HB2455 HSCR113-02

 

STAND. COM. REP. NO.113-02

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2002

RE: H.B. No. 2455

 

 

 

Honorable Calvin K.Y. Say

Speaker, House of Representatives

Twenty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2002

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.B. No. 2455 entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO ENVIRONMENTAL SITE CLEANUP,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of the bill is to establish a revolving fund to provide low-interest loans for the cleanup of brownfields sites in Hawaii.

The Department of Health, the Office of Planning (OP) of the Department of Business, Economic Development, and Tourism (DBEDT), and Life of the Land supported the measure.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) defines brownfields as "abandoned, idled, or underused industrial and commercial facilities where expansion or redevelopment is complicated by real or perceived contamination." DBEDT has applied for a grant from the EPA's Brownfields Cleanup Revolving Loan Fund Pilot Program for up to $3,000,000 in seed money to capitalize the revolving loan fund.

The redevelopment of brownfields serves several objectives:

(1) Economically revitalizes communities through the redevelopment and reuse of abandoned and underused sites;

(2) Eliminates or reduces potential public-health and environmental risks through the cleanup of contaminated sites;

(3) Promotes more efficient and effective use of Hawaii's existing urbanized areas; and

(4) Assists in relieving development pressures on open, undeveloped lands or agricultural lands.

OP testified that it will make bio-remediation analysis a major consideration in administering the brownfields revolving fund.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee is in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2455 and recommends that it pass Second Reading and be referred to the Committee on Finance.

 

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committee on Energy and Environmental Protection,

 

		____________________________ HERMINA M. MORITA, Chair