Maui wastewater
ruling proves
political motive,
Lingle says

A federal judge rejects the
state's claims in an EPA suit
on sewage spills

By Debra Barayuga
Star-Bulletin

A federal judge's dismissal of the state's claims in an Environmental Protection Agency lawsuit against Maui County's wastewater system shows that the state improperly used the federal court to pursue violations not under its jurisdiction, former Maui Mayor Linda Lingle said.

"This ruling proves that we are right; this whole exercise was politically motivated," said Lingle, who lost a gubernatorial bid to incumbent Gov. Ben Cayetano in November. "More than 80 percent of the case does not violate EPA laws, yet the state continued to move forward until a federal judge threw them out."

The state's claims constitute 80 percent of the claims contained in the joint federal-state suit filed in July by the EPA and state Department of Health over hundreds of sewage spills in Maui County between 1992 and 1996.

Maui County had protested the state's joining the lawsuit because the EPA has jurisdiction over wastewater spills in waterways, while the state has jurisdiction over ground spills.

Federal Judge Susan Mollway, who ruled Friday, also was concerned that the state did not pursue administrative remedies before filing the lawsuit.

Deputy attorney general Heidi Rian said today that the judge declined to accept jurisdiction over the state's claims because she believed there are issues of state law that should be determined by state courts.

The state will remain as a party to the federal suit but is free to pursue its claims in state court, Rian said.

In 1997, Maui County was negotiating fines and penalties as part of its deal with the state when the state in mid-1998 changed its mind and pulled back on all agreements totaling $1 million, said Lloyd Yonenaka, Lingle's spokesman.

The new mandates being ordered by the state totaled nearly $34 million. The county broke off negotiations when it believed the state was not negotiating in good faith, he said.

Earlier, the EPA and state Health Department had begun administrative action by requiring Maui County to reduce its volume and frequency of spills by 75 percent by Dec. 31, 1997.

The county exceeded the mandates - reducing spill volume by 99 percent and frequency by 91 percent, Lingle said. "By suspending administrative actions and taking us into court after we exceeded their requirements shows they did it for political reasons."

Maui County filed complaints against the state and EPA, producing affidavits from two Maui county employees that the state and EPA were under orders to complete negotiations "before the elections."