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Speakers urge prudence
in Kalaeloa dredging

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By Harold Morse
Star-Bulletin

Minimize adverse impacts on marine life and nearby communities in dredging Kalaeloa Barbers Point Harbor to deepen the harbor entrance and turning basin.

Twelve speakers trumpeted that message at an Army Corps of Engineers public meeting last night at Kapolei High School.

A proposed joint state-federal project would deepen the harbor basin to a maximum of 45 feet (from its present 38 feet), deepen the entrance channel from its present 42 feet to a maximum of 47 feet and add a jetty north of the harbor entrance.

All this would allow big ships to enter fully loaded in safety, improve efficiency and reduce costs with savings ultimately passed on to consumers, the some 40 attendees were told.

The most vehement objections were against blasting in the dredging operation, which officials said would be a last resort.

"Mechanical excavation without blasting is the only fully acceptable one to our community," said Jane Ross of the Honokai Hale-Nanakai Gardens Community Association. "We are adamantly opposed to blasting because of the vibrations.

"We're not opposed to any reasonable development that does not negatively impact our community. ... We hope that with your supervision this will be one of them."

Dredging by blasting in the 1980s was hell, Ross said.

"Our houses shook," she said. "The tongue and groove separated. The foundation slabs cracked."

Don't blast this time, she said. "We just want you to do the darned thing right! Do it once and for all!"

Building a 450-foot jetty out to sea to counter cross-current activity that endangers ships entering the harbor also drew warnings.

The jetty might adversely affect fish migration and cause sand to pile up in the wrong places, some said.

There were objections the jetty would be off limits for recreational fishing.

The harbor, which became operational in 1990, occupies about 310 acres and includes an entrance channel, harbor basin, barge basin and several piers and storage yards.

With completion of environmental documents by the end of this year, a 2-year design phase and two years of construction, the state-of-the-art harbor could be in place in late 2005, assuming federal and state funding comes available in the necessary range of $25 million to $50 million.

Colette Sakoda, with consultants Parsons Brinkckerhoff, said blasting would be done only if hard rock is encountered.

She and others said if it happens, individual blasts will be small and spread out.

Turbid or muddy, dirty waters caused by dredging should be no worse than normal, and environmental harm should be minimal, said Marc Ericksen, with consultants Sea Engineering Inc.

William Aila, a Waianae fishermen, was unconvinced.

He predicted sand diverted by the jetty will fill up a man-made lagoon at nearby Ko Olina Resort and foresaw other adverse side effects.