DENNIS ODA DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM At the Kalaeloa/Barbers Point Harbor, a ship and sailboat occupied Marisco's small drydock, known as Lil Perris, Friday.

Marisco faces fines
of $10.8 million

State health officials contend
the company released grit
and fluids at Kalaeloa

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By Diana Leone
dleone@starbulletin.com

Maritime company Marisco Ltd. could face up to $10.8 million in fines for repeatedly releasing pollutants from its two dry-dock shipyards into Barbers Point Harbor over the past three years, the state Health Department has alleged.

The department alleges that the company has been allowing unacceptable levels of sandblast grit, cooling water, oil, hydraulic fluid and other pollutants to enter Barbers Point Harbor from its facilities there on at least six documented occasions, including one release that lasted 33 or more days. Required limits for copper, mercury, zinc, suspended solids and acidity have been exceeded, according to the department's June 25 complaint.

In addition, the complaint lists at least 433 alleged instances of the company violating its permit requirements. Among the alleged violations were incorrect reporting of required water quality tests, failure to file required reports and photographs, failure to collect required water samples, failure to report discharges and failure to clean the dry dock before lowering it.

Marisco is ordered to "take immediate corrective action to prevent the occurrence of similar violations in the future," according to the complaint.

No fines have been set, and the purpose of the civil action is to inspire the company to comply with its permit, not collect fines, said Libby Stoddard, an engineer with the department's Clean Water Branch. "We are willing to work with people," she said.

DENNIS ODA DODA@STARBULLETIN.COM The state Health Department claims Marisco has released sandblast grit, cooling water, oil, hydraulic fluid and other pollutants into Kalaeloa/Barbers Point Harbor from its dry-dock operations, shown here Friday.

The company's environmental attorney, Brian Piccolo, said the company was "caught off guard" by the complaint and believes that some information was "misinterpreted."

"If there's a legitimate concern, we'll address it," he said.

Piccolo said he intends to refute some of the Health Department's allegations at a hearing Aug. 20.

Marisco operates two floating dry docks, the larger called AFDM-6 and the smaller called Lil Perris. AFDM-6 replaced the large dry dock called Big Mike, the largest dry dock in the state, in January and operates in the same location, said Stoddard.

Floating dry docks submerge beneath a ship that is to be worked on, then rise up underneath it until the ship is out of the water, perched on the deck of the floating dry dock.

Among the work the company does to repair boats is sandblasting and repainting, Stoddard said. The grit used in that process is copper slag, she said.

A key allegation by the Health Department is that Marisco is not properly clearing the dry-dock decks of the slag before submerging them. Department records show that tons of grit are used by the company.

Piccolo said Marisco has "invested a lot of money to capture grit and remove it" to a permitted landfill or to be shipped to the mainland, rather than let it escape into the harbor. "We are head and shoulders above any other operation in Hawaii," he said.

A public hearing on the case is set for 10 a.m. Aug. 20 at 919 Ala Moana in the fifth-floor conference room before hearing officer Louis Erteschhik.

The Health Department, which is the agent for the federal Environmental Protection Agency for water-quality issues in Hawaii, has the authority to levy fines of up to $25,000 for each day of each infraction.

"Marisco has worked hard to cooperate with the Department of Health. It was under the impression that DOH was satisfied with the efforts," Piccolo said. "It's really just trying to sit down and have a conversation with the agency."

The Kalaeloa/Barbers Point company is one of two commercial shipyards in the state that service large, non-nuclear ships. The other is Honolulu Shipyard Inc. at Honolulu Harbor.

Marisco was founded in 1972 by Alfred "Fred" Anawati, who remains its president. It serves the government, commercial marine and industrial sectors, and its customers include the Navy, the Coast Guard and Military Sealift Command.

In 2001 the company had about 100 employees and about $20 million in yearly revenues.