STAND. COM. REP. NO. 1677

Honolulu, Hawaii

, 2023

RE: H.R. No. 201

H.D. 1

Honorable Scott K. Saiki

Speaker, House of Representatives

Thirty-Second State Legislature

Regular Session of 2023

State of Hawaii

Sir:

Your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection, to which was referred H.R. No. 201 entitled:

"HOUSE RESOLUTION URGING THE GOVERNMENT OF JAPAN TO HALT ITS PLANS TO DUMP WASTEWATER FROM THE FUKUSHIMA-DAIICHI NUCLEAR POWER PLANT INTO THE PACIFIC OCEAN,"

begs leave to report as follows:

The purpose of this measure is to urge the Government of Japan to halt its plans to dump wastewater from the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant into the Pacific Ocean.

Your Committee received testimony in support of this measure from Friends of Hanauma Bay, Animal Welfare Institute, For the Fishes, Hawai‘i Reef and Ocean Coalition, Hawai‘i Public Health Association, SGI-USA, and numerous individuals. Your Committee received testimony in opposition to this measure from one individual.

Your Committee finds that on March 11, 2011, Japan experienced the strongest earthquake in its recorded history, triggering a tsunami in the Tohoku region that impacted the lives of hundreds of thousands of people and caused the meltdown of three nuclear reactors at the Fukushima-Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Efforts to mitigate the effects of the impacted nuclear reactors have resulted in thousands of tanks of nuclear wastewater. In 2021, Japan decided to release the treated nuclear wastewater into the ocean, a process that had been scheduled to begin in early 2022 but has been postponed and, if commenced, is expected to continue over the course of forty years. However, the impacts of that release of nuclear wastewater could have detrimental environmental and health effects. This measure urges Japan to halt its plans to release the wastewater and consider other alternatives.

Your Committee has amended this measure by:

(1) Deleting provisions that expressed disappointment in Japan's decision to release the nuclear wastewater into the Pacific Ocean; and

(2) Making technical, nonsubstantive amendments for the purposes of clarity, consistency, and style.

As affirmed by the record of votes of the members of your Committee on Energy & Environmental Protection that is attached to this report, your Committee concurs with the intent and purpose of H.R. No. 201, as amended herein, and recommends that it be referred to your Committee on Judiciary & Hawaiian Affairs in the form attached hereto as H.R. No. 201, H.D. 1.

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

____________________________

NICOLE E. LOWEN, Chair