OPPOSE HB2358 - harmful environmental review exemptions
/MARCH 15 UPDATE:
HB2358 HD1, which exempted certain “affordable” housing projects from any and all environmental review requirements under our environmental review laws, was passed with amendments that make it less problematic in the Senate Housing and Agriculture and Environment Committees on Thursday, with 127+ written testimonies in opposition. This bill is essentially defeated for this session!
MAHALO NUI everyone!
HB2358 HD1, the “EIS exemption” bill will be heard in the Senate Housing and Agriculture and Environment Committees on Thursday, March 14, 1pm in Senate conference room 225.
This bill would exempt certain “affordable” housing projects from any and all environmental review requirements under our environmental review laws, regardless of the severity of a project’s potential impacts. You can learn more about this harmful bill below.
Sample testimony:
Aloha Chair Chang, Chair Gabbard, Vice Chair Hashimoto, Vice Chair Richards, and Members of the Committees,
My name is ______ and I respectfully OPPOSE HB2358 HD1, which needlessly threatens our environmental and cultural integrity and overall quality of life through an outright exemption to environmental review for certain “affordable” housing projects.
Current rules already allow for a carefully-tailored categorical exemption to environmental review for certain "affordable" housing projects in the urban district, provided that they are unlikely to result in significant impacts to public trust resources, cultural practices, and other environmental considerations. Exemptions granted under the current rules are also subject to public notice requirements that minimize the potential for unanticipated significant impacts due to project planners’ lack of familiarity with any given project site. This exemption was carefully crafted after close consideration of the myriad public interests that may be at stake in the development of such projects.
This measure would instead allow all such projects to be developed without any environmental review, and without any public notice, regardless of the severity of potential environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic impacts and threats to the public's interest.
Our environmental review law allows decisionmakers and the public to make more fully-informed decisions that can balance and mitigate potential long-term impacts to the public interest. This ensures prudent planning while reducing conflict, minimizing adverse outcomes, and safeguarding the health and well-being of present and future generations. Please do not roll back this critical law under the mistaken guise that we would simply be "codifying" existing rules - this measure goes far beyond what our existing rules allow.
Accordingly, I respectfully urge the Committees to HOLD HB2358 HD1. Mahalo nui for the opportunity to testify.
February 27 update:
Unfortunately, HB2358 HD1 was passed out of the House Finance Committee. Thank you to everyone that lent your voice to this issue, we still have a couple changes to defeat this bill on the Senate side!
HB2358 HD1 would turn a blind eye to any and all potential ecological, cultural, health, economic, and other impacts, including avoidable ones, from certain “affordable” housing projects by completely exempting them from any environmental review. This bill has a hearing on Monday, February 26 at 12:30pm in the House Finance Committee. Please act now to oppose this harmful bill before it advances to the Senate - details and sample testimony below.
What the bill does & why it is bad
Environmental review processes safeguard our native ecosystems, cultural sites, public health, economy, and quality of life by ensuring that project decisionmakers consider impacts to these and other public interests, as well as ways these impacts might be mitigated. These reviews enable informed decisions that balance and mitigate long-term impacts on our environment, culture, and society.
HB2358 HD1 would exempt certain “affordable” housing projects from any and all environmental review requirements under our environmental review laws, regardless of the severity of a project’s potential impacts.
This goes far beyond Hawaiʻi’s environmental review rules, which allow for a “categorical exemption” to environmental review for certain "affordable" housing projects on urban lands. This exemption only applies to projects that are unlikely to result in significant environmental impacts, such as when a project occurs in a “particularly sensitive environment” like critical habitat for endangered species, or an area of particular cultural sensitivity. Public notice and recordkeeping requirements as well as our Sunshine Law allow for community review, and in some cases community input, in decisions to issue a categorical exemption for “affordable” housing projects under the current rules.
HB2358 HD1 would instead allow for such projects to be developed without any environmental review or any public notice, regardless of the severity of a project’s potential environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic impacts, the sensitivity of project sites, or the potential to mitigate any threats to the public interest through better project planning.
Notably, the “urban” district where these projects may take place contains vast areas that are not fully developed, and that may host sensitive natural and cultural features and traditional and customary Native Hawaiian practices. For example, this district includes most of the coastal region from Kahana through Kahuku on Oʻahu; Kaunakakai on Molokaʻi; Hāna, Maui; and Keauhou on Hawaiʻi Island; among many, many other areas. As is reflected in the current rules, affordable housing projects should not be totally excused from environmental review protections even included in supposedly “urban” areas.
While the critical need for affordable housing in Hawaiʻi is recognized and felt urgently, exempting developments from all environmental and cultural review may seriously and needlessly impact our environmental and cultural integrity and overall quality of life, for generations to come.
Sample testimony
Aloha Chair Yamashita, Vice Chair Kitagawa, and members of the House Finance Committee,
My name is ______ and I respectfully OPPOSE HB2358 HD1, which needlessly threatens our environmental and cultural integrity and overall quality of life through an outright exemption to environmental review for certain “affordable” housing projects.
Current rules already allow for a carefully-tailored categorical exemption to environmental review for certain "affordable" housing projects in the urban district, provided that they are unlikely to result in significant impacts to public trust resources, cultural practices, and other environmental considerations. Exemptions granted under the current rules are also subject to public notice requirements that minimize the potential for unanticipated significant impacts due to project planners’ lack of familiarity with any given project site. This exemption was carefully crafted after close consideration of the myriad public interests that may be at stake in the development of such projects.
This measure would instead allow all such projects to be developed without any environmental review, and without any public notice, regardless of the severity of potential environmental, cultural, and socioeconomic impacts and threats to the public's interest.
Our environmental review law allows decisionmakers and the public to make more fully-informed decisions that can balance and mitigate potential long-term impacts to the public interest. This ensures prudent planning while reducing conflict, minimizing adverse outcomes, and safeguarding the health and well-being of present and future generations. Please do not roll back this critical law under the mistaken guise that we would simply be "codifying" existing rules - this measure goes far beyond what our existing rules allow.
Accordingly, I respectfully urge the Committee to HOLD HB2358 HD1. Mahalo nui for the opportunity to testify.
Testimony instructions
Register for a capitol website account if you haven’t yet (youʻll need to confirm your registration by responding to an automated email)
Sign in to capitol.hawaii.gov with your registration information and click the "Submit Testimony" button.
Enter ”HB2358” where it says "Enter Bill or Measure."
Input your information and your written testimony, select your testimony option(s)—in-person + written, remotely + written, written only. Please consider providing verbal testimony (in-person or remotely) if you are able! Note: Virtual testimony option may be disabled 24 hours before the hearing.
If you are testifying via Zoom, be sure to review these instructions (page 4)