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THE SENATE |
S.R. NO. |
63 |
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THIRTY-SECOND LEGISLATURE, 2024 |
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STATE OF HAWAII |
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SENATE RESOLUTION
Requesting the Director of Health and the chief energy officer to continuously monitor air pollutants emitted by waste incineration facilities.
WHEREAS, waste incineration facilities typically emit large amounts of pollutants into the air every day they operate; and
WHEREAS, although waste incineration facilities are monitored for pollutants, the technology employed is typically dated, and advancements in technology have enabled modern methods to gather much more extensive data to determine, for example, the effects of pollutants on public health; and
WHEREAS, in Hawaii, of twenty-two known pollutants emitted by waste incineration facilities, nine are not monitored at all, including per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances and various toxic metals, nine are monitored just once a year, and only four are monitored continuously; and
WHEREAS, naturally, the levels of emissions of the nine pollutants that are not monitored is unknown; and
WHEREAS, monitoring once a year is inadequate because it may severely underestimate the pollution levels, as shown by the Covanta Delaware Valley waste incinerator in Chester, Pennsylvania, where annual monitoring was replaced with continuous monitoring, which found that hydrochloric acid emissions were sixty-two percent higher than what annual monitoring showed; and
WHEREAS, among the pollutants monitored just once a year in the State are dioxins, which are so toxic that the Environmental Protection Agency has set a limit that is equivalent to thirty grams of dioxin per trillion liters of drinking water, and a recent study found that failure to use continuous monitoring technology at waste incineration facilities underestimates dioxin emissions by 460 to 1,290 times; now, therefore,
BE IT RESOLVED by the Senate of the Thirty-second Legislature of the State of Hawaii, Regular Session of 2024, that the Director of Health and the Chief Energy Officer are requested to continuously monitor air pollutants emitted by waste incineration facilities; and
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that certified copies of this Resolution be transmitted to the Governor, Mayor of each of the counties, Director of Health, and Chief Energy Officer.
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OFFERED BY: |
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Pollution, Waste Incineration, Hazardous Materials