Hawaii Administrative Rules › Title 11 - DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH › Subtitle 1 - GENERAL DEPARTMENTAL PROVISIONS › Chapter 200.1 - ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT STATEMENT RULES › Subchapter 2 - DEFINITIONS › Section 11-200.1-2 - Definitions

Current through June, 2024
As used in this chapter: "Acceptance" means a formal
					 determination that the document required to be filed pursuant to chapter 343,
					 HRS, fulfills the requirements of an EIS, as prescribed by section 11-200.1-28.
					 Acceptance does not mean that the action is environmentally sound or unsound,
					 but only that the document complies with chapter 343, HRS, and this
					 chapter,
"Accepting authority" means, in the case of agency actions,
					 the respective governor or mayor, or their authorized representative, and in
					 the case of applicant actions, the agency that initially received and agreed to
					 process the request for an approval, that makes the determination that the EIS
					 fulfills the requirements for acceptance.
"Action" means any program or project to be initiated by an
					 agency or applicant.
"Addendum" means an attachment to a draft EA or draft EIS,
					 prepared at the discretion of the proposing agency, applicant, accepting
					 authority, or approving agency, and distinct from a supplemental EIS, for the
					 purpose of disclosing and addressing clerical errors such as inadvertent
					 omissions, corrections, or clarifications to information already contained in
					 the draft EA or the draft EIS filed with the office.
"Agency" means any department, office, board, or commission
					 of the state or county government that is part of the executive branch of that
					 government.
"Applicant" means any person that, pursuant to statute,
					 ordinance, or rule, officially requests approval from an agency for a proposed
					 action.
"Approval" means a discretionary consent required from an
					 agency prior to implementation of an action.
"Approving agency" means an agency that issues an approval
					 prior to implementation of an applicant action.
"Council" means the environmental council.
"Cumulative impact" means the impact on the environment
					 that results from the incremental impact of the action when added to other
					 past, present, and reasonably foreseeable future actions regardless of what
					 agency or person undertakes the other actions. Cumulative impacts can result
					 from individually minor but collectively significant actions taking place over
					 a period of time.
"Discretionary consent" means a consent, sanction, or
					 recommendation from an agency for which judgment and free will may be exercised
					 by the issuing agency, as distinguished from a ministerial consent. Ministerial
					 consent means a consent, sanction, or recommendation from an agency based upon
					 a given set of facts, as prescribed by law without the use of judgment or
					 discretion.
"Draft environmental assessment" means the EA submitted by
					 a proposing agency or an approving agency for public review and comment when
					 that agency anticipates a finding of no significant impact (FONSI).
"Effects" or "impacts" as used in this chapter are
					 synonymous. Effects may include ecological effects (such as the effects on
					 natural resources and on the components, structures, and functioning of
					 affected ecosystems), aesthetic effects, historic effects, cultural effects,
					 economic effects, social effects, or health effects, whether primary,
					 secondary, or cumulative, whether immediate or delayed. Effects may also
					 include those effects resulting from actions that may have both beneficial and
					 detrimental effects, even if on balance the agency believes that the effect
					 will be beneficial.
"EIS preparation notice", "EISPN", or "preparation notice"
					 means a determination that an action may have a significant effect on the
					 environment and, therefore, will require the preparation of an EIS, based on
					 either an EA or an agency's judgment and experience that the proposed action
					 may have a significant effect on the environment.
"EIS public scoping meeting** means a meeting in which
					 agencies, citizen groups, and the general public assist the proposing agency or
					 applicant in determining the range of actions, alternatives, impacts, and
					 proposed mitigation measures to be considered in the draft EIS and the
					 significant issues to be analyzed in depth in the draft EIS*
"Emergency action" means an action to prevent or mitigate
					 loss or damage to life, health, property, or essential public services in
					 response to a sudden unexpected occurrence demanding the immediate
					 action.
"Environment" means humanity's surroundings, inclusive of
					 all the physical, economic, cultural, and social conditions that exist within
					 the area affected by a proposed action, including land, human and animal
					 communities, health, air, water, minerals, flora, fauna, ambient noise, and
					 objects of historic, cultural, or aesthetic significance.
"Environmental assessment" or "EA" means a written
					 evaluation that serves to provide sufficient evidence and analysis to determine
					 whether an action may have a significant effect.
"Environmental impact statement", "statement", or "EIS"
					 means an informational document prepared in compliance with chapter 343, HRS.
