The OEQC Offers Advice on Secondary Impacts

The following is an excerpt from Page 11 of the March 8, 2008 Environmental Notice, which provides the following guidance regarding secondary impacts and highway developments:

Secondary Impacts
Certain actions, such as highway development, can induce growth. Such induced growth is an example of a secondary or indirect impact Section 11-200-17(i), Hawai‘i Administrative Rules, is especially instructive when it states:

"[i]t should be realized that several actions, in particular those that involve the construction of public facilities or structures (e.g., highways, airports, sewer systems, water resource projects, etc.) may well stimulate or induce secondary effects."

This is particularly relevant in light of the State DOT’s position that landowners must perform an environmental assessment (“EA”) under HRS chapter 343 if its project connects to a state highway facility. Depending on the proposed project, the EA must include a discussion of not only improvements to the state highway facility but the entire project and its secondary impacts.