• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

Movement of Plastic-baled Garbage and Regulated (Domestic) Garbage from Hawaii to Landfills in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. Final Biological Assessment, February 2008 Table of Contents I. Introduction and Background on Proposed Action 3 II. Listed Species and Program Assessments 28 Appendix A. Compliance Agreements 85 Appendix B. Marine Mammal Protection Act 150 Appendix C. Risk of Introduction of Pests to the Continental United States via Municipal Solid Waste from Hawaii. 159 Appendix D. Risk of Introduction of Pests to Washington State via Municipal Solid Waste from Hawaii 205 Appendix E. Risk of Introduction of Pests to Oregon via Municipal Solid Waste from Hawaii. 214 Appendix F. Risk of Introduction of Pests to Idaho via Municipal Solid Waste from Hawaii. 233 2 I. Introduction and Background on Proposed Action This biological assessment (BA) has been prepared by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (APHIS) to evaluate the potential effects on federally-listed threatened and endangered species and designated critical habitat from the movement of baled garbage and regulated (domestic) garbage (GRG) from the State of Hawaii for disposal at landfills in Oregon, Idaho, and Washington. Specifically, garbage is defined as urban (commercial and residential) solid waste from municipalities in Hawaii, excluding incinerator ash and collections of agricultural waste and yard waste. Regulated (domestic) garbage refers to articles generated in Hawaii that are restricted from movement to the continental United States under various quarantine regulations established to prevent the spread of plant pests (including insects, disease, and weeds) into areas where the pests are not prevalent. Together, these comprise garbage and regulated (domestic) garbage, referred to as GRG in this BA. The movement of GRG would be approved by APHIS after compliance agreements between APHIS, the State of Washington, Idaho, or Oregon, the State of Hawaii, and specific applicants are agreed upon and signed in accordance with APHIS regulations (7 Code of Federal Regulations (CFR) § 330.400). The regulations allow GRG from Hawaii to be moved to the continental United States if it is compressed, packaged, shipped, and disposed of in a manner that the APHIS Administrator determines is adequate to prevent the introduction or dissemination of plant pests, and if it is moved in compliance with all applicable laws for environmental protection. Proposed Action: Baled GRG will be transported on barges pulled by tugboat from Hawaii to the mainland where the barges will enter the Columbia River and continue up the river to specified ports on the river. The baled waste will be transloaded from the barge to an asphalt or concrete staging area then will be loaded onto trucks or rail cars and transported to specified, approved landfills in Washington, Oregon, and Idaho (see figure 1 for potential landfills). APHIS may authorize this activity under compliance agreement with applicants that have requested APHIS approval. 3 Figure 1. Potential landfills in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho to receive baled GRG from Hawaii. Duration of the proposed action: APHIS expects that the proposed actions will continue for the foreseeable future, as long as the destination landfills maintain required permits to continue functioning and there is capacity in the landfills to accept waste. For example, the Regional Disposal Company (owner and operator of the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Washington) has an agreement with Klickitat County, Washington to operate the landfill until 2041. The Columbia Ridge Landfill in Gilliam County, Oregon, has an estimated remaining service life (permitted site capacity) of approximately 50 years. At this time, no applicant has specified a timeframe for the proposed action; however, compliance agreements between APHIS, PPQ and the waste management companies are renewed every 3 years. If there are changes to be made to the agreement, those are included at that time if they are agreed upon by both the companies and PPQ (and PPQ would also need to make sure any changes meet PPQ regulations, etc.,). If the effects of the proposed action change in a manner or to an extent not previously considered APHIS will re-initiate consultation at that time. 4 Previous Actions and History of Consultation: Currently, there are two companies that have been approved to move GRG from Honolulu, Hawaii to Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Klickitat County, Washington – Hawaii Waste Systems (HWS) and Pacific Rim Environmental Resources, Inc. (PRER). Each applicant has signed two compliance agreements, one for the handling of GRG at its point of origin and one for handling it at its destination (see appendix A for examples of compliance agreements). These compliance agreements detail conditions and provisions for the movement and transport of bales and the actions to be taken in the event of a breach in the bale wrapping or a spill. While the compliance agreements for HWS and PRER are not