaging in the operation of an open dump;

 

     (2)  Operating a solid waste management system without first securing approval in writing from the Director of Heath; or

 

     (3)  Discarding, disposing of, depositing, discharging, or dumping solid waste, or by contract or otherwise arranging directly or indirectly for the disposal of solid waste in an amount equal to or greater than one cubic yard in volume anywhere other than a permitted solid waste management system without the prior written approval of the Director of Heath;

 

now, therefore,

 

     BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, that the Department of Health is requested to enforce section 342H-30, Hawaii Revised Statutes to ensure that:

 

     (1)  Ash and other waste from the August 2023 Maui wildfire are not managed in any manner other than proper containment in a landfill;

 

     (2)  Trucking of the ash and other waste are conducted in secured containers that cannot leak or spill;

 

     (3)  The ash and other waste are not used as alternative daily cover material once landfilled; and

 

     (4)  Secure tarps are used to prevent ash from blowing off of the landfill; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this body supports the County of Maui's choice to use the Central Maui Landfill as the final disposal site for waste from the August 2023 Maui wildfire; and

0

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the County of Maui, United States Army Corps of Engineers, and Federal Emergency Management Agency are encouraged to:

 

     (1)  Contain the remaining waste as soon as possible in trucking-ready containers at- or near-site until ready to be transported for final disposal;

 

     (2)  Discontinue the use of Olowalu as a temporary disposal site;

 

     (3)  Ensure that waste is transported in sealed containers to avoid spills and leaks;

 

     (4)  Decontaminate trucks before departing Lahaina or the Central Maui Landfill to ensure that toxic chemicals are not tracking off-site;

 

     (5)  Transport waste to the landfill at night to minimize traffic concerns; and

 

     (6)  Abandon consideration of pyrolysis, gasification, incineration, or any other high-temperature processes as waste management methods; and

 

     BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Commander of the Honolulu District of the United States Army Corps of Engineers, and Regional Administrator for Region 9 of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, Governor, Director of Health, Mayor of the County of Maui, and Chairperson of the Maui County Council.

 

 

 

	OFFERED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

 

Report Title: 

Department of Health; County of Maui; EPA; Army Corps of Engineers; FEMA; Wildfire; Ash and Debris; Hazardous Substances; Waste Management; Landfills