House and Senate committees Tuesday scrapped Gov. David Ige’s proposal to exempt the construction of a new Oahu jail from the state’s environmental review process amid mounting opposition from environmentalists and advocates for criminal justice reform.
Ige has been pushing to fast-track the relocation of the Oahu Community Correctional Center in Kalihi, which has long suffered from severe overcrowding, to the campus of the current Halawa Correctional Facility. Exempting the new jail from environmental review was expected to shave up to a year and a half off the development process.
The governor included the exemption in two companion bills, House Bill 2388 and Senate Bill 2917, which his administration has described as “enabling legislation” that would streamline construction of a new jail designed to accommodate up to 1,250 beds.
But the exemption elicited criticism from environmental and community groups, including the Hawaii Sierra Club, Life of the Land and the Community Alliance on Prisons, and touched off concerns among some lawmakers that the exemption could prompt prolonged litigation reminiscent of the Hawaii Superferry fiasco.
“The requirement to conduct an environmental review before proceeding with any project using state funds or state lands is not onerous,” wrote Marti Townsend, director of the Hawaii Sierra Club, in written testimony on the measures. “Rather it is essential to ensuring informed decision making about a proposed project before causing irreparable harm and spending irreplaceable resources.”
Environmentalists expressed particular concern about the campus’ proximity to the Navy’s Red Hill Underground Storage Facility, where 27,000 gallons of jet fuel leaked from one of 18 active underground tanks in 2014. The age and deteriorating condition of the facility has raised concerns that past and future leaks from the facility could contaminate drinking water wells.
In prior hearings the Ige administration argued that an environmental review was unnecessary because the new jail would just be adding a new building to the existing Halawa facility.
But the administration backed off the proposals in preparation for Tuesday’s hearings. Attorney General Doug Chin and Department of Public Safety Director Nolan Espinda notified lawmakers in written testimony on the bills that they were amenable to removing the environmental exemptions.
Lawmakers unanimously voted to strike the exemption from HB 2388 during a joint hearing before the House Energy and Environmental Protection Committee and the House Water and Land Committee. Later in the day, members of the Senate Public Safety, Intergovernmental and Military Affairs Committee also voted to remove the exemption from SB 2917.
The amended bills will now go to the House Finance Committee and Senate Ways and Means Committee for review. The measures would allow developers to tap $489.3 million in general obligation bonds to cover construction costs, allow the governor to negotiate directly with developers, and require Hawaii’s Department of Public Safety to come up with a community benefits package for the Halawa community in exchange for hosting the new jail.
