Bill Text: HI HR196 | 2010 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Clean Water Act; task force; public-private cooperation
Spectrum: Bipartisan Bill
Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2010-03-23 - (H) The committee(s) recommends that the measure be deferred. [HR196 Detail]
Download: Hawaii-2010-HR196-Introduced.html
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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |
H.R. NO. |
196 |
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TWENTY-FIFTH LEGISLATURE, 2010 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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HOUSE RESOLUTION
calling for the establishment of a task force to study how cooperation between the public and private sector can further the purposes of the Clean Water Act.
WHEREAS, the adversity brought about by the global economic downturn also provides an opportunity to augment the practices of state government in such a way as to create efficiencies and reduce costs while still meeting the goals of a particular policy; and
WHEREAS, the Department of Health's Clean Water Branch is responsible for regulating the federal Clean Water Act, and more specifically, the Clean Water Branch is responsible for reviewing applications and granting permits for potential sites of nonpoint source pollution, such as construction sites and manufacturing/production facilities, auditing of those sites and facilities, and enforcement of penalties on those that violate the Clean Water Act's standards; and
WHEREAS, part of the solution to limited resources for the provision of government services is cooperation with the private sector; and
WHEREAS, cooperation with the private sector with respect to self-monitoring is consistent with long-standing U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) policy as in Volume 51, Number 131, of the Federal Register dated July 9, 1986, the EPA announced a final policy statement in which it submitted that, "[E]nvironmental audits can improve compliance by complementing conventional federal, state and local oversight [. . .] Environmental auditing has developed for sound business reasons, particularly as a means of helping regulated entities manage pollution control affirmatively over time instead of reacting to crises. Auditing can result in improved facility environmental performance, help communicate effective solutions to common environmental problems, focus facility managers' attention on current and upcoming regulatory requirements, and generate protocols and checklists which help facilities better manage themselves. Auditing also can result in better-integrated management of environmental hazards, since auditors frequently identify environmental liabilities which go beyond regulatory compliance [. . .] EPA encourages regulated entities to adopt sound environmental management practices to improve environmental performance [. . .] Audits can be conducted effectively by independent internal or third party auditors."; and
WHEREAS, this policy is incorporated and supported in a 1997 EPA document entitled "Voluntary Environmental Self-Policing and Self-Disclosure Policy", where the EPA states, "One of the Environmental Protection Agency's most important responsibilities is obtaining compliance with federal laws that protect public health and safeguard the environment. That goal can be achieved only with the voluntary cooperation of thousands of businesses and other regulated entities subject to these requirements [. . .] the Agency recognizes that we cannot achieve maximum compliance without the cooperation of a regulated community willing to act responsibly by detecting, disclosing, and correcting violations. Already, regulated entities have many compelling incentives to implement environmental management/auditing systems, as noted in EPA's 1986 auditing policy."; and
WHEREAS, this policy was further updated and strengthened in Volume 65, Number 70, of the Federal Register dated April 11, 2000, where the EPA issued a final policy statement in which it proposed, among other things, that "[t]he purpose of the Policy is to enhance protection of human health and the environment by encouraging regulated entities to voluntarily discover, disclose, correct and prevent violations of Federal environmental law [. . .] The revised Policy reflects EPA's continuing commitment to encouraging voluntary self-policing while preserving fair and effective enforcement."; and
WHEREAS, the benefits to cooperation in this case can include cooperative self-monitoring, which can provide a mechanism by which real-time electronic transmission of data related to regulated sites and facilities to regulatory authority can occur; and
WHEREAS, the information gathered through cooperative self-monitoring can include permit applications, best management practices and related attachments associated with these applications, and site and facility inspection results, which would allow regulatory agencies to be more readily capable of addressing the constraints of limited public resources while continuing to fulfill their role in the common purpose of stewardship of the environment; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the House of Representatives of the Twenty-Fifth Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2010, that the Department of Health is requested to convene a task force for the purpose of determining how cooperation between the public and private sector can further the purposes of the Clean Water Act; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force be chaired by the Director of Health and consist of the following members:
(1) A representative from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency;
(2) The director of the department of transportation, or his designee;
(3) A representative from a county agency responsible for environmental regulation;
(4) A representative from a county agency responsible for transportation management, provided that this representative shall not be from the same county as the representative from a county agency responsible for environmental regulation;
(5) A member of the house of representatives, as selected by the speaker of the house of representatives;
(6) A member of the senate, as selected by the senate president; and
(7) Four persons who have volunteered to be regulated through the Hawaii Task Force for the Modernization of Clean Water Act Compliance, as selected by the persons regulated through the Hawaii Task Force for the Modernization of Clean Water Act Compliance; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force is requested to look into the best standards, rules, and procedures for managing or mitigating nonpoint source pollution or maintaining compliance with adopted department rules or standards for nonpoint source pollution management that are at least equal to those promulgated by the department, and that these best standards, rules, and procedures be used to maximize the use of public-private partnerships to supplement and augment the public resources with private resources to create greater efficiencies in effecting the public purposes of this resolution, including:
(1) uniform auditing and enforcement protocols and standards, including uniform training of auditors and field agents;
(2) use of third-party agents to audit sites of possible nonpoint source pollution; and
(3) data collection and transmission features that assist the department in meeting any state or federal reporting guidelines with respect to nonpoint source pollution, and access rights to the data; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the task force report its findings and recommendations, including any proposed legislation or rules, to the Legislature not later than twenty days prior to the convening of the Regular Session of 2011; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Administrator of the United States Environmental Protection Agency, the State Director of Health, the State Director of Transportation, the Mayors of all counties, the President of the Senate, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, and the Governor.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Clean Water Act; task force; public-private cooperation
