STAND. COM. REP. NO. 3469

Honolulu, Hawaii

RE: H.B. No. 2514

H.D. 1

S.D. 1

Honorable Ronald D. Kouchi

President of the Senate

Thirty-First State Legislature

Regular Session of 2022

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committees on Health and Agriculture and Environment, to which was referred H.B. No. 2514, H.D. 1, entitled:

"A BILL FOR AN ACT RELATING TO UNDERGROUND STORAGE TANKS,"

beg leave to report as follows:

The purpose and intent of this measure is to prohibit the operation of underground storage tanks with a capacity greater than one hundred thousand gallons.

Your Committees received testimony in support of this measure from the Department of Health, City and County of Honolulu Board of Water Supply, ‘Ahahui o nā Kauka – Association of Native Hawaiian Physicians, Hawai‘i Alliance for Community-Based Economic Development, Hawai‘i Alliance for Progressive Action, Ko‘olau Waialua Alliance, Livable Hawaii Kai Hui, Sierra Club of Hawai‘i, 350Hawaii.org, and twenty-two individuals. Your Committees received comments on this measure from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Department of Land and Natural Resources Commission on Water Resource Management, and one individual.

Your Committees find that underground storage tanks containing fuel and their related plumbing pose a significant risk of leaking and contaminating potable drinking water aquifers. In December 2021, the United States Navy confirmed that the Red Hill Bulk Fuel Storage Facility on Oahu leaked petroleum into the Navy's water system and threatened to contaminate multiple underground aquifers of Oahu. This measure mitigates that risk by prohibiting the operation of underground storage tanks with a capacity greater than one hundred thousand gallons.

Your Committees have amended this measure by:

(1) Prohibiting the operation of underground storage tanks with a capacity greater than one hundred thousand gallons beginning July 1, 2023;

(2) Inserting an effective date of July 1, 2050, to encourage further discussion; and

(3) Making a technical, nonsubstantive amendment for the purposes of clarity and consistency.

As affirmed by the records of votes of the members of your Committees on Health and Agriculture and Environment that are attached to this report, your Committees are in accord with the intent and purpose of H.B. No. 2514, H.D. 1, as amended herein, and recommend that it pass Second Reading in the form attached hereto as H.B. No. 2514, H.D. 1, S.D. 1, and be referred to your Committee on Judiciary.

Respectfully submitted on behalf of the members of the Committees on Health and Agriculture and Environment,

________________________________ MIKE GABBARD, Chair

________________________________ JARRETT KEOHOKALOLE, Chair