Public Hearing Notice

News Release from Hawaii Department of Health, November 29, 2019 (With accuracy-inducing comments in parenthesis)

The State of Hawaii Department of Health will hold a public hearing for the proposed amendment of Hawaii Administrative Rules chapter 11-280.1. The proposed amendment removes the limitation on the amount of time the department has to take action on a complete application for an Underground Storage Tank (UST) system permit and removes the automatic approval of a permit when that time limit is exceeded. The proposed change eliminates an unintended potential consequence of the current rules: namely, that a contested permit is automatically “deemed approved” if the department is unable to take action on the permit within one hundred eighty (180) days of receiving a complete application. 

(Translation: Our incometence becomes an excuse to give us more power.)

This change creates no new obligations for tank owners and operators and should have no impact on the issuance of routine UST system permits that are not the subject of dispute, particularly permit renewals for existing systems.

(Translation: We won't act on gas station permits fast enough.  More and more it will becopme difficult for gas stations to remain open.  Eco-activists will now 'dispute' everything because oil is the devil.  We want the public to think only of Red Hill.)

The proposed amendment can be viewed at 2827 Waimano Home Rd #100, Pearl City, Mon-Fri, 8am-4pm (except state holidays) and is posted online at health.hawaii.gov/shwb/ust-har.  Copies will be mailed on request and payment of a 5 cent/page copy fee and postage; call 808-586-4226 to request.

The public hearing will be at 9am on December 30, 2019 at the State Lab auditorium at 2725 Waimano Home Rd, Pearl City. All interested parties may attend to present relevant information and individual opinion. Anyone unable to attend may send written testimony to Attn: sec. 11-280.1-327; 2827 Waimano Home Rd #100 Pearl City, HI 96782 or noa.klein@doh.hawaii.gov. Testimony must be received by January 6, 2020. To request an auxiliary aid or service (e.g. ASL interpreter, large print) for the hearing, call 808-586-4226 (voice/TDD) or e-mail roxanne.kwan@doh.hawaii.gov by December 19.

Note:  This proposed amendment and scheduled public hearing is in addition to changes to chapter 11-280.1, HAR, that have already been proposed and for which a public hearing has already been scheduled (December 2).  The previously proposed changes (regarding tank design and construction and technical clarifications) are not related to, nor do they have any impact on, the proposed changes being introduced pursuant to this notice (regarding permitting).  If you have already submitted comments on the previously proposed changes, you do not need to re-submit those same comments during this new comment period for the more recent amendments.  The submission of additional comments is necessary only if those comments concern the changes proposed in this notice.