Residents want
safety checks for
Campbell park

The community is angry
and demands answers as to
why the company didn't act
sooner after the huge acid spill

By Lori Tighe
Star-Bulletin

Residents furious about the Thanksgiving Day acid spill at Campbell Industrial Park vowed to push for laws regulating safety inspections.

And, they want answers.

How did the 35-ton spill of sulfuric acid at Brewer Environmental Industries happen on Thanksgiving Day and why didn't the company respond immediately, they wonder.

"As a community, we're really angry about it. Brewer behaved in an unprofessional and irresponsible manner," said Maeda Timson, chairwoman of the Makakilo/Kapolei/Honokai Hale Neighborhood Board.

"My gosh, how can you have highly toxic chemicals and not check for corroded pipes? And, they had no shut-off valve," Timson said.

The state expected the cleanup to continue today as workers prepared to shovel out the neutralized acid into containers. The hazardous waste will be shipped to the mainland for disposal.

"It's a big spill, everybody should be concerned," said Gary Gill, state deputy director for environmental health. "Every aspect of the Brewer operation will be scrutinized. I fully encourage the public to help us get to the bottom of this."

Brewer had a similar sulfuric acid leak in 1994 and, this year, was fined $250,000 for improperly storing hazardous waste.

The company planned to leave the acid in puddles to evaporate over the weekend when the state took over the cleanup process on Friday. Gill called the company's handling of the spill "completely inadequate."

Brewer's president, Stephen Knox, said the company will undergo a full-scale review of its safety procedures.

Henry Curtis, executive director of the environmental group, Life of the Land, plans to call a public meeting with the state Department of Health, Brewer and the community to discuss what happened and how future risk will be minimized.

"We're very concerned about it. We want to make sure the community is safe. We're curious why there's no safeguards in place," Curtis said.

"Are these accidents common? Who's monitoring the leaks? And how will the community be notified about them?" he asked.

Jane Ross, who has lived about a mile away from Campbell Industrial Park since 1964, said nearby residents escaped serious harm only because trade winds blew the spill's toxic cloud out to sea.

If winds were blowing from Waianae, the toxic cloud would have hit Kapolei in the face, she said.

"I'm appalled at how Brewer handled the situation. Unless there are outside checks, this will happen again," Ross said. "We've been thinking about these kind of things for years and trying to change what's happening there."

The state Legislature failed to pass a bill proposed by residents calling for safety regulations last year.

"The community is really frightened because we don't know what is happening in that park," Timson said.

"I'm tired of being told that Campbell Industrial was there before all of us residents and we need to put up with it. Then why did the city and the state designate Kapolei the "Second City?' Why did they bring it near a dangerous park?"

She and other board members plan to push for a new bill addressing chemical accidents.

The state doesn't know what kind of environmental damage, if any, the spill caused and will take soil samples after the cleanup, Gill said. But wildlife near Brewer looked OK, he said.

If the acid leaked into the groundwater, the coral limestone underneath will help neutralize the acid before it washes out to sea, said Sherwood Maynard, director of the University of Hawaii's Marine Options Program.

However, the toxic cloud of chlorine bleach and sulfuric acid that drifted over the ocean could injure sea life as acid rain, he said.

"It concerns me. It doesn't seem the company was ready to handle a situation like this. What if it happened tomorrow, would they learn anything from it?" Maynard asked.

By law, all companies in Campbell Industrial Park must disclose toxic chemicals on site, said Jeff Mikulina, of the Hawaii Sierra Club.

However, the Environmental Protection Agency's Internet web site of chemical disclosures doesn't list the Brewer plant at Campbell Industrial Park, Mikulina said.

The problem is the disclosure law lacks enforcement, he said.

"If Brewer thinks they can get away with it just because they're downwind, that's just sloppiness," Mikulina said.