State casts for
fix to fishing projectMethane fumes must be
controlled before the Honolulu
fishing village can open
Gov. Linda Lingle is pushing for the state to solve a dangerous problem of seeping methane gas and get its $14.4 million Honolulu Harbor Fishing Village up and running after nearly two years of delay.
"I'm really optimistic now, and in the near future you're going to see people start to move into the fishing village," she said yesterday.
The facility at Honolulu's former Pineapple Pier 38 is envisioned as a place where tourists and local residents can get a close-up view of the fishing industry as well as stock up on fresh catch.
The state Department of Transportation late last week advertised for bids for a methane mitigation project expected to cost between $500,000 and $1 million. It would make the site safe for workers and visitors. The bid deadline is May 22.
The work involves construction of a vapor barrier and venting system and installation of a methane monitoring system.
Wholesale and retail fish vendors and other tenants were blocked from moving into a new $4 million building completed in August of 2001 when explosive methane gas from petroleum-polluted subsoil was detected in the structure.
Former Gov. Ben Cayetano, whose administration launched the project in 1997, blamed the methane problem on a century of unmapped underground fuel lines in the harbor area, a situation he said pre-construction studies had failed to predict.
Lingle said when she took office in December, she became worried about the stalled project "because so much tax money had been used and yet nothing was happening."
"Millions of dollars were spent and zero revenue has come during that time, and so it's just not acceptable to continue like that," she said. "I always thought the idea was a good one. It was just that it wasn't well implemented and now we need to get focused on that."
The state last year hired an environmental consultant to conduct tests and recommend ways to undertake a cleanup and how to monitor the methane problem.
Standards in California put a methane reading of more than 5,000 parts per million as being dangerous, and some wells at Honolulu Harbor registered 60 times the safe level. The highest readings inside the fishing village building were nearly four times the safe level.
Department of Transportation officials said the initial environmental assessment in 1998 focused on petroleum pollution and did not consider methane generated from petroleum.
The fishing village is on 16.5 acres along the pier where Hawaii-based fishing boats will be able to unload directly to United Fishing Agency, which runs Oahu's fish auction.
Wholesalers buying whole fish from the auction will be just a few feet from their processing facilities.
The village replaces United Fishing's aging and cramped facility on Ahui Street off Kewalo Basin in Kakaako and also is expected to be a visitor attraction.