					 The initial EIS filed for public review shall be referred to as the draft EIS
					 and shall be distinguished from the final EIS, which is the document that has
					 incorporated the public's comments and the responses to those comments* The
					 final EIS is the document that shall be evaluated for acceptability by the
					 accepting authority.
"Exemption list" means a list prepared by an agency
					 pursuant to subchapter
					 8. The list may contain in part one the
					 types of routine activities and ordinary functions within the jurisdiction or
					 expertise of the agency that by their nature do not have the potential to
					 individually or cumulatively adversely affect the environment more than
					 negligibly and that the agency considers to not rise to the level of requiring
					 further chapter 343, HRS, environmental review. In part two, the list may
					 contain the types of actions the agency finds fit into the general types of
					 action enumerated in section 11-200.1-15.
"Exemption notice" means a notice produced in accordance
					 with subchapter
					 8 for an action that a proposing agency
					 or approving agency on behalf of an applicant determines to be exempt from
					 preparation of an EA.
"Final environmental assessment" means either the EA
					 submitted by a proposing agency or an approving agency following the public
					 review and comment period for the draft EA and in support of either a FONSI or
					 an EISPN.
"Finding of no significant impact" or "FONSI" means a
					 determination by an agency based on an EA that an action not otherwise exempt
					 will not have a significant effect on the environment and therefore does not
					 require the preparation of an EIS.
"Impacts" means the same as "effects".
"Issue date" means the date imprinted on the periodic
					 bulletin required by section
					 343-3,
					 HRS.
"National Environmental Policy Act" or "NEPA" means the
					 National Environmental Policy Act of 1969, Public Law 91-190, 42 U.S.C.
					 sections 4321-4347, as amended.
"Office" means the office of environmental quality
					 control.
"Periodic bulletin" or "bulletin" means the document
					 required by section
					 343-3,
					 HRS, and published by the office.
"Person" includes any individual, partnership, firm,
					 association, trust, estate, private corporation, or other legal entity other
					 than an agency.
"Primary impact", "primary effect", "direct impact", or
					 "direct effect" means effects that are caused by the action and occur at the
					 same time and place.
"Program" means a series of one of more projects to be
					 carried out concurrently or in phases within a general timeline, that may
					 include multiple sites or geographic areas, and is undertaken for a broad goal
					 or purpose. A program may include: a number of separate projects in a given
					 geographic area which, if considered singly, may have minor impacts, but if
					 considered together,- may have significant impacts; separate projects having
					 generic or common impacts; an entire plan having wide application or
					 restricting the range of future alternative policies or actions, including new
					 significant changes to existing land use plans, development plans, zoning
					 regulations, or agency comprehensive resource management plans; implementation
					 of multiple projects over a long time frame; or implementation of a single
					 project over a large geographic area.
"Project" means a discrete, planned undertaking that is
					 site and time specific, has a specific goal or purpose, and has potential
					 impact to the environment.
"Proposing agency" means any state or county agency that
					 proposes an action under chapter 343, HRS.
"Secondary impact", "secondary effect", "indirect impact",
					 or "indirect effect" means an effect that is caused by the action and is later
					 in time or farther removed in distance, but is still reasonably foreseeable. An
					 indirect effect may include a growth-inducing effect and other effects related
					 to induced changes in the pattern of land use, population density or growth
					 rate, and related effects on air, water, and other natural systems, including
					 ecosystems.
"Significant effect" or 'significant impact" means the sum
					 of effects on the quality of the environment, including actions that
					 irrevocably commit a natural resource, curtail the range of beneficial uses of
					 the environment, are contrary to the State's environmental policies or
					 long-term environmental goals and guidelines as established by law, adversely
					 affect the economic welfare, social welfare, or cultural practices of the
					 community and State, or are otherwise set forth in section 11-200,
					 1-13,
"Supplemental EIS" means an updated EIS prepared for an
					 action for which an EIS was previously accepted, but which has since changed
					 substantively in size, scope, intensity, use, location, or timing, among other
					 things.
"Trigger" means any use or activity listed in section
					 343-5(a),
					 HRS, requiring environmental review.
Unless defined in this section, elsewhere within this
					 chapter, or in chapter 343, HRS, a proposing agency or approving agency may use
					 its administrative rules or statutes that they implement to interpret undefined
					 terms.