identical, they are substantially similar in all aspects affecting pest risk. That is, the compliance agreements are constructed to reduce pest risk to the lowest level possible. Key items that will be included in the compliance agreements are reduction of agricultural waste and yard waste, compression and baling standards to ensure compact and air-tight baling, handling procedures, spill response procedures, and final landfill disposal standards. Although compliance agreements are in place, no baled GRG has yet been barged to the Roosevelt Regional Landfill by either company to date. APHIS previously consulted with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) once and the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) twice on specific parts of this action. APHIS prepared a BA regarding the proposed rule (now final regulation 7 Code of Federal regulations Section 330.402 and 403) that governs the interstate movement of baled GRG from Hawaii to the continental United States. On September 11, 2006, APHIS received a concurrence letter from NMFS indicating that the administrative amendments of the proposed rule were not likely to adversely affect several whale and sea turtle species. The concurrence was based on the understanding that all site-specific compliance agreements associated with the actual movements of baled GRG from Hawaii would undergo individual section 7 consultations at the time they were proposed. APHIS then submitted a BA to both FWS and NMFS that analyzed a specific proposal to approve the barging and trucking of baled waste from Oahu to the Roosevelt Regional Landfill in Klickitat County, Washington, by two waste management companies, HWS and PRER. APHIS received concurrence from both agencies (letters dated December 15, 2006 (FWS) (USFWS Reference: 13260-2007-I-0023) and December 18, 2006 (NMFS)) on that proposed action and compliance agreements were finalized for both companies. Now, additional companies are proposing to transport GRG via barge from Hawaii to landfills in Washington and other states, including Oregon and Idaho and more companies may request approval from APHIS for such activity. Also, HWS and PRER have submitted amendments to their initial requests. APHIS believes that the reinitiation of section 7 consultation with each slight adjustment of each proposal would be burdensome to both APHIS, FWS, and NMFS and may appear as “piecemealing” the consultation. APHIS believes that all current and future proposals for movement of baled GRG can be considered and addressed in one consultation if a “worst case scenerio” approach is used in considering effects of the action on federally listed species and critical habitat. Therefore, this BA will consider the movement of a maximum amount of baled GRG by any company from the State of Hawaii to any qualified landfill in Washington, Oregon, or Idaho under compliance agreement from APHIS. The standards required for the original applicants (HWS and PRER) in regards to baling, handling, spill response, and disposal would apply to any company that requests to barge GRG from Hawaii to Washington, Oregon, or Idaho. APHIS will keep track of each proposal/approval to ensure that the amounts of GRG, or barge, rail, or truck traffic considered in this BA are not exceeded. APHIS will re-initiate 5 consultation with FWS and NMFS if a proposal would cause exceedance of the amounts of GRG exported from Hawaii, number of barge trips, or amount of rail or truck traffic that were considered in this document. APHIS will also re-initiate consultation if new effects not considered in this BA are discoverered or if new species are listed or critical habitat is designated that could be affected by this action. Action Area: The action area for this project encompasses the ocean route from Hawaii to the mainland, the barge-navigable portion of the Columbia River, and rail and truck routes in Oregon, Washington, and Idaho. Hawaii Description: The State of Hawaii is one of the smaller states with only 10,941 square miles of territory spread over six larger tropical islands and a number of smaller ones. It is also physically separated from the mainland of the United States by 2,300 miles of Pacific Ocean. Its tropical nature and isolated location have provided Hawaii with many unique attributes, as well as some unique challenges. The nearshore environments around the islands of the Hawaiian archipelago include a large array of marine animals, corals and plants, some of which are endemic and found nowhere else. This area includes the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary, which is comprised of five separate areas abutting six of the major islands of the State of Hawaii (figure 2). A primary attraction of this marine sanctuary is the large congregation of humpback whales that winter in the area. Beyond the nearshore environments surrounding Hawaii is open ocean inhabited by resident and migratory pelagic fish, birds, sea turtles, and marine mammals. See appendix B for a list of marine mammals of Hawaii, Washington, and Oregon protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act.

Load more

  262

Copy Link