Gov. Neil Abercrombie and county mayors could get the power to exempt state and county construction projects from environmental review if they think the projects will have minimal effect on the environment.
Under draft legislation before the state House that has alarmed the environmental community, the governor and mayors would have the ability to establish lists of state and county projects exempt from environmental assessments, the regulatory process that determines whether full environmental impact statements are necessary.
While the authority to create the lists would expire after June 2015, the lists would remain valid indefinitely unless rescinded by the governor and mayors.
The draft would temporarily grant the chief executives the power that now rests with the state Environmental Council, which can exempt specific types of projects from environmental assessments if it is likely they will have minimal or no significant effects on the environment.
House lawmakers who drafted the provision said it could give governors and county mayors more flexibility to launch state and county projects and help boost the construction industry. The draft is far narrower than a bill deferred earlier this session that would have given governors and county mayors broad authority to exempt state and county projects from environmental review.
The state Office of Environmental Quality Control opposes the draft, describing it as bad precedent with the potential to harm the environment. Environmental groups are also against the draft — Senate Bill 755 — and object that several provisions to relax the regulatory review of state and county projects were added to the bill on short notice.
The House Water, Land and Ocean Resources Committee and the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee will hold a hearing on the draft today.
"The House is still looking to continue the discussion of trying to streamline a lot of the permits and regulations that are holding back some of the projects to revitalize the construction industry," said House Majority Leader Pono Chong (D, Maunawili-Kaneohe).
Chong said lawmakers heard the earlier concerns from the environmental community and came up with something narrower in scope that would apply only to minor state and county projects.
Gary Hooser, director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control, questioned why lawmakers would give governors and county mayors such unilateral power and create a separate set of rules for public and private projects.
"Will there be any consultation before the list is finalized? Will there be any public input? The language in this proposal clearly indicates a lack of understanding of how the exemption process actually works," Hooser said in written testimony prepared for today’s hearing. "Passing this measure will do little or nothing to streamline or speed the process, but it will significantly muddy the waters and further confuse agencies and applicants as to what is exempt and what is not."
Hooser also objects to a provision in the draft that would shorten the judicial review deadline by half. Legal challenges to a state or county decision to exempt a project from environmental review would have to be filed within 60 days instead of 120 days. He called the reduced time period "woefully inadequate."
