HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES	H.B. NO.	1113
TWENTY-EIGHTH LEGISLATURE, 2015
STATE OF HAWAII

A BILL FOR AN ACT

 

 

relating to wildlife emergency response.

 

 

BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF HAWAII:

 

     SECTION 1.  The legislature finds that Hawaii has the largest concentration of endangered and threatened species in the world, a majority of which are birds.  Of more than one hundred types of endemic Hawaiian birds, more than two-thirds are already extinct and over eighty per cent of those that remain are threatened with extinction.  Furthermore, more than fourteen million indigenous seabirds rely on habitats in the Hawaiian archipelago.

     The legislature notes that there have been more than one hundred vessel groundings reported in the Hawaiian archipelago.  State government shares statutory responsibility for the conservation of migratory birds and endangered species, including those impacted by contaminant spills.  It is imperative that the State protect these endangered and endemic animals if an oil- or fuel-related disaster affecting native wildlife were to occur.

     Oiled wildlife recovery is a key component of oil spill response.  A purpose-built and operational oiled wildlife response facility is necessary to fulfill the best-response concept outlined in the Hawaii area contingency plan and is the standard set for highly successful emergency responses because it provides efficient, state-of-the-art wildlife care; provides control of animal and hazardous waste handling and tracking; and ensures the safety of everyone working with oiled wildlife.  In addition, having a facility ready to respond to a critical vulnerability in Hawaii's contaminant spill response mechanism ensures that the State is following best practices for oil spill response as outlined by federal wildlife agencies.  The legislature acknowledges that the original purpose of the environmental response revolving fund, known as the barrel tax, was to provide for emergency response funding. 

     The legislature further finds that the Hawaii Wildlife Center is the only indigenous wildlife emergency response and rehabilitation facility in the State and the only facility within the State that meets all federal and state standards for accommodating a large-scale rescue and rehabilitation effort targeting sick, injured, or oiled wildlife.  Within the first month of 2015, the center was placed on alert for two oil pollution events and in 2014 provided oiled wildlife response services.

     The purpose of this Act is to support the operations of an environmental disaster standby and response facility to respond to oil- and fuel-related disasters affecting indigenous wildlife in the State through the environmental response revolving fund.

     SECTION 2.  Section 128D-2, Hawaii Revised Statutes, is amended by amending subsection (b) to read as follows:

     "(b)  Moneys from the fund shall be expended by the department for response actions and preparedness, including removal and remedial actions, consistent with this chapter; provided that the revenues generated by the environmental response, energy, and food security tax deposited into the environmental response revolving fund:

     (1)  Shall be used:

         (A)  For oil spill planning, prevention, preparedness, education, research, training, removal, and remediation; and

         (B)  For direct support for county used oil recycling programs; and

     (2)  May also be used to support environmental protection and natural resource protection programs, including [energy]:

         (A)  Support for operations of an environmental disaster standby and response facility in the State that shall be responsible for the recovery and rehabilitation of native wildlife that is sickened, injured, or contaminated as a result of an oil- or fuel-related disaster in the State;

         (B)  Energy conservation [and alternative];

         (C)  Alternative energy development[,]; and [to address]

         (D)  Addressing concerns related to air quality, global warming, clean water, polluted runoff, solid and hazardous waste, drinking water, and underground storage tanks, including support for the underground storage tank program of the department and funding for the acquisition by the State of a soil remediation site and facility."

     SECTION 3.  Statutory material to be repealed is bracketed and stricken.  New statutory material is underscored.

     SECTION 4.  This Act shall take effect on July 1, 2015.

 

INTRODUCED BY:	_____________________________

 

 

Report Title:

Environmental Response Revolving Fund; Wildlife Emergency Response

 

Description:

Allows the environmental response revolving fund to be used to support the operations of an environmental disaster standby and response facility in the State that shall be responsible for the recovery and rehabilitation of native wildlife that are sickened, injured, or contaminated as a result of an oil- or fuel-related disaster in the State. 

 

 

The summary description of legislation appearing on this page is for informational purposes only and is not legislation or evidence of legislative intent.