Complaint filed After almost a year of impasse, the two sides of a dispute over what to do with a World War II-era dump at Bellows Air Force Station may start talking to each other this week.
over Bellows dump
A group alleges that the Air Force
has not listened to concernsBy Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.comJim Andrews, community co-chairman of a Restoration Advisory Board for cleanup projects at Bellows, announced yesterday that he is filing formal complaints with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Department of Justice regarding what he says were instances of discrimination against him by the Air Force.
Andrews said yesterday that the Air Force hasn't listened to him or the Waimanalo community he represents since they objected last April to what the Air Force wanted to do: cover the one-acre dump with two feet of soil and plant grass over it.
The dump contains heavy metals and is contaminated enough that it got a rating in 1991 that would have qualified it for Superfund status, the EPA's list of most-polluted sites, Andrews said at a news conference held outside the Waimanalo base yesterday.
That rating, however, was a very preliminary estimate based on what "could" have been there but wasn't, as determined by further testing that gave the site a much milder rating, environmental engineer Mark Petersen said at an Air Force news conference held immediately after Andrews'.
Surrounded by seven members of the community board, Andrews told reporters that he believes the landfill is leaching into the ground water and Waimanalo Bay 3,000 feet away.
By not holding any joint meetings between military and civilians to discuss restoration plans over the past year, the Air Force has shown a lack of respect for residents of Waimanalo, 75 percent of whom have native Hawaiian ancestry, said Mabel Spencer, a member of the Restoration Advisory Board and the Waimanalo Neighborhood Board.
"If this were Kahala or Manoa, it (the dump) would be gone tomorrow," she said.
Andrews' complaints allege racial discrimination both against him, because he is African American, and against the Waimanalo community, which has many Hawaiian residents.
Community concern moved the Air Force to reconsider its former stance, said Petersen.
Petersen, who took over the project a week ago, is recommending that the Air Force conduct a more thorough remedial investigation feasibility study.
The Honolulu EPA office confirmed that it's aware Andrews has filed complaints, but said they would be handled in Washington.
State Department of Health staff agreed a year ago with the military that covering the Bellows landfill would be adequate, said Gary Gill, deputy director for the environment. But if the Air Force reconsiders the matter, he said, "I would withhold judgment until the final reports are in."
Petersen said he, the military co-chairmen of the Restoration Advisory Board and Andrews are to meet privately Friday. Petersen hopes to make an agenda for an April meeting of the board to resume dialog on the landfill solution.