What a deal!
After stalling and deferring necessary sewage upgrades for his six years in office, Honolulu Mayor Mufi Hannemann yesterday announced a settlement in the long running environmental lawsuit brought by the Sierra Club.
The announcement comes just weeks before he walks out of city hall to make his run for governor, leaving behind years of big talk and over $6 million in legal fees.
Meaning: Mufi takes credit for the settlement and gets out of Dodge, while leaving the $1+ billion in upgrade costs for the next guy to have to worry about, and all of us to pay.
Thank you, Mr. Mayor.
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No surprise….
Not to mention that the existing fee structure — which puts all the weight on having a sewer connection and virtually none on the use of water — offers no disincentive to waste. This structure operates to penalize those who use the least water (conserving a precious resource) and send the least amount of effluent into the sewer (placing the smallest burden on the decrepit wastewater system).
Wassupwitdat?
Forgot to provide specifics: single or two family home occupants pay more for their wastewater connection than those in, for example, apartment buildings, regardless of the number of appliances (sinks, baths, toilets) or the amount of water used. As a result, the former pays more for using 1,000 gallons/mo. than does the latter if it uses 10,000 gals/mo.
Again, wassupwitdat?
There will be big pressure on the next mayor. We can’t handle both rail and the sewer upgrades.
You’ re right about Mufi getting out in the nick of time. He knew that our economy could not support both projects. Rail is in jeopardy now.
I think rail is doing fine. Its sources of revenue – the rail tax on Oahu and federal rail funds – have zip to do with the sewer settlement. If anything, rail shows that now is the time to do infrastructure improvements, cuz contractors are starving for work and driving down costs (see: $150 million under budget in rail contracts).
Yeah, and they can replace all the infratructure at once as they dig everything between Ewa and downtown. No, wait, that might actually make sense . . . .
I should say. The rail is doing REAL FINE for special Mufi friends like Yadao and his contractors.
However, Taxpayers are not going to be doing too fine.
Inouye was quoted as saying the sewer requirements will bankrupt the city. Rail will bankrupt the city too. Just watch.
The EPA forced this upon Honolulu, despite repeated testimony from marine experts who said that sewage with primary treatment was doing no harm to the ecosystem.
The EPA’s standards were intended to protect freshwater sources from which cities also drew drinking water. We don’t have that problem here in Hawaii.
If expensive secondary treatment is mandatory, then perhaps the City should consider spending more for tertiary treatment and direct that water for non-potable use on golf courses, farming and landscaping.
It would make more sense to turn costly treated sewage into a resource rather than just dumping something that’s potentially valuable out to sea.
To set the record straight, the lawsuit by the Sierra Club was brought against Mayor Jeremy Harris in 2004 and his administration’s neglect of needed sewer work for that year and the previous ten that he held office. Everyone in and out of Honolulu Hale will tell you that.
Secondly, the Hannemann administration has neither stalled nor deferred necessary sewage upgrades in his six years in office. In fact, an examination of the record shows much more extensive upgrades, and a corresponding decline in the number of sewage spill on Oahu from 2005-2010 than from 2000-2004. The settlement talks have been underway for quite some time, so there certainly has been no delay tactic, and the Mayor got for ratepayers exactly the thing Vicki V is suggesting…that is, making the upgrades affordable over the long term. Play with it as you will, but this is an AGREEMENT among the Sierra Club, the City, the USEPA and the DOH because ALL parties believe it is the right thing to do.
either some of you don’t read very well or you are missing the primary point of Ian’s post, which is:
“The announcement comes just weeks before he walks out of city hall to make his run for governor, leaving behind years of big talk and over $6 million in legal fees.”
So, Bill …… the timing of the AGREEMENT is a total, sheer, perfect, absolute COINCIDENCE? yes or no please. and if you call it a sheer coincidence, i’m sorry but people are going to laugh at you. and they should.
As I mentioned, the settlement talks have been underway for quite some time. They concluded when they did and involved several parties reaching agreement. Had they been concluded a month ago, the agreement would have been announced then. 2 months ago, then. Had they been concluded a month from now, the agreement would have been announced then. The timing of the agreement is what it is.
Honestly, I’m much more interested in accuracy and fairness in what is “reported,” which is why I felt compelled to set the record straight about statements such as the opening line, “After stalling and deferring necessary sewage upgrades for his six years in office…” which are written as fact and which are in fact, simply not true.
Totally agree.
[I tried to post just those two words and got a message that said my post was “a bit too short.” Imagine that, brevity is now a vice.]
And now it’s in the wrong place. Sheesh. It was supposed to follow Dean’s comment on the reuse of tertiary-treated water.
as the regular annonymous poster “Bill”, I find it interesting that there is another Bill posting comments … on the other hand, that Bill sounds like the real Bill …
If Hannemann had NOT reached some resolution on this issue, the same critics would be saying he left it undone. He can’t win.
One thing that nobody mentioned yet is that Mufi has been battling a very politically motivated and hostile, Bush appointee until this year. Maybe a more reasonable EPA administrator under Obama has made it easier to work out an acceptable solution. Just a theory.
Both of those are good points. Thanks.
The legal fees bought the ratepayers time. Lots of time. Secondary upgrades wont happen untill the collection system is fixed. That allows it to do be done without bankrupting the City.
Mahalo Bill Brennan for your spin.
Can’t have a Mufi post without the usual “spin” from Brennon, Rollman and Coelho.
Although I have many issues with how the city handles its business, I have to agree that I doubt that it was timed by Mufi. If anything, it might have happened now rather than later because he wanted to get it done before leaving the mayor’s office. Elections are great motivators.