Section 11-200.1-1 - Purpose(a) Chapter 343, Hawaii Revised Statutes (HRS), establishes a system of environmental review at the state and county levels that shall ensure that environmental concerns are given appropriate consideration in decision-making along with economic and technical considerations. The purpose of this chapter is to provide agencies and persons with procedures, specifications regarding the contents of exemption notices, environmental assessments (EAs), and environmental impact statements (EISs), and criteria and definitions of statewide application.(b) Agencies and applicants shall ensure that exemption notices, EAs, and EISs are prepared at the earliest practicable time. This shall assure an early, open forum for discussion of adverse effects and available alternatives, and that the decision-makers will be enlightened to any environmental consequences of the proposed action prior to decision-making.(c) Exemption notices, EAs, and EISs are meaningless without the conscientious application of the environmental review process as a whole, and shall not be merely a self-serving recitation of benefits and a rationalization of the proposed action. In preparing any exemption notice, EA, or EIS, proposing agencies and applicants are to make every effort to;(1) Convey the required information succinctly in a form easily understood, both by members of the public and by government decision-makers, giving attention to the substance of the information conveyed rather than to the particular form or length of the document;(2) Concentrate on important issues and to ensure that the document remains essentially self-contained, capable of being understood by the reader without the need for undue cross-reference, and (3) Conduct any required consultation as mutual, open and direct, two-way communication, in good faith, to secure the meaningful participation of agencies and the public in the environmental review process. Haw. Code R. § 11-200.1-1
[Eff AUG 9 2019] (Auth: HRS §§ 343-5, 343-6) (Imp: HRS §§ 343-1, 343-6)