Editorial: Sustainability key to EIS rules

Two years ago, the state Environmental Council took on the process of updating rules set in the mid-1990s for environmental impact statements (EISs) and environmental assessments (EAs) — documents that developers and government agencies draft to assess the impacts of a planned development or activity on an area.

The new rules — proposed by the governor- appointed volunteer panel and shaped, in part, by community input at more than two dozen public meetings as well as public hearings throughout the islands — secured Gov. David Ige’s signature this week.

Some of the changes are welcome housekeeping matters, such allowing more electronic access — shifting away from paper-based processes in place three decades ago when Internet access was often limited to slow-going dial-up service.

Others will sensibly open the door to more public involvement, such as by establishing opportunity for input through scoping meetings at the very beginning of an environmental review process. Previously, while 30-day public comment periods were required for submitting written testimony on EIS and EA matters, scoping meetings were optional.

Also, the rules are tailored to comply with changes in state law, such as requirements to take climate change forecasts and mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions into account when developing land. In addition, recent Hawaii Supreme Court rulings guided the Council’s efforts.

In addressing the issue of exemption from an EIS or the less-intense EA process, the rules rightly require agencies to publicly list their exemptions on a monthly basis.

Among the allowed exemptions is one for building urban affordable housing in certain circumstances. In an effort to encourage urban in-fill as a means to expanding Hawaii’s meager affordable housing inventory, certain types of housing construction may secure an EIS exemption.

The exemption is a possibility when limited to one or both of two triggers that normally would mean an environmental review. The first is that the proposed action involves the use of state or county lands or funds.

The second is for proposed development within Waikiki, in areas that meet criteria of being classified as state urban land and zoned to allow housing. While the exemption holds promise to speed up the pace of affordable housing development, it’s equally important that it does not provide cover to skirt required environmental safeguards.

The Council has specified circumstances in which exemptions are prohibited, such as when a proposed development is within a designated historic site or shoreline conservation area.

Scott Glenn, director of the Office of Environmental Quality Control, said the updated take on EISs and EAs, should be viewed through the lens of Hawaii sustainability — focused on immediate land, water and air impacts and well as outlooks, such as those examined by the Hawaii Climate Commission.

Last year, the commission adopted the “Hawaii Sea Level Rise Vulnerability Adaption Report,” which projects climate change-driven sea level rise of 3.2 feet over the next 30 to 70 years. According to the report, potential impacts on Oahu alone include the loss of $12.9 billion in structures and land — 3,800 structures, including hotels in Waikiki.

Other impacts included in the new rules are stipulations for assessment of historical, archaeological, cultural and social effects. While the old rules folded in these elements, the update more explicitly creates opportunity for public input.

With steady vigilance on the part of government and the public, the modernized rules, properly applied, hold potential to capture a thoughtful, future-focused balance between development and the environment.